The Cairo bulletin., 1908-02-06
TARIFF REFORM
IS MUCH NEEDED
SENATOR 1EvERlDGE POINTS
OUT SERIOUS DEFECTS IN
OUR sYSTEM.
GERMANY BES7lNC us
Because Of Greater Wisdom in Tariff
lator--our Export Trade
Largely Raw Materials
Germany's Method.

today Senator Bevordge ct Indiana
smoke in favor Of tae Tariff Commits
sion Bill in part rs follows:
The tariff Is fixed by facts: now to
&et at these facts Is the first question
, IN the whole tariff pproblem. Com.
, mon sense and experience answer
that question; We .lould create a
body OF experts to -nd OFT the q facts
| fcr rs These men should be the fit
test men that can be found for this
| work: ther should give their whole
time % this work and lay before us
the resultfo their work.
This bin seeks to create such a
commission cl experts to 1n@ out the
facts upon which congress builds
tariff and to make a classification OF
articles TO which congress can plainly
md accurately fix customs duties.
BY this bill the commission. itself.
is not allowed to fX duties or even
| suggest any rate. The fixing Of duticsI
II left to congress. The commission
N Fept strictly 10 the task Of gather
Ing facts and making clear classifiea-
tians; the first is expert investigating
~crk, the second expert clerical
work. feither is legislative work.
Our Tariff Ciassifications.
The want of classifcations OF orr
ariff IS as bad as the xant Of facts.
Nearly all our tariff classifications
ere mere than a generation old. This |
IS because each time the tariff has
heen revised the committees have
taken the language of the Old classifi-
cations, Net onQ CT tnem is sys
'reInatR alsfofate. ana ubxoslste. incl
result is that the importer frequenfi. |
docs net know what classification fl'.
imports are under. aad Therefore
what duty he must pay The apprals
e first decides this question, then til. |
Importer appeals to the general board
of appraisers and finally to the courts.
There have been 100000 such dis
pntes since the present law was on
acted. Decisions of the treasury de
partment on the subject Of the tariff
MI seventeen great volumes: the de-
cisions of the courts add many more:
aid remember that twothirds of our
imports are for the use of American
This has cost i'm,
2orters ahI the government millions e
If dollars; the importers many mil
ions more. II has disturbed business
which has not known what to depend
lpon, And the whcle cost has finally
allen On the people.
The German Method.
How did Germany make her tariff
lassiflcations so much clearer q
impler and more accurate than ours?
" the common seaae pan of having
n expert commission arrange these
lassiiicatlcns. But :1at was only part
: the work of the German commits.
ion. Years ago Germany saw that /
My body Of experts could get the A
acts and arrange the schedules for Q
er tariff; she saw that the oniv 81
'crk which tho Reichstag could do "a
'as the fixing of the duties to the lal
ems which the exepert commission te
lassified aud upon the facts which
1e expert commission round out and OF
.id before the Roichscag. So Ger
ANY selected for this work thirty of
lc best fitted men TO be found i'm the
npire. This commission consulted ltr
ore than 90 trade and Industrial n,
.perts. II investigated every phase lhe
every indt stry in the empire which ga
isht bear upon the tariff. It care IA
ily studied the tariffs Of other coun-
les. II gave due rse;ght to Ger. -
any's expert trade IN short. every
ing that goes into the making of +
Tih was worked out TO the smallest
tail by the German expert commits
IN. it spent almost six years at
is work. The facts thus gathered A.
"a the scheduled ciassifications thus
lde were laid before the Reichstae
. the Reichstsg then finally fixed
e duties after its committee. CORE.
onding 10 the Ways and Means
mmittee Of orr house Of represea- Ito
ives. had spent ten months in con wo
nous work examining the recon- lis
ndations Of the commission. De
Germany Beating Us. lir
The German empire. Wiz an area sa'
'eteen times smaller than the the
ited States. aud parts Of its land he'
ir and u1productive, aal with a z
1ulstiCn cf les than twothirIs as ira
at a. ours. nevertheless exports tn
ne than ono and oBe-half bllicn gan
lars worth a German prolrcts. frr
re- than tow-thiris OF which are see
nufactured articles. whereas We sit
iort si-7l7953 90 worth Of pro ife
.ts. most cl which a-e raw material foll
sffe efc roo. OF 81 per cent Of Gu. eKa
'orts are manufactured articles ami quc
s 100000 ~ l. - cent are sruf
nuiacfured artieles. a1d ~ these