Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-12-29
fAv0RS LOWERING
OF TARIFF RATES
PRESIDENT TAFT, IN MESSAGE TO
CONGRESS, ADVOCATES RE.
DUCTION OF DUTIES.
SCHEDULE K UNDER FIRE
IN Communication to Congress, Chief
Executive Endorses Conclusions
Arrived at by the Recently
Created Tariff Board.

Washington.-In transmitting to
congress the report Of the tariff board
on schedule X the president accom-.
panied 1t with the following message:
To the Senate and House Of Representa-
tves:
In my annual message to congress, De-
oember, 1903. I stated that under section
= OF the act of August 6, 1909. 1 had ap-
pointed a tariff board Of three members
to cooperate with the state department
In the administration OF the maximum
and minimum clause OF that act, to make
q glossary OF encyclopedia of the exist
Ing tariff so as to render its terms intel
As1ble to the ordinary reader and then
to investigate industrial conditions and
costs of production at home and abroad.
with a view to determining to what ex-
tent existing tariff rates actually exem-
pity the protective principle, viz: That
duties should be made adequate, and only
adequate. to equalize the difference in cost
OF production at home and abroad.
I further stated that I believed these in
vestigatfons would be of great value as a
basis for accurate legislation, and thai I
should from time to time recommend to
congress the revision Of certain sched-
!, ules In accordance with the findings OF
the board.
In the last session of the Sixty-first con-
&ress a bill creating a permanent tariff
board of five members, of whom not
more than three should be Of the same
political party. passed each house, but
failed of enactment because Of slight diff
ferences on which agreement was not
reached before adjournment. An appro-
pr1ation act provided that the permanent
tariff board, If created by statute. should
report to congress on schedule K In De-
cember, 1911.
Presidential Appointments.
within my power the purposes of this
bill for a permanent tariff board, I ap-
pointed In March, 1911, a board Of five.
adding two members of such party affli-
alton as would have fulfilled the statu-
tory requirements, and directed them to
make a report to me on schedule K Of
the tariff act in December of this year.
In my message Of August II. 1911, ac-
~companytng the veto of the wool bill. I
said that, in my judgment. schedule K
should be revised and the rates reduced.
My veto was based on the ground that,
since the tariff board would make, in
December, a detailed report on wool and
wool manufactures with special refer
ence to the relation Of the existing rates
of duties to relative costs here and
abroad, public policy and a fair regard
to the interests Of the producers and the
manufacturers on the one hand and OF
the consumers on the other demanded
that legislation should not be hastily en-
acted in the absence Of such information;
that I was not myself possessed at that
time of adequate knowledge Of the facts
to determine whether or not the proposed
act was in accord with my pledge to
support a fair and reasonable protective
policy; that such legislation might prove
only temporary and inf1ict upon a great
industry the evils Of continued uncer-
tainty.
Advocates Reduction of Rates.
I now herewith submit a report Of the
tariff board on schedule X. The board Is
unanimous in its findings. On the basis
Of these findings I now that
the congress proceed to a consideration
OF this schedule with a view to Its rev1-
sion and a general reduction Of its rates.
The report shows that the present
method of assessing the duty on raw
wool-this is, by the specific rate on the
grease pound, /. e., ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to
exclude woods of high shrinkage in
securing, but fine quality. from the
American market and thereby lessons the
range of woods available to the domestic
manufacturer that the duty on unsecured
wool of SO cents per pound is prohibitory
and operates to exclude the importation
of clean, low-priced foreign woods Of in
ferior grades, which are nevertheless val
liable material for manufacturing, and
which cannot be imported in the grease
because Of their heavy s~hrinkaee. Such
woods, If imported, might be used to dis
place the cheap substitutes now In use.
To make the preceding paragraph a lit
tie palmer, take the instance Of a hun
dred pounds of first-class wool imported
under the present duty, which is IL cents
a pound. That would make the duty on
the hundred pounds 81. The merchan-
disc part of the wool thus imported is
the weight of the wool of this hundred
pounds after securing. If the wool
shrinks so per cent, as some wool does,
then the duty in such a case would
amount to S11 on 20 pounds of secured
wool. This. of course, would be prohibit
tory. If the wool shrinks only so per
cent, 1t would be sl1 on 80 pounds of
wool, and this is near to the average or
the great bulk of woods that are imported
from Australia, which is the principal
source of our imported wool.
These Determinations could be over
come by assessing a duty in ad valoreln
terms. but this method is open to the OBJ
lection, first, that 1t increases adm1nistra-
tive difficulties and tends to decrease
revenue through undervaluation; and.
second, that as prices advance, the ad
vaIorem rate increases the duty per pound
! at the time when the consumer most
needs relief and the producer can best
stand competition: while If prices de-
cline the duty Is decreased at the time
when the consumer is least burdened by
the price and the producer most needs
protection.
Method That Meets Difficulty.
Another method Of meeting the diff
Guilty Of taxing the grease pound Is to as
cess a specific duty on grease wool IN
terms of it's secured content. This obvi-
ates the chief evil Of the present system.
namely, the discrimination due to differ
emf s%hrinkaKes, and thereby tends great
" to ~eoualize the duty. The board re-
ports that this method Is feasible In prac-
lice and could be administered without
great expense.
The report shows in detail the difficult
ties involved in attempting to state in
categorical terms the cost Of wool pro-
duction and the great differences In cost
a. between different regions and different
tvpes of wool. 1t is found, however, that,
taking all varieties in account, the aver
nee cost of production for the whole
American clip is higher than the cost In
the chief competing country by an
amount somewhat less than the present
duty.
The report shows that the duties on
noils, wool wastes, and shoddy, which are
adjusted to the rate Of SO cents on
secured wool, are prohtbitory in the same
measure that the duty on secured wool
Mixed, But Emphatic.
.Since the weather got colder you