The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-08

There are four different tsrin sys- tsms in uss by .>the nations of the world . revenue system. used oy Great Britsin. China. Persia and Abys-
 Sinia: . one-standard protective tariff. employed by the United States and few South Anbrican countries; max
 imum and . minimum system. en,-
 pioyed by France and Spain; and the
 convention system. used by all other
 countries. with Germany ss its leading
 The sole purpose of purely rsve-
 nue tariff is to raise revenue. "
 seeks only to ascertain the rate or
 duty that will yield the greatelt reve-s
 que. and never lays prohibitive du- ty When the merchant goes to.reckon figures out whether he can make
 more by selling much at q short prof
 it or little at long profit. Those
 are the essentisl considerations in fra
 ming . revenue duty. T
 Tn the case of . 6ne-standard pro
 tectivN tariff all imports look alike ,to the customs officer. No m.,.er
 must pay that one inflexible rats of
 duty. Tn the main all American tar
 iffs have tyeen of this kind. The rec-
 iprocity treatieg form an exception 70
 the rule. and the countervalinx duty, such as is fixed in the case of petro-
 ieum, referred to in previous ari- cie. is another modification Of the
 rhe French system is the best ex- ample of the maximum and the mini- mum tarin. There are two rates or duty rsscribed--practicaily two tar iff 1aws, one hiGh and the other low. TO the country which Eives France pths benefit of . minimum tarin, France extends her low tarin. To the country which does not extend 2 minimum tariff. France shows a stin and exclusive front by putting up .the bars of her high tarin. The United States was caught for awhile. Hay ihg no minimum tsrfn to. nxtend 70 her in exchange for a similar conces- sson the United States was forced 10 pay the higher rate. Two reapers would be found standinG side by sids In French customs house. one rom The German reaper would be pazssd in at several dollars less than the American machine. That is the. way the maximum and the minimum works. ee
 as compared with . single system. when 1t goes to attending foreign trade. has its drawbacks when com pared to the convention system. when two men are trading on piece of property. neither of them finds II advantageous to name. his best figure at the outset. If the seller puts nis price a few hundred dollars above what is actually his lowest price, he stands a better chance of getting ms fiaure. And likewise, If the buyer names . price below what he is willing s~ kA Ia rnnunant. tflA chances pf the barter are that he will fare better by 1t. So 1t Is with the maxi mum and minimum tartn- The mgn- est ana the lowest rate are, known at once. There is no room for trading. It is this or nothing. The result is less liberal concessions than might nave been secured by a process of barter, without either knowing what the other had up he, sleeve.
 There Is where the convention sys- tenn gets it's strongest hold. Under this system there is a general tarin. and below that such rates of duty as the representatives of the country having the system are able to set oy trading with other countries. The re- suit ts often resnsrkable and tar- feachinK in, it's .AdvartaEes, to the country dn.. sxtending It's foreign trade TEpsc 6sRhenE aermeny nnds une outlet for her erSeSporfs. in some awak- enine country. she sends her repre- sentatives to that country and par gains to let its products come into Germany at next to free rates, 1T ID exchange German goods are admit. ted at lower rates than those enjoyed bv inc merchandise of other nations. The bargain .ie made, and thereaffer when English cloth and German cioth reach the customs house of that couu- try. the German cloth gets In on arnailer duty than the English cloth. So Germany gets the business.
 Germany leads the whole world m the mastery Of the tsriH question; Sine has gone into the considerations ot fine subject from the broad standpoint of national welfare, ignoring the pet ty political advantage which 2 chang ing of schedule might give. When the time came to revise her gensrai tariK commission of thirty-two members was appointed. ln addition to this some two thousand trade ex- perts were detailed to assist n rae five years before their work was com pleted, and the economic world re- rards their iebora as the most thc- fos ~h and satisfactory any nation has vet produced. The United States draws a tariff bill. discusses It. enacts 1t. and has it become law in one fiftieth as much time as the Germans took to pass their law. Senator Bev- eridge recently pointed out that there Ia nothinR which is done with such lack of thoroughpess as the framing of an American tarlff law. He called attentton 10 the fact that 1t took two wears to investigate Just, one phase or s United States senator's life--refer- ring to the Smoot investigation--and vet 1t takes but four or five months to pass the most important law of a decade. ,.r
 Most of the larger American manu- facturers are beginning to figure on the importance of tariff concessions to other countries. as they find them- selves hampered by the maximum tar- fYs most countries are disposed to nnsess against American goods. Re- gently J. ogden Armour declared that he found the sale of meats in foreign restricted because of the lack of reciprocal tarin concessions. Exporf manager Coster of the Vest inahouse Company, declared that he found the same condition to prevail in the case of electrical goods. Charles Deering of the International Harvester Company, gave figures showing the operations of the French system. As the United States had no minimum tarin to oner, France applied her maximum rate against American goods. The American liar vester Company had to pay $e.SO more than any German or Eng- iish exporter, to get a binder into France. It had to pay s3.S5 more sc get a mower past the customs officer.
 With this condition applying in several countries, President Roosevelt set to work to adjust things so as to