New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-13
PAYNE DEFENDS TARIFF
Meets Each Objection of Any
Force to Law He Drew.
TRUE DOWNWARD REVISION
Advises Colleagues to Discuss
the Measure on Its Merits
in Campaign.
TFrom The Tribune Bureau. ]

in Campaign.
From The Tribune Bureau
Washington. May l2-Many Of those Re
puhiicans in the House who have reared
that the Payne tariff bill would prove
fatal issue in the coming ConsTesslona
campaign took heart to-day after listening
for two hours 10 g defence OF that measure
by its author REPRESENTATIVE Serene T.
Payne, OF New York.
Without equivoca ton and without apof
ogy. Mr.. Payne plunged into discussion
of the hill. schedule by schedule He tooH
cognizence Of every important objection
that has been made 10 the measure, placed
statistics in the record TO prove his con
tentions and declared that President Tar
was absolutely justified in the assertion
that the law was the best tariff law ever
enacted" He deplored the constant mis-
representation to which the bin has beer
subjected. and warned his colleagues thai
the safest method of meeting the tariff,
issue was TO go upon the stump and dis
cuss the bill on its merits. He showed that
the ad valorem duties In the Payne bill
were at least 3 per cent lower than those
in the Dingley law, exclusive of the various
articles which have been placed on the
free list
In delivering his speech Mr.. Payne was
requested by Representative Clark, the mi
noritv leader TO take his stand in front
of the Speakers table, and from that point
of vantage he held the attention of an IN
usually large audience for more than two
hours.
In opening Mr.. Payne declared that the
Republican psrty's pledge 10 revise the
tariff downward had been fulfilled, and that
from any point of xiew the law showed a
reduction in rates. There were some IN
creases. he said. for which no apologies
were made: they were necessary for the
revenue. The commodities on which the
rates were REDUCED. Mr. Payne asserted
represented ten times the value OF the
Injuries on which the rates were increased;
II was true downward revision, but the law
had been nnisrepresented by politicians with
campaign capital 20 make and by tradesmen
grasping for pelf The high cost of living.
he declared was due to overproduction of
gold. and was not commsn 10 the United
States. but was consistently paralleled in
Europe.
The Sources of Attack.
INSTRUMENTATION began said Mr..
PAYNE, when the conference report came
IL. Now and then Il started from the
trsdesnlan who wanted TO increase the
price of his goods and give the tariff as
the reason. In ninety-nine cases out Of a
hundred the assertion false. as the
tariff had reduced the duty on the goods
he was selling. Before the bill was passed
retailers of woollen goods started the story
that an increase in the tariff had increased
the price OF their goods. Not a single in
crease was made in a single rate Of duty
in the whole woollen schedule.
The first requisite Of a good tariff Mr..
Payne continued. rs that It must meet the
expenditures Of the government. From the
day the bill went into effect il has accom-
plished all that was predicted for il.
The prices of commodities said the
speaker. have been increasing for years
The world over. One reason for the ad-
vance is not only the great increase in the
production OF gold. but the cheaper meth
DDS 90 producing II. The supply is greater
than the demand and is obtained with less
cost. AS gold is the measure of all values
the commodities are higher because OF its
- decrease in value. This accounts, in part,
for the general increase in prices. The in
cresses in price are upon articles on which
the duty has been lowered by the present
Law else remain where they were under
the Dingley law. All kinds of farm prod
ucus, meats, butter. eggs. poultry, all foods,
hides. feathers, shoes and raw cotton show
reductions in duty and increases in price.
II is hardly possible" Mr.. Payne said,
TO take q single item in the tariff and
show g direct increase from the rates Of
duty. Investigations into food prices show
This conclusiveIy. The increases in prices
are fully paralleled by increase in the same
articles abroad. II the tariff has increased
g- 10.
z newspapers from Maine 10 California
published tables showing that the cost of
living was decreasing all along thu liner?
Shows Increase in Imports.
Then Mr. Payne presented a series OF fig
ures and tables showing the specific reduc-
tons made from the rates Of the Dingey
law. He went on 10 show the increases in
imports under the new tariff, comparing its
first six months results with those of the
corresponding six months under the Ding
ley law. he presented table showing in
creases in imports ranging from 10 TO lo(
per cent in hides iron ore pig iron. tin
plate, machinery, leather and lumber
Ar. Payne criticised the press Of the
country for its attitude On the pulp paper
situation with Canada. He referred to the
duty Of 50 20 q ton imposed by the new law
on print paper and declared:
We are criticised because we did not 1x
the duty ct 81 ton and close our paper
mills, in The vain hope that Canada might
remove her eTnbargoes on exports of wood
pulp. Now sne IS extending her embargo
and with a great many of CUR mills closed
by strikes there IS a scarcity of paper. II
is evident that the situation csn be re-
leved only by some agreement made be-
tween the Executive and the Canadian au-
thorities, 10 be ratified by Congress
We have. them" continued Mr.. Payne
a tariff law that fulflls the pledges Of the
platform, that produces sufficient revenue
TO meet our expenditures. that has dis.
csrded In the various Schedules that il re-
vised all the duties which have become
unnecessary because CT changed condi-
lions: which corrected the errors and loop
holes through which many articles OF
high value escaped the duty intended and
came in under a nominal duty; which car.
ries out the measure Of protection enun.
ciated N the Republican platform; which
by its maximum and minimum provision
has opened the CAFES OF the world 10 oul
merchants and manufacturers; and which
above al, shuts up no factory, puts oui
no furnace fires, stops 40 wheels OF indus
Try and ceprives man of his daily wage
The law" said the speaker, has
brought prosperity TO the farmer who
never in our history has enjoyed the pros
h. fO,-s to-day II bas hrai,e,-