The Washington times., 1911-09-21
Says Congress Should Await
Tariff Board Report
Before Acting.
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bill were presented to me for signature,
and / returned them, without my ap-
provaI, and explained my reasons for
so doing in special message on each
bill.
II am not going to discuss the Payne
bill. except to say that the controversy
over its merits and demerits developed
a very strong sentiment among Repub-
licans, and. indeed, among many DEM
ocrats, that a bureau or commission or
board of competent persons should be
constituted to make investigation into
the facts concerning the dutiable articles
in the tariff, and to report thcm in such
a way that Congress and the pubic
might be reliably advised Of the prob
able effect Of any proposed revision OF
the tariff in the future.
Opportunity for Board.
The Payne bill offered an opportu-
nifty to me torappoint board of compe-
tent persons to assist me in the admin
istration of the revenue laws and espe-
ciaiiy of the maximum and minimum
clause Of that act; and the revenue
laws were of sufficient latitude to en-
able me to direct this board to make
a GLOSSARY of the tariff terms and q
kind of encyclopedia which would fur
nish a guide to the understanding Of
the tariff.
THE Republican convention Of twen-
ty-eight States adopted resolutions
strongly advocating a statutory tartn
revision until needed evidence had been
gathered and impartial conclusions
drawn as to the facts upon winch such
revision could be properly made:
from the resolutions adopted in New
York Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kan
sas. Resuming his argument Mr.. Taft
said:
Personnel of Experts.
Upon the failure of the bill for a
statutory board, and to make as good
substitute for the statutory tariff board
as I could, I added two competent Dem
.locrats to the board. The board consists
of two professors of economics Of the
highest standing, one at Yale, and one
at the University of Virginia, former
Assistant Secretary Of the Treasury IN
charge of the customs, the proprietor
ehd editor of an agricultural ana STOCK
raising newspaper-an authority on
1hese subjects-and a former Demo
cratic Congr essman OF great ability
the former Assistant Secretary, who Is
q Republican, and the former Congress
man. 1t is hard to say that the members
have any politics at all, certainly none
which will prevent impartial lnVesugd-
tion and judgment.
st have gone over with care this his
tory of the movement for tarin boara
in order to show how fully committed l
am to the proposition that we ought not
70 have any revision Of q schedule OF
the tariff without accurate Information
as to the operation and effect OF the
proposed changes.
only to pass upon the reciprocity bill,
the first time that the Sixty-second
Congress could consider and pass upon
tariff schedules Tould be in December:
had assisted in the support of the statu-
tory tariff board bill, the House at once
began to make record by passin6
three tariff bills-the wool bill, TIE
fTee-list DILL. and the cotton Dill.
. ..~ Wool Bill Figures.
THE wool bill proposed revenue
duty Of 20 per cent upon raw wool IN
stead Of II cents pound, reduction
Of considerably more than so per cent
of the present duty, and an average
duty Of 50 per cent on wooden cloth ana
manufactures. 1t passed the House and
went to the Senate, where an tnsur-
gent Republican Senator proposed
substituts in which the duty on wool OF
the first class was fixed at 40 per cent
and of a second class, or carpet woods,
at 10 per cent, and the average per-
centage on the wooden manufactures
was made so per cent ad valorem.
"a majority of the insurgents and the
Democrats in the Senate compromised
on a bill which made the tax on raw
cent SeCO0O
class, 10 per cent, and the average duty
on woolens, O5 per cent The bill pass
ed the Senate, and was sent TO con-
ference, where a bill was agreed upon
in which the duty was q per cent on
raw wool, and an average Of ~ per
cent on woolens. This bill had the ef-
feet of raising the duty on carpet woods.
as fixed in the Senate 1s per cent cent and
This bill reduced the duty on WOOL
ems to an average Of 40 per cent, with
duty on raw material wool OF 2S per
cent. The Wilson bill, passed in 1894,
with no duty on the raw wool at all,
q much more favorable arrangement to
the manufacturers than in the present
bill. and yet the years OF the wilson
en- manufacturers. 1t may be that other
causes than the tariff contributed to the
failure Of woolen mills In the time OF
the Wilson bill, and II may be that con-
changed so that 1t does not need as
much protection as then; but had no
adequate Information, and had been
furnished one, upon which could say
that the bill presented to me was in
accord with the Republican platform OF
protection upon which was eleted, and
to which ] am in honor bound to square
my official act and policy. In the abb
sence of such adequate Information, and
with the prospect Of securing 1t in three
months, 1t became my bounden duty to
withhold my approval of the bill.
Question of Schedule K.
s. Schedule K had been in force so long
and its percentages were 50 high in
many respects that had not hesitated
In times past to say that 1t ought to be
reduced, and to explain how 1t came
not to be reduced in the Payne bill as
II ought to have been. But 1t is one
thing to know that a schedule If this
sort is too high, and IT is very different
thing in such a complicated schedule
to know upon what items the reductions
should be made and how great the re-
ductions ought TO be.
IF the principle to which ! am COM
mitted and to which the party is COM
mitted, was to be observed as a policy
at all, here was the occasion for fol-
lowing II. If / had allowed the wool
bill to become a law, the progress made
In public opinion toward a better meth
cd of revising the tariff would have