The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-28

ket. Farm mortgages were paid on;
sons and daughters were sent to the
university and to the agricultural col
1ege and to the state normal school.
and abroad to the other great univer-
stiles; education advanced; the edu-
cational genius of the nation was con-
stantly producing inventions to light
en- toll and to speed the laborer and
to manufacture power, until the world
was amazed at our progress.
Lessons the People Must Learn.
But Harrison said in his last mes
sage to congress, when the Demo-
cratic party was elected to power up
on that tariff for revenue platform,
| that there were some lessons which 1t
seemed that every generation must
learn for itself and that the bitter
school of experience was the only
school in which the children of men
would learn some things. So in the
year 1907, the year of our greatest
prosperity and our highest prices up
| to that time, began this clamor for
the revision Of the tariff. and in the
| spring of 1908 President Roosevelt
urged it, and the ways and means
committee obtained permission of the
house to sit during the summer and
prepare for it.
Making the Tariff Law.
ST had been appointed a member of
| that committee prior to that time and
counted it a high honor to Kansas and
to my district. Many other men were
seeking the position when I was ap-
pointed but the speaker, always in
hearty sympathy with the great agri-
cultural interests of this country, be-
| lieved that this great agricultural re-
gion should have a representative on
| the committee. From the time of my
appointment 1 had commenced gath
| tries in the world for examination. In
May, 1908, our committee began the
collection of tables showing all the i'm
| ports of every kind from every coun-
| try; the cost of them in the country
| from which they came; the value of
all that entered the customs houses
and the amount of revenue that they
paid. All American consuls made re-
ports of the cost of labor, the cost of
production of the things that were
shipped from their ports.
For two years representatives Sc
lected by the department of commerce
and labor had been travelling in Eu-
rope, visiting the wooden mills and cot
ton mills ano iron mills, endeavoring
to ascertain the cost of production, the
prices of labor and the cost of living.
The department of commerce and Ia
Dor for three years had its agents ex-
amining the books of the corporations
of the United States ascertaining the
amount invested, and the amount pro-
duced the wages and the cost of pro-
duction, and the profit.
1.-THE census bureau had compiled
for us the tables showing manufac-
lures of every kind and the number of
people employed. The clerks had
tabulated for us all the exports and
imports for the last fifteen years, and
laid them on our table.
Hearing From the Experts.
"On the 10th of November. after the
and began its open eharings. We in
vited everybody in this country to
come voluntarily before the committee
and show us why the tariff should be
revised, why it should be reduced or
increased. upon any and every item in
the bill and to show us when anything
should be taken from the free list and
put on the tariff list, or when any
thing should be takensfrom the tariff
list and put on the free list
''The importers came first, and were
usually clamorous for a reduction of
the tariff on the things they import.
They told us the prices which they
paid for things, and the prices at
which they sold them, but when they
were cross examined and questioned
down to the ultimate reason for asking
a reduction of the tariff nearly every
man of them answered in effect that
they wanted a reduction of the tariff
so that they could buy goods in for
eign countries and import them to this
country and undersell the American
manufacturer.
The Party'S Promise.
seNow, the promise of our party was
not merely revision, but also prOtec-
ton to the manufacturer. Protection
to the importer was not mentioned in
the platform.
| "Then the manufacturers came and
generally they asked that the rates in
| the Dingley tariff be maintained. Oc-
| casionally one stated that the condi-
tons of business would allow a reduc-
ton and explained why. Occasionally
one would ask an increase and explain
why. And in nearly every instance it
| was because of the conditions and cost
of labor in other countries and in this.
Then after the hearings, the commit
tee summoned other witnesses and
| took their testimony under oath.
when the hearings were concluded
even our opponents testified to the
fidelity with which the committee had
worked for months.
Champ Clark, in his opening speech
upon the bill, stated that he had prac-
ticed law manv years and tried be-
tween two and three thousand criminal
cases and he had never seen witnesses
put through a more severe cross ex-
animation than by the committee. and
bore testimony to the constant effort
truth Mr.. Payne. as chairman of the
committee, had served on four tariff
| revisions prior to this one, so that the
writing Of this tariff was as familiar
1900 pages of testimony, and each
days testimony was printed at night
and laid upon the tables and accessible
to all senators and members the next
morning.
Sub Committees Careful Work.
Then, because the Republican
party was to be responsible for the
law, the twelve Republican members
of the committee met as a sub-com-
mittee for the preparation of the bill.
We had before us the old law and all
the testimony and tables and statistics
Of which I have spoken, and the law
was read item by item from the begin
ming to the end. In that sub-commit-
tee we first agreed that none of its
discussions should be disclosed until
the bill was reported, and this agree
ment was faithfully kept. We next
agreed that in that subcommittee the
voice of the majority should decide
when there was any dispute about
rates, and this also was faithfully kept