The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-04-05

Now that congress has adjourned
and a new hand Is at the helm Of the
treasury department, perhaps the
state department will deem It no
longer incompatible with the public
interest to make known the contents
of the report of the commission sent
to Germany to inquire concerning mat
tiers bearing upon the tariff situation
between that country and the United
States. Some two weeks ago a reso.
luton asking for information on this
subject was under consideration by
the house committee on ways and
means, but the committee found itself
unable to proceed further with the
question because of the unwillingness
of the secretary of state to supply
any details of the report in question.
This is an old habit of eur state de-
partment, this Withholding of facts of
vital import to producing interests.
The same policy of secrecy was OBJ
served seven years ago when the Kas-
son treaties were negotiated. For
several months our government re-
fused to furnish any particulars as to
the tariff reductions provided for in
those drafts. Foreign governments,
however, were not so secretive. Infor-
nation as to the provisions of the pro-
posed French treaty was quite free
ly published in Paris and found its
way to the United States by cable, so
that by the time the veil of secrecy had
been removed in Washington the coun-
try was pretty VIII advised as to the
extent to which Mr.. Kasson had con-
scented to assassinate certain of our
domestic industries in order to get
upon a reciprocity" basis with
France. 1t might be remarked, as a
fact in history, hat nc French indus
try vas threatened with assassina-
ton.
1t is to be hoped that, with no con-
gress in session to ask i~nconvenient
questions or make unpleasant COM
ment, and with a treasury department
supposed to be favorable to what is
called "a broader trade policy"-that
is, larger competition from foreign
mills and factories-our state depart
ment will find it compatible with the
public interest to tell American pro-
ducers what they have to expect in
the matter of concessions that are cal
culated to give to German exporters a
bigger slice of the American market.
II, for example, it shall be decided to
81 relax or modify III customs regu-
lations as to make 1t easier for the
goods and thereby escape the pay
ment of the tariff dat4cs provided by
law, that fact would be of great inter-
est to a large body Of industrialists
who have heretofore found 1t extreme
ly difficult to hold the domestic mar
ket against u~ndervalued consignments
from Germany, and who are deeply
concerned in knowing how much the
gate to differentiation is going to be
wideEed as the result of the new
decker.
1t is not by any means impossible
that d reimbursement of the matter of
production costa reduction alike in
the volume and rate of wages paid
would be necessitated. Such would
un~questionably prove to be the case in
many lines of domestic production If
greater latitude for differentiation
should be granted in the shape of
greater laxity on the part of our ap.
praising officials in the determination
of values of imports. 1t is not, of
nOltrc IN ho CnnnncnI that Tho ,ar,
secretary Of the treasury would know
ingly strike such a blow at domestic
production, employment and wage
paying. But there are, presumably,
things which he does not know
as well as they are known by those
more intimately related to the bust
ness of manufacturing goods and EN-.
ploying labor, and he might make a
mistake in his Judgment as to what
could be done in the way OF relaxation
and laxity of customs collections.
He may not know, for example, that
under the strictest of methods
differentiation is a giant evil most
to deal with effectively, and
the aim should be not to increase
but to lessen the fraud. In order that
he may learn these and other things
related to the general subject
it would seem that the secretary of
the treasury should be among the first
to solicit from the secretary of state
prompt and full publicity of the re-
port of The German tariff commission.
Certainly the American people have a
right to that information at the earli-
est possible moment.