The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1909-02-02
NATIONAL TARIFF COMMISSION

"A ~
The National Tariff Commission CON
vention, which is to meet in lndianap-
oils, beginning on February 10, is OF
especial Importance to business men III
general throughout the country, for
more than one reason.
1t will be the first national gather
ing ever held for the cypress purpose
of promoting the movement Tor com
prehensive. scientific tariff revision.
1t has called out from President
Roosevelt an expression In favor OF a
tariff revision.
And, what is of more direct consc-
ouence. it has drawn out a note in ia
vor of the commission from President
elect Taft, who will have to deal with
it as a practical proposition In the
extra session of congress, which he
will call in March.
Manufacturers and other producers
who need protection at all ought to
get what is required to give them a
fair profit, and at the SANE time TO
guard against all exigencies like trade
disturbances abroad, which might cut
prices of foreign goods down to abnor
mally low figures, and thus expose our
home producers to destructive compe-
triton. We need this in the interest of
our workers, and thus of the general
public. as well as in the interest of the
employers.
Then there is the revenue side to
consider. The government needs cash
Just as much as the manufacturers
need protection. Thus far in the fiscal
year the government S income has fall
en- nearly $s0,000,000 short of meeting
it's outgo. The shortage will probably
be in the ne~ighborhood of $l20,O00,o00
by the end of the year, on June 80, five
months hence, as compared with a
shortage of $5S, 000, 900 in the year
which ended last June.
Very careful study of the labor and
general trade conditions, abroad and at
home, will have to be made by capable
impartial men so as to ascertain the
relative cost of production in the VI
rious countries, and also the volume
of the output which they could con
tribute to the foreign of the
world. This will be necessary for pur-
poses of revenue as well as in the in
terest of protection. Free traders are
just as anxious to get this information
as are the champions of the tariff, and
they want it straight.
The chances to get a tariff commits
sion in the extra session of congress OF
1909 are better than they seemed to be
a few months in advance of the enact
ment of the law which CAV the coun'
try the commission which was appoint
ed in 1882, whose Investigations were
the basis on which congress shaped
the tariff bill which went OIL the stat
ute book in 1883. The commission idea
is receiving more attention from the
public than it obtained at that time
In having the great body of busoiness
men on its side, it has a more powerful
backing than it commanded then.
For many years the business OF the
country has been periodically unsettled
by threatened changes in the tariff
schedules. This has been particularly
noticeable in presidential election
years, when business is practically al
a standstill for a period of about a
year, beginning in the spring preceding
the election and lasting until the tariff
policy of the new administration has
been determined.
For many years the most learned sta
dents of economics in the country ha We
been of opinion that the proper way
to handle the tariff was by a commits
sion. somewhat similar to the railroad
commission. Such a body could make
a study of the whole question. ana
adjust the schedules from time to time
with no serious interference with the
business of the country.