The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-25

by the president, with the confirmation
of the senate, and to make 1t inde-
pendent OF the president and of con-
gress as far as that may be possible
under our system. do say that the
present board is as independent as any
board can be, but I admit that its
method of appointment is such that
conditions might arise having a ten
dency to rob it Of its impartial char
acter. Therefore, I ventured, with al
the energy of which I was capable
the establishment of a permanent
tariff commission. and shall urge
function to do so, the establishment by
law Of such commission.
Known by Their Works.
But, meantime, congress has en-
abled me to organize the present COM
mission. They have shown by the
work already done how thorough their
future work viii be, and they have
demonstrated by what they have done
that the material which they will place
before the congress and the executive
In December with reference to Sched-
ules K and THAT is, on woolens and
on cottons-will be of a more valuable
character and one from which more
valuable conclusions can be drawn
than any report of the kind ever sub
mitted to any legislative body. Sched-
ule K is the mcst complicated sched-
ule N the whc1c range of schedules.
cept for the difficulty connected with
the raw material in Schedule K, equal
ly troublesome and complicated and
hard to understand. When those re-
ports shall have been submitted, show
ing the difference in the cost of pro-
duction abroad and in this country of
textile fabrics, and giving a basis upon
which a proper reduction can be made
in either schedule, it viii be my duty
and my pleasure to recommend to
r1.11.
attacks upon the board as one whose
judgment is not worthy of considera-
ton are born not of a candid consid
Grafton of their previous work, not of
q frank acknowledgment of the abil-
fty of the various members of the
board to do the work that they are
charged to do, but they come from the
thoughtless heat of political contro
versy, and ought to have no weight
with unbiased friends of the public
veal.
I can not more f1ttingly close these
remarks than by quoting the conclu-
sion of an impartial and competent
committee of the tariff commission as
sociation after full and personal in
vestigation of the work of the tariff
board, as follows:
In conclusion our committee finds
that the tariff board is composed of
able, impartial, and earnest men, who
are devoting their energies unreserved-
ly to the work before them; that the
staff has been carefully selected for
the work in view, is efficiently organ
lied and directed, and includes a num-
Der of exceptionally competent tech
nical experts; that the
work of the board, vast and intricate
in detail is already highly organized.
well systematized, and running
smoothly; and that congress and the
people can now await the completion
of that work with entire confidence
that it is progressing as rapidly as
consistent with proper thoroughness
and that it will amply justify all the
time and expense it entails. We believe
that the value of the work when COM
pleted will be so great and so evident
as to leave remaining no single doubt
as to the expediency of maintaining it
as permanent function of the govern
ment for the benefit Of the people,