Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-09-21
TAFT DEFENDS HIS
TARIFF BILL VETO.
stcontinued From Page IL
cetten mn R;d;eules.

Finally, the cotton Dill came 10 me
This bill differed from the others IN
being . bill for which the democrats
alor.c, and not the insurgent republic
cans. we're responsible 1t had passed
the house on the report of the ways and
means committee made. without the
taking OF any evidence OF persons In
terested. in the manufacture or anyone
else: 1t had completely changed the
method Of classifying cottons classify
ing them according to the threads in the
yarn instead of by the threads of the
piece ard the specific duty upon the
square yard, rs in the present bill. This
was most important change and It
had been adopted after an informal
communication in writing with the bu-
reau of standards anu after CT; adverse
report by the treasury experts. The bill
was adopted avowedly as a free-trade
bill by the house. 1t came to the sem
ate and was passed in the form In
which it passed the house. except that
certaint amendments were added. One
vas an amendment cutting down the
metal schedule by a sweeping reduction
OF 80 per cent, and the other was an
amendment Of the chemical schedule
with purported reduction ad valorem
of % per cent. So hastily was the bill
thrown together. so little attention was
paid to the consideration of it in the
senate. especially in the chemical
schedule that the most ludicrous re-
suits were reached.
Why the Veto?
Then II passed the house under rule
that permitted no amendments what
ever. had the bill examined by ex-
perts. especially with respect to the
chemical schedule. mad even in the
very short time l had. found the
greatest confusion produced by the
amendment. Upon a number of the
articles the reduction was greatly more
than the proposed IS per cent, reaching
In some cases IS 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 to
be intended to cheaper the bleaching.
dyeing. and coloring materials needed
in that business. The very comical eff
feet of the bill as amended was that
instead Of reducing the duty on bleach
ing powder % per cent 1t increased 1t
10 per cent. But even a more serious
defect in the bill was in those changes
affecting the alcoholic compounds
contained in four or five items. in re-
spect to which in the Payne bill and in
all previous tariff bills. in order to
prevent the use of these items to inn
port alcohol at a small duty, compen-
satory duties had been imposed of
about 40 cents a pound, or $3.50 gall
Ion. Under the provisions of the new
bill, these alcoholic compounds and
articles containing alcohol would come
in at duty, making the tax on the al
ohol from to 10 cents a gallon, while
the acknowledgements tax on alcohol in
this country is $1.10 per proof gallon.
and the duty imposed on II as an inn
port 10 $3.50 a gallon. The opportun-
tiles for the Introduction Of cheap al
cohol and the danger Of evasion or the
breaking down Of the internal-revenue
law by such a change in the chemical
schedule, need hardly elaborate. The
bill was impossible and of course !
vetoed it,
I have gone into this matter at con-
siderable detail in order that my posi- |
ton with respect to these bills and the |
general treatment of the tariff may be !,
understood. I am in favor of the re-
duction Of the tariff wherever 1t can be |
done and still give living measure Of
protection to those industries Of the |
country that need it. But insist that
we have reached now point in the |
history OF tariff making when everyone |
ought to realize that the tariff should !
not be changed and bushes disturbed. |
except upon information which shall |
enable US to pass bills that will disturb
it least.
THE Wool Bill.
After reviewing the history Of hts
efforts to have created tariff commits
sion. President Taft said:
The wool bill proposed a revenue |
duty of 20 per cent upon raw wool
instead Of II cents a. pound. reduce
ton Of considerably more than 50 per
cent OF the present duty, and an aver |
age duty Of so per cent on wooden
cloth and manufactures. This was
avowedly a tariff for revenue and was !
not drawn for the purpose Of pro-
teeting the industries. It passed the /
house and went to the senate, where |
an insurgent republican senator pro-
posed substitute in which the duty |
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