The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-09-26
THE DEsPIsED THEIR REFUGE.

| teTs are PpW cllHeiHH ioi itluEc "
provision Of the bunko tariff law which
they denied was intended to be as Pres
ident Taft has made il, and which cor
| tainly they never intended to be so ap-
Piled The chairman of the Connecti.
cut Republican State convention. Repre-.
sentative Ebenezer j. Hill. who was dis.
contented with the tariff bill as passed.
made tiresome speech in its defense.
presenting nothing new; but he present
y rallied TO the point of saving that
zone of the best points of the Payne
bill is its provision for a permanent tar
If board, But as is well known, and
as specifically pointed out by the New
York Journal of Commerce and CONNER
cial Bulletin, the PAYNE bill did not
provide for any permanent tariff board; I;
and when President Taft claimed that
he could appoint such board under
ITS provisions, number of the stalwart
standpatters Indignantly denied his au
thorIty to do so. They pointed out that
the provision for such board had been
voted down repeatedly. and that Con.
gress had no intention of providing such
a body. The very provision for such
board would necessarily mean discomfort
with the tariff law as passed, and a
confession that it vas not 'tthe best
tariff ever enactcd,' Since the stand
patters made this point against 1t, of
course they could not consistently agree
to the creation of tariff board TO re-
wise this "bcst work. -
There was, however, in the bill an
inconspicuous and seemingly unlmpor"
tant clause providing for the employ"
ment of 'such persons as may be re-
CURED TO secure information TO assist
the President in applying the maximum
and minimum provisions, and the Off
GERS of the Government in the admins.
tratlon of the customs law Mani
testify this is altogether different thing
from the tariff commission or board
which President Taft has turned the
appointment of "such persons" into.
The appointment of persons to help the
President in interpreting the present
aw and in applying the maximum and
minimum rates, and assisting the port
officials in the administration of the
customs. is quite a different proposition
rom the appointment of the tariff board
% investigate and make recommends |
ions as to the customs, rates and du-
les that ought TO be imposed. This
after is a board Of original investiga
Ion and of inquiry as to what ought |
o be done respecting tariff rates The |
'ther, the appointment provided for in !
he new tariff law, was simply the pro
'lding of experts to apply the law as
% marked that it was with the utmost |
lifhcultv that President Taft secured |
he appropriation that he desired to put |
lis tariff board to work.
The standpatters by no means relished |
he position in which the President |
placed them, and the American Tariff |
league was expressly depunciatory of |
nm for so constituting the law as to al |
ow him TO appoint such board as he
lcsired. They claimed that he had no
uthoriry to make such appointment,
nd that tho very appointment of such
board challenged the work done by
congress, and implied further revision
f the tariff in the near future. Other
yiee there would be nothing for this
commission appointed by the President
o do, Manifestly, President Taft has no
Intention of having this tariff commits
ion mere executive clerks TO give ad-
ice as TO the enforcement of the pres
mt law. On the contrary, he disconnects
hem entirely from the official admin
stration of that law, and puts them to
evising a new system Of tariff sched-
les which he hopes will relieve the
ountry from the exactions and impo.
iIlons of the present law. His idea is
o take the tariff schedules up one by
ne. and with the expert advice of this
'oard, remodel the tariff rates, sched-
lie by schedule, until all are brought
he President an enormous power over
ariff legislation, and, agreeable as it
nay be to him, il was extremely dis
asteful TO the standpatters, But now.
0 and behold, they change their atti-
ude completely, and urge this rejected
nd ins significant provision carried in
he tariff bill. as the chief virtue of the
nactmenti II is complete confession
f the futiity of the work through
shich the bunko tariff law that we now
ave was enacted. and it is remark
BILE evidence OF the weakening of the
tandpatters in their presentation Of
heir attempted defense of the new tar