Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-21
Information Was Lacking.

'"rhis bill reduced the duty on woolens
to an average of ~ per cent. with a duty
on the raw-materiai wool of 20 per cent
The Wilson bill. passed in 1894. had re-
duced the duty To ;, per cent with no
duty on the raw wool at all, much more
favorable arrangement to the manufac-
turerS than in the present bill and yet the
years of the Wilson bill were years, of
6isast to the wooden manufacturers. 1t
may be that other causes than the tariff
contributed to the failure of wooden mills
In the time OF the Wilson bill. and 1t
may well be that conditions in the WOODEN
business have changed SO that 1t does
not need as much protection then;
but | had no adequate information. and
had been furnished none. upon which l
could say that the bill presented to me
was in accord with the republican plat
form of protection upon which | was
elected, and to which 1 am in honor
bound To square my official act and pol
icy. In the absence of such adequate in
formation and with the prospect of secur-
ing it in three months. it became my
bounden duty to withhold my approval OF
the bill. What was the necessity for
such :;reat haste in passing the bill at an
extra session called for another purpose?
The bill as 1t passed the House pro-
vided il should go into effect January l.
1872. The bill as it passed the Senate
contained similar provision. When the
bill went into conference am informed
that the suggestion was made shat the
date of January ]. 1a1.. for its taking
effect would furnish strong argument
for delaying its passage until after De
cember l. when the tariff board could re-
port The date of takina, effect was
thereupon changed to October IL. 1911.
such care was not taken widh the free
list bill or the cotton bill, both OF which
were made to take effect January L. I9i.
Schedule l. had been In force so long
and its percentages We're so high in many
respects that had not hesitated in times
past 10 say that ii ought to be reduced,
and to explain how it came not to be
reduced in the Payne bill as it ought to
have been. But ii is C1.e thing TO know
that schedule of this sort is too high,
and il is a very different thing in such
a complicated schedule TO know upon
what Items the reductions should be mad =
and how great the reductions ought to
be If the pr nciple to which | am COM
mit+Sd. ard to which the party is COM
lions. which | have quoted above. was
to be observed as policy at all, here
was the occasion for following il. If |
had allowed the wool bill to become a
law the progress made in public opinion
toward a better method of revising the
tariff would have been entirely lost and
the policy cast to the winds.
Some defense is made of the bill on
the ground that the committee on ways
and means had considered 1t carefully in
committee for n month or more, but the
point is that the bill they prepared is
not this bill. II is changed in all of It's
rates and materially changed to meet by
compromise a bin that was never in COM
mfttee at all. and the blending was done,
as was said. with .blacksmiths tools
The House bill was a free trade or at
least an anti-protection bill; what the n.y.