The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1909-12-23
making in the light of adequate infor-

making in the light of adequate infor-
nation.
Senator Hale, Of the committee on
appropriations Of the senate, has al
ready indicated a determination to-
resist the appropria- ion of public
money for purposes of the tariff board
as at present constituted, or for any
expansion of that body into the pro-
portion of an adequate tariff com
mission.
1t was not the intention Of the high
tariff people that the tariff board
should be Of any particular service to
the president. They yielded to the in
corporation of the provisions relating
to this tariff board only under the
heaviest pressure and with the idea
that such a board would not amount
to anything. even IL created. The
President, however, has plainly resolv.
ed that it shall amount to something;
that it shall be of service to him in
the difficult and responsible duties i'm
posed by the administration features
of the bill; and, furthermore, has in
timated a purpose to press on for a
larger and more adequate commission
for the study Of the whole tariff ques-
ton.
This the high prot~ectionists do not
want, and their representatives in the
senate are determined to resist. 1t is
a significant commentary on the mer-
it's Of the new tariff that it's friends
should not favor and should even go
to the extent of attempting to defeat
any movement looking to such in
v~estigation as will develop the facts
as to the fairness of existing tariff
schedules. 1t Is none the less bold
and audacious to persist in resisting
the tariff commission idea in the face
of the prevailing dissatisfaction with
the new tariff law and the well.
grounded conviction that it was made
up practically without regard for any
other interests than protected inter-
ests.
Nevertheless, 1t is safe to say that
no other tariff law will ever be made
In the way the Payne-Aldrich bill was
constructed. No governing party will
ever dare again to foist upon the
country a protective measure framed
with such monumental contempt for
any other interest than the favorites
Of protection. And the president is
proceeding along a line calculated to
produce results of the most important
and permanent character, If he will
stand firmly by his idea of tariff MAX
ing in the light of the facts and not
In the dark; of putting the whole tar
if making business, so far as the de-
veloping of facts is concerned. into
the hands of a sufficient number of ex-
perts, who, distributing the various
schedules among different groups,
shall be able to go thoroughly into
such questions as the cost Of produc-
ton at home and abroad, the justif-
cation of aiding home industries at
more or less expense to home con
sumers, and the adjustment of rates
in the interest Of the many, rather
than for the benefit Of the few.
When he shall have established that
principle and that practice as a nec-
essary and inevitable precedent to
congressional action, and shall have
provided for the laying Of all the facts
upon which congressional action as
to the tariff is based, before the pub
lie, he will have robbed tariff changes
of their terrors for the business world
and will have accomplished something
that will cause his administration to
be remembered with great favor
st. PAU Dispatch.