Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-09-23
President Defends Vetos Of Wool Cotton and Free HtBls SeC

duce such a confusion as seriously to
interfere with the administration Of
| the tariff act.
! Conflicted With Other Schedules.
| Another clause provides for the adj
mission Of barbed-wire fencing free,
and then all wire and other material
which could be used for fencing, and
includes wire rods and wire rope, TO
let In barbed-wire fencing alone would
be unimpoItant to producers, but the
framing Of the amending clause is
such that if 1t were to go into law 1T
would have serious effect upon the
metal schedule and would utterly des-
troy the principle which was followed
in It's framing and would make free OF
duty some Of the most highly
wrought articles under the metal
schedule not used by farmers at all.
| Then there is q clause admitting Jute
and cotton bagging free, and mater
| ials from which made, which would
allow common cotton cloth to come In
| free for any purpose, although under
the cotton schedule, even as proposed
to be amended by this congress, cotton
cloth Is to pay certain amount OF
duty. The bill also puts boots ana
shoes of all kinds on the free list. It
did not put on the free list, except
some kinds of leather, the materials
which went into shoes. In other
words, it put on the free list the finish
ed product and continued the tax on
raw materials This would be such a
burden on our manufacturers that It's
injustice must appeal to everyone.
The fact is that under the Dingley
bill imported shoes were taxed 25 per
cent ad valorem, while in the Payne
bill the duty was reduced from rs per
cent to 10 per cent, the duty on hides
was reduced from Is per cent to moth
ing, and the duty on leather was reduc-
ed to per cent. No evidence was
I! taken as to what effect this putting
of shoes on the free list would have
on the highly important shoe industry
Of the country, and as it violated the
first principles Of justice in tariff,
namely, of putting the finished pro-
duct on the free list and taxing the
materials, it did not and could not
commend itself to one who was pledg-
ed to the support of a moderate pro-
| tective tariff.
Bill Loosely Drawn.
| Finally the free list has, two clauses
! affecting meat and flour. As they went
through the house they put meat on
| the free list and -four on the free list.
In the senate, however, an amend
ment was put on limiting the opera
| tion of these two clauses to imports
from those countries with which we
had reciprocal relation and which
admit certain agricultural products Of
ours free. This limitation made Can
ada the only country which would be
affected by the provisions Of the
clause. Now, in our negotiations with
Canada for reciprocity we attempted
to secure free meat and free flour.
Canada would not consent to this, be-
cause she feared the effect of our COM
| petition with her meat and -four. This
fshowed that importations of meat and
| flour from Canada without duty would
not have any effect to lower the price
| in this country of either in normal
times. But this free list bill was CIV
ing to Canada something for nothing
| This congress at the close Of the act
approving the Canadian reciprocity
agreement directed me to continue ne
|
yet in these provisions it proposed to
deprive me of using the concessions
of free meat and free -four to secure
concessions from CANADA. Thus the
bill was so loosely drawn, 1t was
drawn on such wrong principle and
with so little information, and 1t pur-
ported to do so many things which 1t
did not do, that l had no hesitation In
vetoing it.
The Cotton Bill.
Finally. the cotton bill came to me.
This bill differed from the others in
being a bill for which the democrats
alone, and net the insurgent republic
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; it had completely changed
the method of classifying cottons, clas-
| styling them according to the threads
| in the yarn instead of by the threads
| of 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 in
| formal communication in writing with
| the bureau Of standards and after an
adverse report by the treasury experts.
The bill was adopted ayowedly as a
free trade bill by the house. 1t came
| to the senate and was passed in the
form in which it passed the house, ex-
cept that certain amendments were
added One was an amendment cut
| ting down the metal schedule by a
sweeping reduction Of 80 per cent. and
| the other was an amendment OF the
chemical schedule with a purported
reduction ad valorem of 25 per cent.
So hastily was the bill thrown togetil-
er, so little attention was paid to the
| consideration of 1t in the senate, es-
pecially in the chemical schedule, that
the most ludicrous results were reach.
ed. In the first place, although the
amendments radically changed the
metal and chemical schedules, no
change was made in the title, which
still read "An act to reduce duties en-
cotton manufactures" An amendment
was introduced in order to make GER
tain that in the cotton and chemical
schedules there must be reduction OF
| ~ II ,,ot r,,nro than % nor ont