New-York tribune., 1908-02-06
BEVERIDGE URGES PLAN
Indiana Senator argues for Creation
of Tariff Commission.
rFrom The Tribune Bureau.I

Washington, Feb. 5-Senator Beveridge addressed
the Senate to-day in support OF his bill provdinf
| for the creation OF 8 tariff commission. He made &
simple and straightforward argument, and his re
I marks were sened with attention by over hal
/ the members OF the Senate and by well filed gal
leries. which included the delegation representing
| the National Manufacturers Association, "nicn IL
! now in Washington.
Had the Senate been IN any temper to listen tc
! argument that presented by Mr. Beveridge would
! have proved convincing. The Senate. however, Is
! irreyocaby opposed to the mere suggestion or a
tariff commission and Senator's listened from cour-
/ teSy and with any disposition to weigh the
! arguments presented.
. 1t is generally conceded that tariff revision viii
he undertaken year. probably at a special
session to be called after March 1. The
members of both houses feel themselves amply cap
able to deal with the subject, and will invite no
assistance beyond the exrert testimony of those
who will be called testify before the respective
committees of the two houses SO far his col
leagues concerned. therefore, Mr. Beveridge's
arguments fell on deaf ears. He said in part:
facts IS The srst a. Question IN the Whole tarT
problem. Common and experience answer
perts 10 find out these facts for us These men
5 o be the ess G a that t can o he to1nd % for
this work and lay before as the result Of their
to Ao out . the S5e aets UPON which
en,os tg which cergEsss can plainly Rnd R,f Ss as
commission itself is NOT allowed to fix duties Or
even g to suggest any rate The xng II n Of duties
ly to The task. OF gathering: facts and making
clear classfcations The first is expert nvssIl- rl
Neither is legislative work.
we nGoght II WISE @ Ior 5ne m 20 ,n,na
mailer as Strike at W GoidaeId: # It IS wise in
a TO TO n on and
the facts IS in Snge i the s 1s nr directs so thf
the dopgs Of a single trust In single branch Of
which 1 the eO Presden e thinks 9s Should Be Investigated
party asks that that work be stopped. how much
wiser and more necessary is the same plan as TO
tricate, more difficult than all these other things
II We provide experts to find out the facts about
things which have &c do with only a few Of the
to hnd out the facts about thing which has TO
measures TO- learn the truth about matters which
are easy TO learn. how much more should we take
matter that IS hard to learn, ' ~
Our tariff covers thousands of items, Whether
question Of fact Heretofore we have forced COM
rest Of the and s no to na a o th
all of the time. They work At il only when the
6 6' Is se Even e sae Is
70. few mouths AMI only part OF the tim, time during
these few months is not given wholly to the task
% Rns out tsas the e s to h eg sae OF
these duties affects the others how each OF them
our foreign aRe and @ m "t arads % and the
things that must be thought Of in making a tariff
50 much la6er into g short space fair :.
these COMMITTEES? Is it fair to s1s G{ ted
S s0R' IS far se the mIIiion- of Of
thousands an Of American industries which. in their
,Seariy ali our tsria eiassiasations more
the % sas Saen old revs Tss m is
taken the language of the old cassiications. NOT
date The result Is t,at Tie importer ea, f5ea1eny
appraiser first decides this question. then the i'm
and finally to the courts There have been 6do.oe5
such disputes since the present law was M enacted. TED
ject Of the tarif fill seventeen great volumes: the
ber that t aoq of onr imports are for
the use Of American manufacturers -.,.,. ,,,o
nails should haze Re sane ne f9'e n cassaa as aR tto
agaano & - ofhe tgre any ho,id bullets and bngses
should automobiles and bull Is-eye lanterns pay the
same duty? Are farm implements and gold boxes
tween carriages and dress trimmings? Is there
eGrdSes eng shoG ba ske ana
pay the same Ss rates Il but T more absurd than this
the fact that they. put in the same cassifiea-
eseh Ud article T Tbecause Congress did not classify
them at an Nobody knew what at duties duties + these tss
appraisers and the courts filed up the holes IN
Compared with the scientific clear. accurate clas-
sifcaton Of the German schedules, for instance,
our classiicatons confused. urcerts n chaotic.
The German classification reduces confusion and
doubt TO the minimum; our classification raises seq
confusion and doubt to the maximum. How old
Germany make her tariff classificationS SO n1ucn
clearer. simpler and more accurate than ours?
By the sense plan of having an expert
commission arrange these ClasSifcauons.
We must have more foreign trade. We must open
foreign markets to live cattle, which are now
kent out of those markets. Our manufacturers ask
the same advantages In foreign trade that tbs Ger
man government gets for German manufacturers
American producers demand that the doors of
other nations which open to their rivals shan
no longer be closed TO them. We cannot open ttese
doors by purely revenue tariff, because such
tariff merely gives nations trade advantages
with us without getting from those other nations
apv trade advantages in return We must nave q
that the weapons tilat our
rivals have by which get for our producers
the same favors that rivals get for thetr pro-
ducers We must have a maximum ana MINIMUM
tariff The first apply all nations that Will not
give our producers special favors in their markets.
and the last apply TO those nations that VIII
give our producers favors in their markets.
Following Senator Beveridges address several
Democratic Senators spoke briefly on the general
subject of the tariff. and at 4:57 m. the Senate
adjourned