Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-03-18
MUCH TESTIMONY TAKEN.
 IN TARIFF HEARING
Conflicting Interests Contend for Such Re- vision as Would Best Meet the Needs
 of Their Respective Industries

porters, manufacturers and agricuitur ists, and tariff experts appeared before the House Committee on Ways and Means at the various hearings which began on November 10 and continued daily until December 23, and also at several supplemental hearings. Some of the most prominent men in the manu- facturing and financial worlds present. ed testimony of a varied and interesting character In addition to this testi- mony there were thousands of briefs filed with the committee, which, added to the statistics furnished by the var ious government departments and agents sent abroad, together with special data compiled by Thomas J. Doherty, assistant counsel of the treas ury department, and Major Herbert M Lord, who was clerk of the ways and means committee when the Dingley tar if bill was framed, has given the com mittee information more complete than has ever been at the disposal of a tar if framing committee.
 Andrew Carnegie, Charles NJ. Schwab, Judge E. II. Gary, and other steel mag mates furnished the most interesting tes 1 timony. Mir. Carnegie, who caused con siderable discussion by proclaiming in magazine article, that the steel manu faeturers of this country do not need any tariff protection, was before the commission for nearly eight hours. His testimony, while witty and entertain | ing, did not offer the tariff makers much specific information regarding the cost of manufacturing steel rails and other articles of steel. He dealt largely in theories and deductions and avoided | figures. claiming he was not familiar with the details of the steel business at the present time, but spoke from his general knowledge gained in the busi- ness before he retired to private life.
 Judge Gary, who was one of the best equipped and most satisfactory witness es who appeared before the committee, preceded MT. Carnegie by several days. He declared that the independent steel manufacturers require tariff protection and said that if the duty on steel should be removed, the United States Steel Corporation, of whose board of direc- tors he is chairman, would secure a monopoly of the market. The cost of labor would be reduced, he said, if the tariff on steel was taken off entire 1 ly. In the course of his testimony Judge Gary declared in favor of gov erment control of manufacturers to pre- vent them from charging price which would give them more than fair re- turn on their investments.
 Mir. Sehwab, who was formerly presi- dent of the steel corporation, was one of the most earnest advocates for pro tection for the steel industry to appear before the committee. His replies to the questions of members of the com mittec were replete with figures and arguments. He declared that the Bess- emer process of steel manufacture will, within five years, be superseded by the Open Hearth process, which, he pre- dicted, will in turn be abandoned for the electric system of manufacture be. ing developed in Germany
 The agitation for free lumber by those in sympathy with the movement | for the conservation of the forests of the country resulted in strong appeal from the lumber interests of the south and the northwest. Representative Champ Clark of Missouri, the minority leader of the house, submitted the lum- Der nagnates to severe cross-examina. tions and these hearings were among the most interesting. T. B. Walker and Edward Hines, two of the largest lum. Der dealers in the northwest argued for the retention of the present duty on lumber, claiming that the United States cannot compete with Canada in faeil- ties for cheap transportation or cheap labor. 4 number of the southern lum- bernen also asked for protection, con tending that the cost of production has | increased.
 A severe arraignment of the so-callcd paper trust by John Norris, representing the American Newspaper Publishers association, and defense of the In ternational Paper company, by Chester ". A<y AAAuAiy siopiotdht " thC pio1iucut Ol the company, offered one of the sensa- tions of the hearings. The ways and means committed, while taking the keepest interest in the testimony, was disposed to depend upon the report of the special committee which conducted hearings on wood and pulp and print paper last year for the infromaton up on which to base it's conclusions regard ing the paper and pulp schedule. The proposition to have tho value of articles upon which an ad valorem duty is imposed determined by the whole sale prices in this country as well as the cost at the plac9 of production was first discussed at the hearings given the pottery interests. This method of col lecting the duties would permit the ap- praisers to call upon witnesses in this country for information which, under the present method of collecting ad val prem duties is not possible. The plan was advanced as a means for prevent ing under valuations, of which there has been complaint wherever ad valo- I