The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-09-21

pand its terms and yet in these pro-
visions 1t proposed to deprive me OF
using the concessions Of free meat and
Tree hour 70 secure concessions from
Canada. Thus the bill was 30 loosely
drawn. 1t was drawn on such wrong
principle and with so little informa-
ton, and 1t purported to do SO many
things which 1t did not do, that / had
no hesitation in vetoing It.
The Cotton Bill.
Finally, the cotton bill came TO me.
| This bill differed from the others in
| being bill for which the democrats
alone, and not the insurgent republi-
cans, were responsible. 1t had passed
the house on the report of the ways
and means committee made without
| the taking of any evidence Of persons
interested in the manufacture or any
/ one else; 1t had completely changed the
method of classifying cottons, classi-
Tying them according to the threads in
the yarn instead of by the threads in
the piece and the specific duty upon
the square yard, as in the present bill
This was a most important change. and
IT had been adopted after an informal
communication in writing with the bu-
reau OF standards and after an adverse
report by the treasury experts. The
bill was adopted avowedly as a free
trade bill by the house. 1t came to the
senate and was passed in the form in
winch II passed the house, except that
certain amendments were added. One
was an amendment cutting down the
metal schedule by a sweeping reduc-
ton OF 30 per cent, and the other was
an amendment of the chemical SEIZED
ule with purported reduction ad VAL
orem Of 20 per cent. So hastily was
the Dill thrown together, so little at
tent1on was paid to the consideration
Of 1t In the senate, especially In the
chemical schedule, that the most lu-
dlcrous results were reached. In the
nrst place, although the amendments
radically changed the metal and chem
lcal schedules, no change was made In
the title, which still read "An act to
reduce duties on cotton manufactures"
An amendment was introduced In or
der to make certain that in the cotton
and chemical schedules there must be
q reduction Of all rates to not more
than 80 per cent ad valorem but 1T
was so placed in the act that by its
language 1t could only apply to goods
already in the customhouse. upon
which duty had not been paid The
calculations by which the specific du-
ties in the chemical schedule were
transmitted into ad valorem rates and
then reduced rs per cent were exceed
ingly faulty. The senator who pro-
posed the reductions said that he had
secured the services of a statistician
at the treasury department, who had
done the work as he told him to do 1t,
and that that was all he knew about IL
Senator Williams, democratic
member Of the committee on finance
or the senate, objected to this meth
Cd or adopting most important sched-
ule. The chemical schedule Is the first
schedule in the list. 1t has eighty-fiv
items, and OF these sixty-six have
specific duties. 1t affects many mill
lions of imports. Nevertheless, the bill
went through, and 1t went back to the
house and was submitted TO two days
examination by the ways and means
committee OF that body.
Then 1t passed the house under
rule that permitted no amendments
whatever. l had the bill examined by
experts, especially with respect to the
chemical schedule, and even in the very
short time had. found the greatest
confusion produced by the amend
ment. Upon a number of the articles
the reduction was greatly more than
the proposed 20 per cent, reaching in
some cases rs and 100 per cent. and
on other articles, instead OF being a
| decrease, there was an increase all the
way from to 100 per cent. The bill
was supposed to be a concession to the
North Carolina cotton interests and
ing, dyeing and coloring materials
| needed In that business. The very
comical effect of the bill as amended
| was that instead of reducing the duty
| on bleaching powder 20 per cent, IT
| increased 1t 40 per cent. But even
more serious defect in the bill was in
those changes affecting the alcoholic
compounds contained in four or FIVE
items, in respect to which In the Payne
bill and in all previous tariff bills, in
order to prevent the use OF these Items
to import alcohol at a small duty, com
pensatory duties had been imposed Of
about 40 cents a pound, or $3.50 a gall
lon. Under the provisions Of the new
| bill, these alcoholic compounds and
articles containing alcohol would come
in at a duty, making the tax on the
alcohol from to 10 cents a gallon,
while the internal revenue tax on al
| cohol In this country is $1.10 per proof
| gallon, and the duty imposed on 1t as
an import is $3.50 gallon. The op-
| portunities for the introduction OF
4 cheap alcohol and the danger Of evas-
lon. or the breaking down Of the inter-
nal revenue law by such change in
| the chemical schedule, / need hardly
| elaborate. The bill was impossible and
Of course vetoed It, There was in
the passage of the bill, in the amend
ments, and in the general treatment an
| indication that the support of the bill
/ was based rather on desire to make
| q political record In favor of lower du-
| ties than upon a serious proposal 10
| change the law. At least this Is the
1 only explanation that can be offered
1 Of the careless, inartiffcial, and alto
| gether unsatisfactory character OF the
! three bills.
have gone into this matter at con-
siderable detail In order that my po-
] sition with respect to these bills and
! the general treatment of the tariff
/ may be understood. / am in favor of
4 the reduction of the tariff wherever 1t
| can be done and still give a living
measure Of protection to those indus
tries Of the country that need 1t. But
| ] insist that we have reached now a
point in the history OF tariff making
1 when everyone ought to realize that
the tariff should not be changed and
business disturbed, except upon infor-
| nation which shall enable US to pass
| bills that will disturb 1t least Our
/ whole business system rests upon the
| protective tariff basis The real hope
Of men who are In favor Of lowering
duties is to pursue the policy Of se-
curing accurate information to keep
the tariff rates down as low as pos
sible consistent with the life OF the
business protected. The natural OPP
Grafton OF the tariff under those con-
ditions and American ingenuity is to
continue to reduce the cost OF pr0duc-
ton, and that in itself will secure. ii
we adhere to the policy, reduction OF
the tarif rates from time TO time; but
TO cut them now with blaclSmith's
! TOOLS" is to invite in the next two or
four years a revulsion OF feeling, and
a then racg1rreuca cf higher rates and