Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-28
WARNING FROM VAN CLEAVE
Intimates that Standpatters Control
Tariff Hearings.
HONEST REVISION is NECESSARY
says ~ Is In 10 RcpubIican Adminis-
tratiOn to Make Good prOmises
I'm the PRrty's pInt-
form.

ST. LOUIS. Nov. 2L-Regardlng the tariff
hearings before the ways and means CON-
mittee at Washington, James w. Van
Clesve, president of the National Assocla-
ton of Manufacturers. gave out the fol-
lowing today:
Several strange things connect themselves
Win these hearings. I am told about 100
OUT OF the $4,000 heads OF factories in the
country received notice to appear before
the committee. In most cases the notice
which they received was too short to allow
them to present carefully prepared state
ments, although all of them have the privi-
lege OF submitting briefs at any time prior
70 Deeem6er. The hearings. which will
oITse qn december 4 will have covered
Inc questions put by the leading members
or the committee to these manufacturers
are admirably calculated to call out an
swers asking for the retention of the pres
ent rates Of duties. or advances in them,
ID you not believe that your present
duties should be maintsined?" This is the
usual query. Scarcely ever Is It put thus:
DO you think your rates should be re-
ducedY' Eastern papers state that under
this seductive coaching one manufacturer
who has a duty OF 30 per cent now ON his
product, and who acknowledges that ne is
making a profit on 1t, asks to have the
have the duty taken off the materials
which he uses in his factory, thus giving
him g chance to swell his profits in two
directions. One or two manufacturers who
asked for lower duties on their own wares
made my friend Chairman Payne gasp.
l presume that the committe aims to get,
through these hearings, Information on
which It can base a bill for the revision of
the Dingley bill. In its platform of 1908
the republican party declared for revision
In a special session Of congress to be called
by the new president just after his inaugu-
ration. The country, including the National
Association Of Manufacturers. assumed that
this meant honest and not bogus revision.
On this presumption ! and. a large majority
OF the other members OF the association
supported Mr; IdIt curing the campaign;
exert in favor of his election.
l want to say right here that as, in its
membership, the National Association of
Manufacturers covers also all the great
crafts of the country, we never have, as
an association, urged any specific changes,
up or down, in any particular schedules.
AS practical men, however, we know that
changes are needed In many cases, and that
the public imperatively demands them. All
that we ask is that the change be honest
and be equitable.
PreHident-eIect Taft Quoted.
AS shown by his speecnes ana interviews
during the campaign, President-elect Taft
also interpreted this platform declaration
to mean honest revision. IL Is clear to me
from things which some of his close friends
have said about him In the last few days,
that, in his message to congress at the
opening of the extra session, he VIII insist
that the platform promise Of honest re-
vision must be carried out, in spirit and In
letter.
II lihNNlb ~ 10 ~ AANf NANN - hH..
this demand. he will have a large majority
of the 87.OO0,OOO republican voters in the
country with him.
a tariff which includes over 1000 items
will cover only about three weeks. / sup"
pose that my friend Payne must have ar
ranged for Investigations by experts In
all the leading industrial and commercial
centers of Europe and Asia. PresumADly
these experts have been busy ever since
the long session of congress closed lasS
spring, and they will continue, their work
seen no word yet in the papers about the
activity of these delegated investigators,
but Mr.. Payne knows. the inadequacy OF
fore must nave provided for his sup
Elementary work in the leading old world
Mr.. Payne's easy confidence in being
able to make a readjustment of the tariff
schedules which will be satisfactory TO
vided for scientific aid from the outside.
l am strengthened in this belief by the
fact that he knows thst GeTmany as or a
created a commission Of thtrty-two ex-
perts, and that they rave five years OF in
visiting every country on the globe with
which Germany had any trade. several
of them came to the United States.
items than Germany's. Our industries are
three times as great in volume, In get
ting its tariff Investigations made by a
board of experts, Germany was applying
business principles to what is pre-eminently
a business subject. Railroads, great INDUS
trial and commercial houses and all the
other larger enterprises in the United
States employ experts to inquire into BUSH
ness conditions and make reports on which
plans for future activity can be based.
The men who are running the bis corpora
ticn called the United States government,
know thai the trade laws of the universe
will not suspend themselves for their grati-
~fication.
If any one supposes that he can safely
assail the public's patience he is taking
a gamblers chance. That is how 1t looks
to me at this moment. In politics as in
everything else there is a hereafter, al
thought some of our lawmakers some
times seem TO forget this, In our case,
the hereafter may strike us in 1912. If II
gets sufficient provocation 1t may hit
us in the congressional election of 1910.
We who worked and voted for Taft and
a republican congress who believe that he
and the republican platform mean exactly
what they said and who have faith in his
sincerity, his courage. his pTogressiveness,
and his devotion to republican principles,
call upon Mr.. Taft and the ways and
means committee not to forget the elemen-
tary truths.