Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-03-18

luc AultCS Ou LuC OcbUCi kAdutS VI Suihds The importers advanced arguments for a reduction of 25 per cent in the du- ties on pottery.
 As at all former tariff hearings there was fight between the shoe and leath- CT manufacturers of New England and the cattle raisers of the west. The leather manufacturers were loath to
 admit that their industry could stand reduction on the duties on shoes and other leather articles, but urged that
 raw material should be placed on the free list. An amusing incident occurred
 when one of the shoe men admitted that with free hides the shoe manufacturers
 would be able to compete with foreiga
 manufacturers without tariff protection. This caused the leather manufacturers
 to assemble their forces and present arguments to show that the duty on the
 manufactured article should not be re-
 duced.
 Elisha w. Cobb, manufacturer of heavy leather, of Boston, Massachu-
 setts, told the committee that the tar if on hides accrued only to the benefit
 of the packers and not to the farmer and cattle raiser. He declared that
 the large packers of Chicago are en-
 gagged in the tanning business and look
 forward to the time when they will
 have complete monopoly in the hide business and in the sole and upper ! leather business.
 The wool schedule was the occasion | for more contention than any other and during it's consideration there was | much criticism of the methods by which tariff bills are framed. Uncle William Whitman, of Boston, representing the
 National Wool Manufacturers, was on
 the stand. Representative Clark of
 Missouri, placed in the record a pamph-
 let which purported to inform the ways
 and means committee Chow tariff laws
 are framed.' The name of the author
 of the pamphlet was given as Frank
 F. Bennett, of Boston.
 "The place you get in your work IS
 not in the house of representatives or in the ways and means committee,
 but is in the senate, isn't it3" was one
 of the characteristic questions asked
 by Champ Clark, of MT. Whitman.
 The wool growers of Ohio and the western states declared emphatically
 to the committee that further protee- tion must be given to the industry or 1 the wool growing business would be | entirely wiped out. The woolen manu- l facturers also asked that the present l duties at least be retained on their pro- duct. There were several supplementary
 hearings on the wool schedule, all of which indicated that the various
 branches of the industry differ as to
 the proper classification and differen- | tals to be established in the tariff. The carpet manufacturers declared that the
 classification in the present tariff is un-
 just to their industry and similar claims
 were made by other manufacturers l There was much testimony which shed
 considerable light on the methods eu- | ployed in the manufacture of woolen l fabrics, indicating that much 50 called
 pure wool clothing contains consider
 able shoddy and rags. This called forth
 the suggestion from Representative Clark that there should be a pure cloth
 ing law similar in it's objects to the
 pure food law.
 1 The admission from the Phillipines,
 free of duty, of 100000 tons of sugar
 was the first proposition on which the | T Thio
 action was taken by the committee fol- lowing conference with Mir. Taft. | The statement by Edwin F. Atkins, of
 Boston, that there was great danger of
 an insurrection in Cuba if the tariff on sugar is not reduced and the arguments
 made by Claus R. Spreckles, of New York, in favor of reduction in the I duty were the striking features of the
 hearings on the sugar schedule. Secre-
 tary of War Wright appeared before the committee in favor of free sugar from the Philippines. He declared that
 the so-ealled sugar trust was under
 stood to own 5l per cent of the stock
 of the beet sugar refineries and that that is possibly the reason why the beet sugar industry has not grown in this | country.
 Tine Louisiana cane sugar growers
 claimed that the price to the consumer
 of sugar and the price paid to the
 farmer for his product is fixed by the
 ''sugar trust. .'
 The California fruit growers were ar | rayed against the iuporters, and one ar gument advanced by the latter for re- duced duties on iemons was that the
 recent earthquake in Sicily had result
 ed in a scarcity of labor and the de- struction of lemon groves. Senator Hale appeared before the committee
 to ask that tapioca flour be specially provided for in the bill. Similar re- quests were made on numerous articles The committee found considerable in formation at it's disposal in 8 volume giving statistics regarding imports and duties prepared by William w. Evans assistant clerk of the committee Will liam K. Payne is the clerk of the com mittee.