Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-31
REVISION OF TARIFF
IN The UNITED STATES

IN financial matters the United States
and Great Britain ran parallel, with
the only difference that our fiscal dis
cussion centered. not around so-called
budget, but the revision of the tariff.
Pursuant to the pledges of the platform
on which he was elected, President TAFT
Immediately following his inauguration
March as Mr.. Ro. sevelt's successor,
called Congress in extra session March
Is for the express purpose of revising the
tariff without delay, with the twofCld
object of living up to the republican plat
form promises to revise the tartn ana
satisfying the need OF an actutiiy III
creasing revenue, the government dencil
being estimated all the way from soo'oV''-
OOO to $1CO.OU,OOD.
Committees of both houses had been In
session during the latter part or the
Roosevelt administration taxing teSl,
mony on the impending REVISION. anu
April 9 the first draft of the Dill, known
House. July the Senate passed the Dill
with amendments, most OF when raiseu
the House duties, either by restoring lne
old tariff rates or increasing the latter. AS
a result from the date of the Senate ac-
ton until the bill was finally passed py
both houses and signed by the President,
August 5, Mr.. Taft had his hands run
trying to persuade all hands TO meet the
popular demand for revisl o. WnWaiu
and the republican party pledges Tor suGm
revision where needed. With the Dill
signed Mr. Taft issued statement IN
which he declared that in large measure
1t met the wishes # the people: Il UT DAYS
later the bill went into eHect: ana,
whether due to the new Din, VI 70 .uo
resumption Of general prosperity, G Incl
dent with the year itself. the government
revenues manifested marked mere Sc
shortly after the new rates went into eI-
feet.
New American Legislation.
Two features of the new bill have been
lwelt upon by its friends both In and OUT
If the administration as being new ano
If great Importance. One Is the pro-
vision for a tax upon corporations, ana
he other was the authorization for the
,ppointment of a tarin commission,
which should assist the President in de-
termining how to enforce the maximum
and minimum features of the bill, and to
collect and prepare data for use in future
tariff LEGISLATION. The President named
as the members Of this commission Prof.
Henry c. Emery. James B. REYNOLDS and
Alvin H. Sanders. He defended the cor.
poration tax as affordng means or
Carrying out the publicity policies inaugu-
rated under Roosevelt
Another piece of Taft-recommended leg
islation that developed during the tariff
deliberations was the passing of an au-
thorization for q vote Of the states on an
ton The amendment was at once acted
upon in the state Of Alabama, where here, 1T
ture and signed by the governor by Au-
gust 9 Mr.; Taft received the cordial ,1
a public call to democrats to aid in the
passing Of the amendment and the en-
forcing of the corporation tax. Incl
dentally Mr.. Bryan severely excoriated
the democrats who detected in the mat
ter of the speakership and cast the de-
Gliding votes for Mr.. Cannon.
This fight over the speakership was
really the start. in both houses, of a seri-
our division of attitude among the repub-
leans over the proper way of revising
the tariff. Certain republicans in the
House, who had rebelled during the pre-
vious sessions of Congress against the |
domination of the Speaker. crystalixed
INTO a strong and united group at the out |
set of the extra session and only missed |
Joseph g. Cannon for rs-elec-