The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-07-26

secretary OF the OnlO HepuDl1Can
Convention.
both houses of congress, with one ex.
ception, voted for 1t; an Ohio Repub-
!ican president signed It. II remains
for the Republicans of Ohio to fight
for it. We refuse to be stampeded
We have fought the preliminary fight,
let us prepare for the final battle.
This is no "stand.pat" program that
| am advocating. II is a program of
progress, not of reaction. The Payne
tariff law as 1t stands today, fortified
by the tariff commission, with ample
funds to carry out its functions, is no
"stand-pat" law. II is an immense
advance In the direction of a thor
oughly scientific American tariff. A
tariff which, while yielding ample
revenue, while maintaining the Amer
lear wage scale, while enabling the
American producer to compete in the
American market with the foreign
producer, will place as little burden
as possible upon the consumer of
articles of daily necessity.
Tariff Commission.
The tariff commission, or board, as
you may choose to call Il, is a new
feature in recent tariff legislation,
and it is well worth while to examine
in some detail its history and funo.
tiops.
In section two Of the Payne law,
which relates to maximum and mini
mum rates and imposes Gpcp the
president the duty of ascerta aiming
whether or not foreign nations are
discriminating against our products,
It is provided that he may appoint
persons to assist him in the investi-
cation of these facts. Other sections
Of the bill confer additional powers
in the way of investigating the cost
of production, both here and abroad,
Of articles in which we compete with
foreign nations. Acting upon ;he au.
thority conferred by these sections
the president appointed a tarif COM
mission, primarily for the purpose of
adjusting the maximum and mini.
mum provision which, under tho law,
had to be settled on before the 31st
day of last March.
How successful the work OF this
commission was in backing up the
president in the investigation Of con.
ditions and in the securing of conces-
sions from foreign countries is best
evidenced by the fact that before the
31st of March the president was in a
position to make proclamation that
no foreign nation was discriminating
unduly against the products OF the
United States; that all foreign ma
tions were according to IFS good
treatment as they were according to
each other and that they were all en-
tiled, therefore, to the benefits of our
minimum tariff.
But this was only a part of the
functions OF the tariff commission.
They did not stop there. The presi-
dent construed the law to give them
power to conduct thorough and SCI
entific investigation into the cost of
production OF all articles. both here
with other nations. This power, how
ever, was doubted by some who did
not favor the creation OF such com
mission, and In order to make assur-
ance doubly sure an item was insert
ed in the sundry civil bill clearly de-
fining the powers of the board To In.
vestigate foreign and domestic costs
and appropriating s250.oOO. which win
be expended annually for this pur-
pose,
This proposition received the. solid
support of the Republican party in
the house and senate and was op
posed by the united Democratic
party
That this marks an immense step
In advance In tariff legislation, II
seems to me no thinking man can
doubt, We have never had scien-
tifically accurate tariff under either
Republican or Democratic admins.
tration, simply because neither party
has had the necessary information to
make one.
Under the circumstances, do not
regard II as a disbursement OF the
|sRAyno iasxssto frankly admit that in
many respects 1t Ii not scientifically