The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-09
BILL IS READY.
Tariff Measure Prepared by the
House Committee.
Has Been Printed But Contents
Are Kept Secret.
WE MUST HAVE MONEY
Question of Revenue Certain to
Prove a Big Factor.
Some Talk of Going Back to
the War Taxes.
WE MUST HAVE MONEY

washington March 9.-Because or
the ironbound oath which has been ta-
ken by the members of the ways and
means committee of the house of rep
resentatives little definite information
has leaked out as to the actual pro-
visions of the tariff bill. which is known
to be ready for submission at the op-
ening of the extra session, March 10,
next.
Never in the history of the framing
of tariff measures have the RepubH-
can members been so successful IN
keeping actual terms and provisions
from publication. This accomplishment
is the more remarkable in view of the
fact that the first print of the bill has
come from the government printing OF.
flee and each Republican member OF
the committee has copy OF 1t. A copy
of the bill has been placed IN the nandS
of President Taft or at least its general
provisions with a view of familiarlzlng
him with the general lines along Whlcn
the Republicans have been working.
The effort at secrecy for the bill was
carried to the extent of swearing IN a
special corps of printers at the gov
ernment printing office, and after this
in dividing up the manuscript OF the
bill in such small takes" for each
printer that any one individual printer
can gain only the most vague idea as
to what it is all about.
Where Cuts Have Been Made.
In general it has become known that
a cut has been made on all iron except
steel billets, and they have been placed
on the free list. The duty on leather
has been much reduced, as has the
duty on woolens and window glass.
There has been a marked increase on
pottery of the better grades, and the
bill as now tentatively drawn places
lumber on the free list, but this is ex-
pected to be changed by compromise
within the committee membership so
that a duty of a dollar a thousand will
be placed on lumber importations.
Wood pulp duties will be greatly re-
duced if the product is not placed en-
tirely on the free list. Unless placed on
the free list there will be a floor fight
over the item, which will be greatly
prolonged in view of the special investi-
cations which were made by Represen-
tative Mann and his special commit
tee, appointed by Speaker Cannon for
The bin comes nearer being a
revenue tariff than any measure ever
before put forward by the Republican
party. While the. Republican MEM
did not lose sight of the protective
principle, yet their work in connection
with this new measure has been done
with the impressive fact ever in the
foreground that it must yield $780,
100000 a year revenues.
Deficit of $13O,OOO,OOO Probable.
Confronted by a big deficit in the
public finances the committee has
realized from the first that from $780,
100000 to $6O,OOO,OOO year more
than is now being collected on i'm
ports must be raised by means of the
tariff. Increased tariff revenues mean
decreased imports and imports are
only stimulated by reduced rates The
logical conclusion is lower schedules.
On March the deficit in the pub
lie revenues was $S6,OOO,O0O. At this
rate it will be $13O,OOO,00O at the close
of the fiscal year, June 80. The
receipts from customs this year to
date have been $d95' 1000, 900; last year
falling off of $11,OOO,OOO from this
source. Facts like these have de-
manded the attention of the ways
and means committee in the framing
of the bill, as have also the growing
expenses of the government. The