Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-30
THE TARIFF BOARD.
Its FORTHCOMING REPORT.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

operations Of the various mills In tho
past A large majority OF the msnufac;
turefs gave these agents permission TO 60
through their books and TO get out OF
them everything which would throw light
upon the problem.
In addition to all OF these, engineers
were asked to prepare plans and estimates
Ior mills OF the usual types. and to study
from every angle the question OF depre-
citation Of property. The agents of the
tariff board also carried schedules Of
questions relating to the cost OF produce
ing yarn, knitted underwear and carpets
Another line of investigation had to do
with the ready-made clothing Industry
In each case the schedules OF questions
were framed by expert accountants in
such way as they thought would give
them all the information necessary in ar
irving at accurate statistics of cost.
"a
One of the most interesting lines of in
CURRY pursued by the board related to tha
efficiency of
Cost of Labor and labor in the
Efficiency Considered. Sus,rv N
long list of questions was framed designed
to ascertain the pay Of labor. the rela-
tive efficiency of each individual and
hundred other kinds of information upon
which to predicate Judgment as to the
part played In the industry by labor.
Letters were also written to many manu-
facturers inquiring of them what propor-
ton of the lack of efficiency in given in
stances they attributed to the equipment
and what to the operator. In nearly every
case more than 80 per cent of the effi-
cheney or lack of efficiency on the part of
the operator has been attributed to him,
the remaining small percentage beng d.
vided between bad machinery and poor
yarn.
The tariff board feels that IL it has not
succeeded in doing anything else il has
succeeded in mapping out a system Of
cost-keeping for wooden and cotton mills
which will enable them to better fix all
Their unit COSTS of operation. This be-
lief is strengthened by the fact that
many manufacturers have adopted the
schedules Of the tariff board as the basis
for revision Of their cost-keeping sys-
TENS. Manufacturers have been the
more willing to give the information de-
sired because of the fact that the
schedules are ali given only under identi-
fication numbers and that the actual
figures OF their operation are regarded as
confidential by the tariff board. After
the returns all came in they were tabu-
lated and gone over with great care by
a retired wooden manufacturer and q GER
titled public accountant. In this way
they were able to check discrepancies
and to discover whether a manufacturer
was telling the true story of his work or
not.
X
The process of ascertaining costs in the
cotton industry was the same as that
pursued In
Process as to Cotton the wooden
Same as With Wool. with the ex.
ception that the inquiry begins at the
cotton mill In the case Of cotton. and on
the back Of the sheep In the case OF wool.
The reason for this ID that raw cotton IL
now, and probably always will be. on the
free list and that statistics as to the cost
of producing raw cotton are not essential
to an ascertainment of the cost Of pro-
ducing finished cotton goods.
Opinions Always will differ as to the
relative value of inquir. es made by g.
tariff board or commission and those by
Congress itself. The present members OF
the tariff board declare that il has bean
their sole effort to secure Information
without any aim to bolster up the cause
of q protective tariff or of a revenue
tariff. They assert that their province
is neither to propose nor to dispose. but
simply to disclose. They feel that In
their forthcoming report they have sue
ceeded in living up to this laconic sum-
mary Of their duties.