Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-09-25
TAFT PLACES HIS FAITH
CONTINUED from page s.

qury after the completion of the work
on cotton and woolens.
Committee Investigations Not I'm.
partial.
It has been said that members of
the ways and means committee are
themselv6s experts on tariff matters.
and that they have had years Of deal
ing with tariff statutes. The char
acter of the Investigations made by
members of the ways and means CON-
mittees everybody knows. 1t consists
in calling men engaged in the bust
ness and inviting their opinion as to
the necessity for a TARIFF and as to
whether it should be lowered or
raised. Such investigations are. the
very ones which have met the criti-
cism of the public and have given rise
to demand for more scientific and
impartial method of securing the facts
upon the legislation which is to be
passed.
1t Is objected that with reference
to the cost Of production there can
be no scientific conclusion. If by this
is meant that there will be found to
be no exact mathematical measure of
the difference in the cost of produc-
ton of goods in one country and of
goods in another it is true. Condi-
tions vary in different states, in differ
ent provinces. and in different coun-
ties. They differ between different
manufactured and the difference in
the cost of production between two
countries is therefore difference
that can not be stated with definite
ness. 1t must be variable amount,
and must be stated; but when thus
stated with variations it may, never.
theless. be accurate and just. and
ought to be. so that the tariff can
be adjusted to the facts as they are
rather than to the facts as inter-
ested parties would state them. The
report of the board on the paper and
pulp industry was Illuminating 1t
gave the average cost of production.
with all the elements; showed how
it differed between the mills in the
same country and between the mills
of the two countries, and demon
strated that on the whole the real
average difference in the cost of pro-
duction was measured by the differ
ence in the cost of the raw material,
the pulp wood, in the two countries.
It Is such conclusions which, with
the means of securing them, the
American people have the right them
selves to have, and to insist that their
representatives in congress shall
have. before making radical changes
in existing legislation.
Tariff Board Should Be Independent.
I do not contend that the tariff
can be taken out of politics, in the
sense that it will never be made the
subject of political discussion. Men
differ radically as to the economical
wisdom of a protective tariff, or a
tariff for revenue only, and that must
always be the subject of political
discussion. But there is means Of
taking the ascertainment of facts
away from a tribunal like that of the
ways and means committee, which Is
necessarily hurried lin its inquiries
and necessarily lacking in Thorough
ness and the temper necessary to
reach the most impartial conclusions.
1t is possible to transfer those in
vestigations heretofore made by the
ways and means and finance commit
tees to a tribunal which will make
and impartial inquiry. l do
not mean to say that the tariff board
which have appointed is constituted
by the best method possible. l do
not think it is. I think it would be
better to have it appointed by the
president, with the confirmation of
the senate, and to make it independent
of the president and Of congress as
far as that may be possible under our
system. l 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 tendency to rob
1t of it's impartial character There
fore. I ventured, with all the energy
of which I was capable, the estab.
l;shment of a permanent tariff COM
and I shall urge upon the
congress, as long as it is my function
to do so, the establishment by law
Of such a commission.
Board Does Thorough Work.
But, meanwhile, congress has en-
abled me to organize the present COM
They have shown by the
work already done how thorough their
future work will be, and they have
demonstrated by what they have done
hat the material which they will
place before the congress and the
in December with reference
20 Schedules X and THAT is, on
woolens and on cottons-will be of
/ more valuable character and one
rom which more valuable conclusions
IAN be drawn than any report of the
Kind ever submitted to any legisla- |
i've body. Schedule K is the most
schedule in the whole |
:ange of schedules. Schedule I, a
extile schedule is, except for tho
difficulty connected with the raw ma
erial in Schedule X, equally trouble
some and complicated to understand.
When those reports shall have been |
unlimited, showing the difference in
he cost Of production abroad and In.
his country of textile fabrics, and
giving a basis upon which a proper
eduction can Be made in either sched-
lie, it will be my duty and my pleas
Ire to recommend to congress such a
eduction. Meantime, attacks upon