Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-01
4 rROposED ITaRIrr cO,n,IyST0N.

! 4 PROPOSED TARIFF COMMISSION
1t is understood that an effort will
b. made at the approaching session of
congress to provide for the creation of n
! commission 10 whom the tariff question
shall be referred, with authority to make
investigation and report to congress Scv-
! cral republican senators have been re-
! ported rs in favor of such commits
/ sion, among them Senator Cullom, who
| several years ago introduced a bill pro-
! viding for the creation of such a body.
In recent interview the Illinois senator
| expressed the opinion that the time is
ripe for the appointment of Il commits
sion Of experts, whose duty 1t shall he to
make careful examination of the wages
paid to different Glasses of laborcrS in
foreign countries ana here at home,
which should be- the basis OF the tariff
The bill introduced by Senator Cul-
lom provided for The appointment by
the president, with the consent of the
senate. of tariff commission of nine
persons. not more than -four of whom
should be from the same political party
The commission was to bp permanent
its members to receive salaries of $4,000
per annum each. II wgr to investigate
the wages paid for labor here and abroad
and to compute from this schedules
of customs duties to be levied upon i'm
ported articles which come i'm CompCti-
ton with American products in the
American market. 1t was further pro
vidrd that the commission should pre-
pare schedules of duties to be imposed
upon other articles i'm which labor is not
an important element of cost and also
those articles which do not come into
competition with domestic products. The
commission was to report to congress
annually at the beginning of the session
what changes, in its Judgment, should
be made in the tariff schedules in order
TO cqualizc the interests of the conSum-
ers and the producers 10y regulating thg
duty upon all competing articles so as to
represent the difference in cost of their
production here and abroad.
There are two vital objections to this |
plan for taking the tariff question out !
of politics. one is the expense and |
the other and more important one l.
its impracticablity. such Il commits |
sion, with the clerical force necessary. |
would cost the people ut least $lOO.- !
600 per annum. Is it at all probable |
that the results would compensate far |
this outlay? So far as the information
such commission would obtain for the
of congress is concerned.
it can be secured by the statistical
bureau of the government at compara-
lively little additional cost and in as
form as if obtained by the
commission. As to the i'm
of the plan. it is in the
fact that no commission. constituted n
provided for in the Cullom bill, would
be able TO frame Il tariff bill that would
be generally acceptable. If II majority
Of its members We're opposed to prOtcc
ton. as would be the case if Il demo
cratic president appointed the commits
sion, their recommendations would be
by protectionistS. and on
the othe- hand if Il majority favored
their suggestions would b.
'llI'bStN ny NlN lll III l'l'i lll'lH anu
free traders. Thus there would be the
same controversy ana strife over the
ariff that there is under prevailing con
litions and the money expended on the
would be wasted.
The tariff commission proposition re-
'civcd no consideration when it was in
reduced and is not likely to receive
my if again brought forward. either
II the present or the next congress. The
luty and responsibility of tariff lcgisla
ion devolycs upon the representatives
)f the people and the men who have
)ecn chosen to perform this duty will
be found competent TO
'rame n tariff law that will meet the
,opular demand ana the requirements
If the government. The country wants
| tariff on republican lines iudicious,
measure for revenue and
the next house of repre-
will need no help from II
in framing such IL measure
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THEY SHOULD GET TOGETHER