The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1910-12-20

CuCO &EduNCu us
ager, to present the following story
dealing with the views of President
Taft upon the permanent tariff COM
mission and the future meaning OF
the Panama Canal to American citi-
zens.)
Copyright, 1910, By United Press
Associations.)
Washington, Dec. 2O.-The purpose
of this article is to give newspape er
readers an intimate personal view CT
their President, William Howard
Taft, just as If it were possible for
each one to call Hpon him, today. at
the White House and talk over the
affairs uppermost in his mind 1t is
designed to bring the reader face to
face with the President so that lie
may hear why Mr.. Taft is fighting an
effort to destroy his non-part1san per-
manent tariff commission plan. 1t
purposes to let the reader hear, from
him, the reasons why every Ameri-
can should swell with pride at the
successful construction of the great
Panama Canal.
The writer found the Presidont
busily engaged, confronted on all
sides by the appeals of COngressme en-,
the chickering's Of, politicians and the
demands OF off1ce-seekers. and Yet,
withall, serene. earnest and cheer
fully optimistic.
Chief Magistrate was quickly concen-
trated upon the subjects which the
caller suggested for discussion. He
was all attention and all interest, and
whether talking personally or listen
ing, was always alert, enthusiastic
and forceful.
The visitor was seated and i'm
mediately put at his ease by the
Presidents geniality. Then followed
a conversation. bearing upon two SUBJ
iects, chosen from dozens of possible
topics The permanent tariff COM
mission was taken up first. Tn ,
President firstly gave his personal
opinion and beliefs which form the
basis of hts earnest hope of making
the commission an accomplished fact.
A White House rule prohibits the di-
rect quotation of the President but
i'm the following, attempt is made
faithfully to give his ideas as he eX-
pressed themeto the writer.
thrift COMMISSION
The permanent tafM commits
sion will provide the necessary =
basis for Intelligent tariff legis-
lation, no matter by. what party
or to what end. If the Demo-
Gratis are Champ Clark''s and not
'Chump" Clarks, they will sup
port it. No scientific revision of
the tariff is possible without the
true facts upon which to base it
and the facts are obtainable in
Otnef way. lI IS DeyOnQ
ability of any body of men, work
ing temporarily on the tariff, to
collect and digest the vast amount
of detailed Information which
must be considered in the max
ing of q tariff.
The tariff commission will be a
permanent Institution where. from
year to year the data and in
formation in such work, will be
inserted, catalogued and digest
l. ~, g. ~ Ixr
for instant USE It will be to the
tariff what the Congressional
Library is to literature. You
can send note to the library
saying you are working upon a
certain subject and you are I'M
mediately provided with all the
best reference books and records
on that topic.
without such a library, how
long and how hopeless a. task
would it be to obtain full and
accurate information by running
through a volume here. and a
volume there. and skimming
through file Of newspapers,
without system and without
knowledge as to what might
have been overlooked?
1t Is in such helter-skelter
fashion. however. that tariffs
must be made, II the permanent
commission is not established.
The countries of Europe have
tariff bureaus where all the rec
ords Of the schedules are kept
and where data is constantly
gathered and kept up to date At
moments notice complete in
formation regarding the cost of
production of any given article in
any part Of the country can be
obtained.
What difference does it make
whether the Democrats or the
Republicans are engaged in tariff
legislation? The work cannot be
properly accomplished without
the facts upon which it is based.
Without the tariff commission,
the making of a tariff must be
based upon, such knowledge as
the various members are able to
obtain and inevitably, in such
event, the Interests of one sec
ton of the country, as against
the interests of another. arise as
arguments that often over-shad-
ow the meagre facts that may
have been produced.
Senator Aldrich probably has
greater knowledge of the intri-
cacies Of the tariff than any
other man in America, yet he
cannot know all the details of
more than a few important
schedules The vast amount of
data and information that must
go into the making of tariff can
committee temporarily engaged
in such research. 1t must be the
work Of a permanent commits
sion.
The failure of Congess to sup
port the permanent Tariff COM
mission idea would be step
backward and make q scientific
revision impossible for years to
come. The matter has now pro-
greseed to the point where the
country is ready for it. If the
commission Is now ornament its
value will soon he appreciated on
all sides. 1t will never be dis
continued. If, for party reasons
the chief of which apparently
would be that the idea did not
originate with the Democrats
the Democrats are able to pre-
vent ii. many years may pass be-
fore the scientific consideration
of the subject reaches the point
where II would be opportune.
again.
While the plan to permit re-
vision of the tariff, schedule by
schedule, is necessary the estab-
lishment of the permanent COM
mission must come first
There are some difficulties, too.
confronting the schedule by