The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-01-04
cARNEG1E's Jokes" ON THE TARIFF.

1.-The way to solve the tariff question is to grasp and
weigh the broad facts and not become beogged over
minor details''
This is the gist of Andrew Carnegies all day talk
with the ways and committee; and had he said
nothing else his testimony would still have been of more
real value than all the rest that has been offered.
Carnege's testimony has been widely heralded Al
series of jokes and jests But let's remember that one
doesn't need to pull long face to tell the truth
Joke can be bullet of fact and jest touch off dyna
mite of truth The substance Of what he said with smiles
must strike the tariff advocates anything but funny
1t well worth not only careful perusa but more careful
reperusal
The committee has been stuffed with an immense
bulk of indgestbe details of the costs and conditions in
the steel business, and lot is still to come Carnegie
applied this stomach pump:
Ii you going to that You gentlemen who
know nothing about Steel cursory examination of
the case get at the facts you deuding yourselves
And then he administered this strong tonic
1.-The steel company in their last report stated that
they made something 100000 of steel of vari
GUS forms, and their profits 158O0O00O Now
does not take much figuring to show that this is $3.50
profit for every ton they have sold Does that enter into
your brans?''
A choice ioke-eh? If all jokes were as serious as
that the high tariff beneciares would all soon perish of
confirmed melancholy.
The next most essential fact for the committee to
know Carnegie said is the cost of making steel Eng
land and of its transportation to the of population
In this country 1t will be found he declared that herein
is a natural protection which congress cannot
remove.
From this viewpoint, he smilingly suggested it may
easily be that the only competition which the smaller
steel manufacturers of this country suffer is precisely
the competition they suffer now, and that is domes
tic competition not foreign
Speaking of these smaller companies about whose
welfare the present head of the great steel
tends to be very solicitous Carnegie sad
Remember, am who believes that the total abol-
on of the duties steel will not affect of these
panes perhaps, to extent There not of
these companies pennsylvania Cambria and Lacka-
wanna that not in the business before the Carnegie
Steel Co and it is not the policy of any government
to codde and nurse inefficient management These COM
panes have had opportunities to get into position to
compete with anything and if the government is going to
bolster up the inefficient then it is bad outlook for the
position of America in the steel business
In all the tariff discussion of generation after genera
on it has been contended by high tariff advocates that
the consumer does not pay the tax Carnegie himself the
greatest beneficiary of high tariff the world has known
had this to say that point: ... f.. .....
ga protective duty, in its nature and in its object,
peans that the has to pay higher price than
he otherwise would for the articles protected"
He blamed the tariff for combinations and pro-
nounced the trust problem the greatest problem the
The public has fallen into bad habit Of damning off
hand as insincere any utterances of very rich
gardng his business Carnegie himself warned the
committee to beware of interested witnesses.
But none can read Carnegies testimony without be-
ing convinced that he is only sincere but in deadly
earnest, and that he knows exactly what he is talking
about If reading does not bring this conviction
ond will and it is worth second reading anyway.