The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
Discusses Schedule K Be- fore Industrial Club
 of Chicago
CRITICISES TAFT
 FOR HIS VETO
Illustrates the Extent of the Burden By Study of the Cloth From Which Mems Suits
 Are Made z

Chicago, October 15.--The people of the United States pay subsidy to the wool industry of at least sl04, 100000 year, ac- cording to calculations of the Hon. Oscar w. Underwood of Alabama, chairman of the ways and means committee of the House of Representatives, who discussed schedule K before the Industrial club of Chicago here last night
 MT. Underwood declared the wool tariff indefensible and criticised President Taft for his veto of the wool bill.
 After relating the history of the tariff on wool, which he said had been recom- mended in 1867, after a meeting of the wool growers of the west and the wool manufacturers of the east, Congressman Underwood undertook to show the actual tax imposed on the individual through the tariff
 An illustration of the extent of the burden is afforded by study of typical article of comparatively cheap cloth, such as enters the ordinary mems suits worn by the great masses of the people, he said. 'The article is an all worsted fancy fabric. the wholesale English price per yard of which is v cents and the freight to New York l cent
 "The compensatory duty is A cents per pound or 23 cents per yard, the ad valorem duty % per cent, or 3S cents per yard in price. It requires three and one-half yards to make a mans suit. There are at present 92,0oo,00o persons in the United States. It is estimated one-flfth are heads Of families, or men, making IS, 100000 such suits used year. There are doubtless an equal number of women wearing wooi- en, making a total of 36So0. 000ssuits, the equivalent of 12s, s00.000 yards of such cloth. which, with the children's suits makes a total, figured at the small esti- mate of one suit a year, 100000 yards.
 Tariff Tax High
 "The tariff tax of 61 cents per yard. to say nothing of any increase in tax as it passes 10 the jobber, makes not less than $l04, 400, 900 paid each year to subsidize the wool industry of America.
 "On the other hand. the entire duties paid the United States on all imports of woolens and worsteds in 1910 amounted to total of less than $15, ,5O0,OOO for the use or the government and over s100,0O0,-
 
 people.
 ''s it fair or just or right to maintain these enormous taxes unduly to foster the business of less than one-fourth of one per cent of the people and to require 99% per cent to stagger under this enor- nous burden?
 q do not believe the American peo- pie will justify the President in his veto of the wool schedule He does not say the rates of duty fixed in the bill pre- scented to him were too high or too low, but says that Congress was not informed and that they must wait the decision of the so called tariff board. The Congress had all the information it had when 1t passed the revision of the tariff sched- ule that the ways and means commit tee had when it drafted the Payne bill. which the President signed
 ''The chairman of the tariff board does not seem to agree with the President as to the ability of that board to secure facts that will aid Congress in rewriting that schedule. He said at banquet of the American Association of Woolen and Worsted Manufacturers in New York last December: There are certain things that are difficult to get and one thing is to try to get the cost of production
 If the President had vetoed this bill because he believed the duties were too high, or because he did not believe the bill would raise sufficient revenue to sup port the government, he would be clearly within his right to use the veto power, but when he exercised the veto power on the proposition that the Congress was incapable of legslating in the interests of the people. he clearly violated the fundamental principles of the constitu- tion.''