Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1909-01-22

learn much about ii al IA hast ana
cursory examinat u on. The house 81
Iepre lib q rapidly changing
body ava and means committee
since the ciyilSWar has cont tanned any
i lmber Of men who had had any pre-
tious experience IN tart making. Each
committee was new to It's task. A
tariff bill is made BY the majority
members Of the ways and means com
nittee. the minority being excused
from attendance while the work lis III
progress. \. +
:1% Congress, In refusing to establish
the machinery necessary to the secur.
Ing and collection Of exact and under.
lying information In the making Of the
Of whose revenues come from the ex-
cesses Of loosely made tariffs. .E5 s:5 !.
5 The present ways and means com.
mittee has upon it only two men who
have had previous experience In tariff.
making, Chairman Payne and Mr.. Dali
zell. .r..t. Es%@, 8. a. MI
Contrast the probabilities of their
accomplishment with what was done
in Germany: There a body of twenty
experts worked five years in the pre-
paration of the German tariff, con.
sulting in that time 1000 other ex-
perts. Their inquiry was exhaustive,
non-partisan, semi-judicial. No proof,
no protection" was their requirement.
The incest possible balance was made
between all interests. domestic and
foreign. The report of this commits
sion was held up by the German
Reichstag many months, for there, ais
here, the right to make a tariff rests
with the legislative body. In the end,
however, the legislature made only
one change of consequence in the bill
as recommended by the commission.
The Agrarians gave it an unfair twist
to their benefit and in so far to the
national hurt. Excepting in this res
pect the bill has proved almost perfect,
and is, in extreme degree, the cause
of the marvellous advancement of Ger
many as manufacturing nation and
a world power commercially. No
more beneficient and intelligent legis-
lation in commercial directions has
been vouchsafed any nation.
Fifty years ago.. before we had
trusts, it made small difference how
high the tariff was, for the consumer
was protected by internal competition.
AS governor of Massachusetts, said
twenty-five years ago, What differ
ence would it make if the tariff. on
four-cent cotton was $1,000 q yard?"
None, because cheap cottons were
made in this country at the lowest pos
sible cost and, under competition, sold
at that cost plus q very small profit.
In competition only the consumer
found protection And let us not. for
get that the consumer requires protec-
ton even as a condition precedent, to
special legislation protecting the man
ufacturer or any other class. When,
however, congress makes a dutylaso
high as to be prohibitive of imports
it shuts out foreign competition, leaves
the domestic consumer wholly depend.
ent upon: home production and sub
ject to trust exploitation y5. ~ sx.$2 #fs
protective tariff is supposedly given
primarily for the benefit of labor. III
should measure, as Mr.. Taft insists
the difference in the cost of production
here and abroad. y.E n -sa%&. u
1t is clear beyond question, thai
every big trust gets about one-fourt1
of its selling price by grace Of congress
at the expense Of the consumer, ant
that congress must change its ways
,, or Independent endeavor must entireI,
, cease in the more important form.
of production, as it is rapidly ceasing
This does not mean that protection
shall be withdrawn from trusts, fol
they and their workmen are as mucl
entitled to protection as are others
, 1t does, mean,. however, that ON
law, the Sherman act, shall not de
clare trusts and combinations in res
traint of trade criminal. and anothe
law, being the tariff, offer an extrem'
inducement for the formation Of trust
In violation of the other law. i.
/ The question is largely whether con
gress shall hear the voice Of the pee
pie or shall longer listen to the insist
emit, and heretofore comp ling voic
| OF: great private interests. What fa
been every ones business has been n
ones business. We must have q CON
mission to control the tariff, or So
| must do away with protection, an JIG
possible alternative. Tarif-mak king i
Its formative steps must be taken o,l
OF the realm Of politics away fror