The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-06
CULBERSON EXTENDS
HIS CONGRATULATIONS
Beveridge Refuses To Give Democratic
Party Credit For Inspiration of
His Attack, But Pleads
For Tariff Reform.

Wash February 5.-Senator Bey-
eridge llama today delivered an ap-
peal Senate to adopt his bill pro-
viding d non-partisan tariff commis-
sion, p.-n which he declared conformed
to modern and business ideas on this sub
ject.
Senator Beveridge spoke for an hour
and a half, and when he concluded his
remarks Senator Culberson of Texas re-
marked that the Senator from Indiana
was to be congratulated, because in some
degree at least he had joined the army
of tariff revisonists. He said it had
been announced in the newspapers that
a decree had been issued on the repub-
lican side that the tariff could not even
be inquired into at this time.
Mr. Cuberson called attention to what
he said was the fact that the average
ad valorem tariff is now As per cent;
that 1t is greater than the difference be-
tween the cost of labor here and abroad;
that many articles manufactured in the
United States are sold abroad cheaper
than in this country, and that protec-
tive tariff encourages trusts. He then
asked to have inserted in the record an
article from book he exhibited.
Authoritative Book.
Mr. Beveridge asked to be given the
name of the book. II will give it, re-
piled Mr. Culberson," as 1 am sure it
will appeal to the Senator as an author
lily. 1t is the democratic campaign bools."
Il thought so,'' responded Mr.. Bever-
idge, and the then proceeded to express
his regret that partisanship should be
injected into the debate.
.,Such tactics" Mr.. Beveridge said, may
be worty of the Senator as a leader of his
party, but 1t is not worthy of any man
appearing in the capacity of statesman
in this country. That is precisely the
difficulty we must get over. We must
get away from injecting politics into ev-
cry real question here
So far as he was concerned, he said.
he had always been a tariff reformer,
but he had never belonged to the class
that would reduce such reform to a par
tisan basis. England, he said, was about
to abandon her tariff for revenue policy
for protection, and all the great nations
had first adopted a tariff system and then
a double tariff system involving a maxi
mum and minimum tariff.
Senator Beveridge spoke in part as
follows:
.sThe tariff is fixed by facts; how to get
at these facts is the first question in the
whole tariff problem. Common sense and
experience answer that question; we
should create body of experts to find
out these facts for US. These men should
be the fittest men that can be found for
this work; they should give their whole
at, tc rff.r nd Ia II
result of their work.
This bill seeks to create such COM
mission of experts to find out the facts
upon which Congress builds tariff and
to make a classification of articles to
which Congress can plainly and accurate
ly fix customs duties
by this bill the commission, itself, is
not allowed TO fix duties or even to sug-
gest any rate. The fixing of duties is left
to Congress. The commission is kept
scrictly to the task of gathering facts
and making clear cassifcations; the first
expert clerical work Neither is legisla-
tive work.
Plan Used In Simpler Matters.
IF we thought ii wise for the President
to send a commission to find out the
facts in so simple matter as a strike at
Goldfeld; if 1t is wise in litigation for a.
chancellor to apopipt special examiners
and commissioners to find out and re-
port the facts in single cases; If the Sem
ate directs the bureau of corporations to
find out the facts about the doings of a
single trust in a single branch of its ac-
tivities; if Congress creates body of men
to find out the facts about any great busi-
ness which the President thinks should be
investigated and If its work is so wise
that no man in any party asks that that
work be stopped-how much wiser and
f1,a .r,l.
tariff, which is more important more in
tricate, more difficult than all these other
things put together.
'If we provide experts to find out the
facts about things which have to do with
only few of the people. how much more
should we provide experts to find out the
facts about a thing which has to do with
all of the people. If we take such meas
ures to learn the truth about matters
which are easy to learn, how much more
should we take similar measures to find
out the truth about matter that is hard
to learn.
Cannot Do the Work
''Our tariff covers thousands of items.
Whether duties should be placed upon
these articles is question of fact. Here
tofore we have forced committees of
the House and the Senate to find out
these facts. These committees do not
work at the task all the time; they work
at it only when the tariff is being re-
vsed, which is about once in every 10
years. Even then these committees work
but for a few months, and only part of
the time during these few months. That
part of the time during these few months
ir not given wholly to the task of finding
out the facts, but also to the fixing of
duties upon these facts, considering how
zach of these duties affects the others,
how each of them taken alone and all
of them taken together affect our foreign
and domestic trade, and all the other
! things that must be thought of in max
Ing tariff.
u Different Work.
I'm the cotton and woolen schedule, the
steel and iron schedule, and the glass
schedule the House and Senate differ on