The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1908-01-24
PROBLEM OF REVISION.
II Is Far More Difficult Than Is
Imagined By Most People

the Tariff. 1t is probable that no
Tariff schedule ever enacted was
ouite perfect, and If it were possible
to make a perfect Tariff in the be
ginning it would begin to 80 bad
as soon as it was put into opera
ton.
Probably the worst Tariff law
ever passed in this country, the one
with the greateat inequalities, the
one with the most instances
Of injustice, the one most
painfully devoid of consistency and
a uniform plan, was the Wilson law,
passed by the Democratic Congress
which President Cleveland allowed
to become a law without his sigma
ture.
When any one brings to the font
some fault in a Tarifflaw, he is very
far short of demonstrating that 8
new Tariff bill be enacted, Two
points remain to be considered.
First, what Is the prospect that a
new Tariff bill can be passed which
would be better as a whole than the
one nov in existence2 and second,
would the advantage gained by a
revision Of the Tariff schedules be
suficien. to compensate for the in
evitabie loss and disarrangement of
business that comes from every Tar
if changef
1t is the fashion, especially with
Democratlc newspapers, to treat
every "sta1d- -patter" rs man who
knows he has an unfRir advantage
over his competitors or fellow citi.
zeus, and who is putting up fight
to retain,h advantage. The Dem
ooratic experimental Tariff revision
ought to teach them better than
that. Whenever Tariff is changed
it means a change in the market
price of every article affected ey
that .ohange. If the Tariff is about
to be lowered it'means suspension
zef imports untilthe new rate goes
into effect and it mel ans also de-
crease in the actaal value OF every
article on hand at the time of the
change. If the Tariff is about to be
raised, 1t means a rush to import
goods at the old rates and a
proft to the owner of every
piece of that kind of goods at the
time of the change.
Awholesale revision of the Tar
iff il one of the most trying expert.
encex that manufacturers and mer-
charas can pass through and It is
not At all surprising that so large
numbsr of business men declare
their preference for the "ills they
have" rather than those that would
result from a general Tariff revis'
ion.
There is also somewhat general
\ elief that the Tariff may be tinkered
in spots without affecting deter
parts, bvt it is only in exceptional
cases that this is possible. The
different items of the schedules of
ten bear a close relation to each
other and che rising or lowering of
a single item may make a great
deal of difference in the importa
tion of the other article. Occasion
ally a single change may be made
with advantage, but as a rule Tar
III tinkering is productive of more
harm than good.
Sometimes Tariff revision is nee
.ssary, bat when the time comes,
experience has shown that the best
plan is to 90 into the matter thsr-
.uehly and to build = new Tariff
vbich shall be consistent and even
in all Its parts. A revision Of this
hind Is a duty that will confront
Congress in the near future. but IL
wouId be nothing short of nation
Il calamity il the task were under
axes at pre,snt.-PueblO Chief