The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1911-12-29
WOULD REVISE SCHEDULE *"
REPORT OF TARIFF BOARD SENT
TO CONGRESS.
President Taft Urges Adjustment of
Duties on Wool that Consumers
May be Benefited.


of President Taft Transmitting report
of Tariff Board on Schedule "K''
follows:
In my annual message to congress
December, 1909, | stated that under
Sec. 2 of the act of August 3, 1909,
had appointed tariff board OF
three members to cooperate with the
state department in the administra-
ton of the maximum and minimum
clause of that act, to make glossary
or encyclopedia of the existing tariff
so as to render its terms Ineligible
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 existing tariff rates actually
eXemplify the protective principle,
viz. that duties should be made ade-
quate and only adequate to equalize
the difference in cost of production
at home and abroad. | further stated
that | believed the investigation
would be of great value as a basis
for accurate legislation and that
should from time to time recon-
mend to congress the revision of GER
tain schedules in accordance with
the finding of the board. In the last
session of the Sixty-first Congress
bill creating 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 differences on which agreement
was not reached before adjournment
An appropriation act provided that
the permanent tariff board if created
by statute, should report to congress
on Schedule K in December, 1911.
Therefore to carry out so far as
lay within my power the purposes OF
this bill for a permanent tariff board,
I appointed in March, 1911, a board
of five, adding two members of such
party utilization as would have full
filled the statutory requirements, and
directed them to make a report to
me on Schedule X of the tariff act
in December of this year In my
message of August II, 1911, accom-
panying the veto of the wool bill,
said that, in my judgment Schedule
X should be revised and the rates re-
duced. My veto was based on the
ground that, since the tariff board
would make, in December, a de-
tailed report on wool and wool
manufacturers, 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 pro-
du and the manufacturers on the
one gnd and of the consumers on
the other demanded that legislation
should not be hastily enacted in the
absence of such information; that |
was not myself possessed at that
| fine 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 rea-
/ sonable protective policy; that such
/ legislation might prove only tempo
rary and inhict upon a great in
| dustry the evils of continued uncer-
/ tainty. | now herewith submit re-
port of the tariff board on Schedule
| K. The board is unanimous in its
| findings. On the basis of these find
/ ings | now recommend that con-
| gress proceed to a consideration of
] h L. col 1t1In q IN
vision and a general reduction Of
| its rates The report shows that
the present method of assessing the
! duty on raw wool-this is by a
| specific rate on the grease pound, l..
e. nscoured-operates 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
secured wool of 33 cents per pound
is prohibitory and operates to ex-
clude the importation of clean, low
priced foreign woods of inferior
grades which are nevertheless valu-
able material for manufacturing, and
which cannot be imported in the
grease because of their heavy shrink
age. Such woods, if imported, might
be used to displace the cheap substi-
tute now in use. To make the preced-
ing paragraph little palmer, take
the instance of a hundred pounds Of
first class wool imported under the
present duty, which is II cents a
pound. That would make the duty
on the hundred pounds S11. The
merchantable part of the wool thus
imported is the weight of the wool
of this hundred pounds after scour-
ing If the wool shrinks so per cent,
as some woods do, then the duty in
such a case would amount to $11 to
20 pounds of secured WOOL This, of
course, would be prohibitory. If the
wool shrinks only so per cent, 1t
would be s11 on 80 pounds of wool,
and this is near the average of the
great bulk of woods that are i'm
ported from Australia, which is the