Charlevoix county herald., 1907-08-10
NOWHERE IN FAVOR
IMPORTERS PROTEST AGAINST
sTHE GERMAN AGREEMENT.
They Point Out the Mischief That
Will Result from Permitting For
eigners to Name Low Export Val
YES and Thereby Escape the Pay
ment of Full Tariff Duties.

Against that portion of the German
agreement which compels consuls GER
tifying to the correctness OF export In
voices and American customs ofncers
who are to pass upon the question or
values to accept as competent evil
dence" the values placed upon such
invoices by local German chambers
of commerce the strong protest OF the
Textile Importers association Is whol-
ly directed. If any doubt as to the
grievous error and wrong inflicted by
this agreement alike upon the direct
importing interests and the wage pay
ers and wage earners of this country
remained in the minds OF the presl-
dent of the United States, or the Sec
rotary of state who engineered the
pernicious dicker, or the secretary OF
the treasury who acquiesced in its
unwholesome provisions, or the news
papers which have accepted the agree
ment as all right and proper, or any
man who would like to see American
industry and American business nave
fair, play and square deal-tnat
doubt upon reading of the memorial
of protest should instantly disappear
and in it's place should come feellng
of certainty that on the part or the
American negotiators grossly I'M
prudent and improper thing has been
done in permitting foreign manufac-
turers to fix export value and there
by evade in part the payment OF tarin
duties specified by law.
This is made perfectly evident by
the clear and forcible language or the
memorial of the Textile Importers
association. The facts and arguments
are those of the leading merchants OF
the United Statesmen conspicuous
the world over for their great bust
ness ability, their scrupulous business
integrity, and their wide business in
fluence. They are facts and argu-
ments wholly outside of the domain
of politics, and they cannot be sue
cessfully controverted.
If these men had been consulted
and their testimony taken-the iden-
teal testimony that is embodied in
the grave and dignified protest which
is now in the hands Of President
oosevelt-fortified by the testimony
of our great domestic producing inter-
ests, the German agreement could not
have been cosummated. Secretary
Root, obsessed as he was with the
delusion that foreign trade is the one
great thing to think of, and Secretary
Cortelyou, inexperienced and plastic
as he was, with less than 80 days OF
service at the head of the treasury
department, would not have dared to
disregard such testimony.
President Roosevelt, had he known
what he now knows after reading the
importers memorial, would have used
his big stick" to smash the dicker.
Of this we feel sure.
Why, then, was rot the testimony
of the direct importers and the do
nestle producers heard on this i'm
portant matter in advance of the
signing of the German agreement.
Why was the report of the commits
sion sent to Germany withheld until
not get hold of it?
Why did the state department, In
reply to resolution Of inquiry be-
fore the house committee on ways
and means, decline to make known
any Of the provisions of the Ger
man agreements?
Why should every American inter
est have EN- kept in the dark when
the German manufacturing interests
were fully advised of what they were
going to get?
We cannot answer any of these
questions. We do not know for what
reason it was thought proper to Sc
.cretly sacrifice the business of the
direct importers, to secretly lower
the tariff duties that American labor
and industry depended upon for pro-
lection, to rob the treasury revenues,
and to demoralize the customs admin
istration service by official sanction
of dishonesty and fraud.
The great central blunder and in
justice of the export value" provision
of the German agreement Is made as
clear as day in the memorial of the
Textile Importers association. Un-
der it's operation the heaviest tariff
payers (the direct importing houses)
are put out of business, the American
manufacturer is subjected to a dis
honest competition alike repugnant
to the provisions of the tariff law
and to good morals; the American
wage Garner finds his labor undersold
through crooked practices, and the
American treasury is robbed of no
one can tell how many millions of
dollars annually. This is what may
be gathered from the memorial of
protest And it is absolutely true.