Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1910-12-09
OUR TARIFF BOARD
EXPLAINS ITS ACCOMPLISH
MENTS so FAR.
Great Business Men Of Central West
Entertained by Chicago Commerce at
Banquet-H. g. Emery, Chairman Of
Tariff Work, Tells Of Investigation
and What Board Expected to Do.

Deprecating with equal emphasis the
idea that careful and impartial tariff
investigation will ring the death knell
of American prosperity and the counter
view that the "new method of tariff
making" will have all the evils of SO.
ciety, Henry c. Emery, chairman of
President Taft's new tariff board. re.
Gently explained at length the work of
that body at dinner in Chicago by
the Chicago Association of Commerce.
Banqueters Big Men.
Scores of the biggest business men
of the central west were guests at
the banquet and listened with marked
attention to the exposition of Chair.
man Emery and his two fellow mem.
bers of the tariff board, James b
Reynolds and Alvin H. Sanders, in the
first authoritative statement of what
has been accomplished and what it is
hoped to accomplish through their in
vestigation. Chairman Emery asserted
the perfect independence of his board.
Investigation Not Biased.
Facts are what we are after,' he
said, "and the only influence that can
be brought to bear upon us is the in
fuence of facts.'
Speaking generally of what the tariff
board has done and of what it hopes
to accomplish, Mr.. Emery said in part:
81 wish to appeal to you to keep
a sane sense of proportion in regard
to the work of the tariff board. I'm
fortunately, there has been great ex-
aggeration on both sides as to the in
fiuence for good or for evil of tariffs
themselves, of tariff makers and of
tariff Investigators. There are those
who think that the only cause of hu-
man welfare is a protective tariff, and
there are those who think that protec.
ton is the chief cause of human misery.
Figures Not Sufficient.
"The tariff question is one of bust
ness and not mathematics. The fact
remains that sound tariff Judgment
cannot be formed without detailed sta
tistical knowledge. In the case of
standardized products the facts regard
ing costs of production are of impera-
tive Importance, and we propose to get
them. Without judgment, statistics are
useless; without statistics, judgment is
unreliable.
Actual Costs Considered.
cone thing we wish to make per-
fectly plain, and that is that we in
| b opI ~
with hypothetical or average costs.
Every practical man knows that costs
vary not only from factory to factory,
but from month to month in the same
factory We are sometimes asked,
(Which cost will you take, the highest
or the lowest; the January cost or the
July costa The answer is that we shall
not select any one, but shall carefully
consider all, attempting to give to each
its due significance. We can never
work out figure in dollars and cents
and say, This is the cost of produc-
ton But from all the figures we can
get knowledge of cost conditions,
which will be both comprehensive and
practical.
Instability of Board.
"The present weakness of the tariff
board lies not so much in the extent
of it's powers as in the uncertainty as
to the perpetuation of such powers in
the future.
cit is, however, of the utmost i'm
lportance that it should be established
on permaennt basis; that its mem
bers be appointed solely for their ca
pacity efficiently to deal with economic
questions of this nature without bias
of any kind; and that its duties and
powers should ultimately be defined by
law in such way as to make them IN
dependent of the good will of any in
dividual and free from the influence