Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1911-06-14
PRESIDENT SCORED
IN WOOL REPORT
House Democrats Submit the
Underwood Bill.
SAY EVILS REST ON TAFT
Asserted That Any Further Delay in
Revising Schedule Would Be OBJ
jected to by the
Public.

WashingtOn.-Th long expected
wool tariff revision bill was pre-
sented to the house by Chairman
Underwood of the ways and means
committee. The measure was accom-
panied by a lengthy report from the
Democrats of the committee in its ia
vor, while the Republican members
unanimously reported against it. The
report. which is 253 pages long, in
Guiding statistics, attacks President
Taft and the tariff board, reviews the
history of the wool schedule in great
detail and also includes an outline OF
the purposes of the new bill.
Quoting President Taft's addresses
after the passage of the Payne-Aldrich
bill, in which he declared that "the
wooden schedule is indefensible and
| propose to say SO, the report says:
Had the president made these pub
lie admissions earlier, while the tariff
of 1903 was under consideration, by
congress, his declarations would have
been of real service to the people and
would have enabled them to protest
against the betrayal of the public well
fare to private greed
The presidents silence at that time
and his approval of the act of 1909
make it impossible for him to evade
his full share of responsibility for the
failure of revision which he now ad-
mits
The report deals at some length
with the attitude of the administra-
ton in not communicating to congress
data ON the steel trust" and other in
dustries now being investigated, and
the failure of the tariff board to COM
municate data on the wooden industry
The position of the tariff board ap-
pears to be- says the report, that
they, in conference with and under
the sole control Of the president, shall
be the sole judges as to what part of
the data they collect may be likely to
be of service for purposes of legisla-
ton; and this situation must be con-
sidered with reference to the view
point OF the president concerning tar
if legislation.
ut is, therefore, not impossible that
there may be some such delay in the
communication to the congress of sta
tistical information collected by the
tariff board concerning wool and wool
en- goods as there has been in COM
municating to congress or making pub
lie the data by the bureau of corpora
tons concerning Investigations of the
steel and other industries"
The report maintains that any
further delay in the revision of the
wool and wooden schedule would be
objectionable to the public.
In explaining the determination of
the committee not to put raw wool on
the free list, but to reduce the pres
ent duty to 20 per cent. ad valorem.
the committee insists as the Demo
cratic caucus did that the duty "is not
to be construed as an abandonment of
any Democratic policy"
The committee states that there is
no sufficient reason for continuing the
complicated and troublesome system
of classification of raw woods, char
acterizing it as a great burden and
annoyance to the customs service and
aQQlnS 10 the expense OF cOlIect1nS Qu-
ties on raw wools."
A minority report is signed by
Messrs. Payne, Dalzell, Needham and
Longworth. For purely political rea-
sons" it says, this cold-blooded
measure is brought forward If it
could become law it would slaughter
sheep as in 1894 and close the mills
much more universally"