Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-07-28
THE KNOCKERS, CLUB.

Mucn or tn6 knocking against the
Forthcoming tariff bill, at the present
stage of the game. is of a character
which does not seem justified by the
facts and seems more inspired by
prejudice than by knowledge, as wit
ness the following from one of our
neighboring exchanges:
"This conference business does not
fool any one except some fellow who
wants to be fooled. Aldrich is all
there is to the conference. The Car.
toonists may picture the president sit
ting on the lid of the capitol while from
beneath him come supposed discord-
ant notes from the conference room
There are no discordant notes in the
room. Mr.. Taft is not sitting upon the
lid. Some place they got an erroneous
idea that this government is r9preSen-
tatiye. They believed the reports to the
effect that the president is to have great
influence with the confereeS and that
the bill will be made over in confer
ence. No such thing will happen.
That is it will not happen upon the
schedules which affect the weekly
housekeeping bills"
1t Is already apparent that many
changes will be made in the tariff
bill by the senate and house conferees
because of the insistent demands of the
president. For instance it has been
already agreed that hides shall be
placed upon the free list, while it
Us asserted by some of the best posted
men in Washington that correspond
ing reductions are to be made on the
manufactures thereof. To rates on
lumber are to be reduced considerably
below the schedule rep orted in the
Aldrich bill /; crude petroleum is to
be untaxed, with no countervailing
duty; the rate on coal is to be reduced
and many other changes made as
result OF the presidents intervention.
Criticism, sane or senseless, is one
of the easiest things in the world.
Anybody can indulge in criticism of
things he knows little or nothing
about and it often passes for wisdom.
A tariff bill, like bill pertaining
to general taxation, is one of the
most difficult problems in legislation,
because there is such a multiplicity
of Interests affected that must be
taken into consideration. Manu-
facturers yell for raw materials to be
free from duty. What is one mans
raw material is another's finished
product, and to aid one class by grant
ing his request means the hurting of
another.
Each senator and each representa-
tive is expected to stand for such
retention, lowering or raising of
duties as to will be in the interest of
his own state or district, and in. the
main they are found to be doing so,
as it means the votes to prolong their
political life. But it takes votes to
pass a bill. and compromises have to
be made all along the line in order
to get sufficient support to pass a
measure, hence there are interests
that always think they are getting the
worst OF it. whether the schedules go
up or down.
The pledge Of the republican party.
as frequently made by President Taft,
was that the tariff would be revised
downward, and we firmly believe that
he will use every influence he pos
sesses to have this pledge redeemed.
We also believe that when the tariff
bill Is finally passed it will be one
that will be pretty generally salts
factory to the country at large, and
that is the basis upon which such a
measure must be honestly judged.