Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1908-12-10
FLY TO SUBTERFUGE
ALREADY REPUBLICANS PLAN TO
DEFEAT WILL OF PEOPLE,.
OalzeIPs Recent Statement MAY Be Ac-
cepted as the Voice of the Party
-Standpatters Firm in the
Saddle,

The ingenious John Dalzell, member
OF the ways and means committee,
congressman from the Pennsylvania
steel districts and amiable standpatter,
has expressed an opinion as to tariff
revision which is worth considering in
view Of his close association with the
clique that controls in the house It
is Mr.. DalzelTs view that the revision
desired by congress will concern it.
self chiefly with reconciling the law
on the books with the decisions of the
treasury department on obscure sec
tons. The law, he declared, should be
so amended that there will be no
doubt of it's construction.
OF course, this is the frankest sub
terfuge. No tariff law was ever de-
vised or conceived that could meet the
intricate and changing conditions of a
tremendous commerce without calling
for the construction OF some of its
schedules and classifcations by jul
dicial organizations empowered to
make authoritative interpretations.
Every change is followed as a matter
of course by an amount of litigation
that decreases steadily from the time
the law goes into effect. Any eff
fort to reconcile the law with the de-
cisions of treasury department and
general appraisers and courts will
amount to nothing at all or open the
way for new litigation.
But Mr. Dalzell went farther and
said emphatically that no revision
would meet the approval of the new
in n
disturb the prosperity wave that he
believed Mr.. Taft's election had al
ready started. Even the Democrats"
he declared, would not go in for any
law that would affect the interests of
their section of the country" AS proof
of this contention he said there was a
Democrat in the house who had bill
pending putting cotton on the protect
ed list
The views of Mr. John Dalzell would
be idle if they were to be considered
on their merits. But he is conspicu-
Gus figure in select assembly that
will control absolutely this important
legislation in the house. What he
thinks is not important because it is
right or wrong, or sound or logical or
informative, but because what he
thinks indicates what enough of the
Republicans in the house will think
when they have been subjected to d.
rection-to indicate the policy of the
body and the kind of a tariff bill that
will be prepared.
The matter is the more interesting
when read in connection with certain
items of news For instance, recently
there appeared before the ways and
means committee a representative of
the manufacturers of fertilizers. He
asked that the rate on the ingredients
of fertilizers be increased by changing
the ad valorem rates to specific. He
admitted that the articles he spoke for
were already manufactured profitably
in this country and that additional du-
ties would merely serve the purpose of
increasing the profits. A few days
later came a preliminary announce
ment of the organization of a fertilizer
trust.
Nothing has been done it is true.
but the two items cannot be divorced
and, whatever happens, it is plain that
the farmers will have to pay more for
fertilizers if the trust is formed, still
more if the duty is increased, with the
hone of lower prices and fairer prices
dependent on reduction of the duties.
st. Louis Republic.