Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-01

power of securing testimony under oath.
1t does not believe that
Testimony Not this power is essential
yr,ou or advisable in its work.
oAoc1 oasu. Members of the board
say that they can get much more valu-
able information by personal interviews
than by an oath-bound inquiry, and that
they possess such satisfactory system
of checking UP all information given
them that they are able to determine for
themselves the value of the testimony of
each person.
1t is the opinion of the members of
the tariff board that the board is securing
a whole-hearted cooperation from manu-
facturers throughout the United States.
Except In isolated cases, the cotton and
wooden manufacturers have lent full as
sistance to the agents of the board. It
is believed by the members Of the tariff
board that with the continuation of their
work and the cultivation Of friendlywre-
lations with the manufacturers of the
country the information they will be able
to bring out will grow increasingly &C
curate and useful.
Already it is asserted the work of the
board is regarded by European tariff ex-
perts to be superior to
G00d Work OF that done by any organ
A. D., ization in Europe. In
Wv OooAu' support of this state
ment letters from European experts have
been cited by the President and others.
In the European governments tariff bills
are prepared by the ministers and adopt
ed by the parliamentary bodies. In this
country the legislative authorities possess
the power Of preparing and adopting
tariff measures, the authority of the exc
cutive being merely cone of approval and
disapproval. In Europe the preparation
of the tariff measures is intrusted to men
who have had years OF experience in the
work. In the United States tariff meas
ures are brought out by the ways and
means committee, and those who advo-
cate the tariff commission idea assert
that the investigations made by Congress
never get down to the real facts upon
which to predicate tariff law.
The present tariff board realizes that it
is impossible to take the tariff question
out of politics. Its members declare that
the tariff question is always, in the last
must be decided by the people themselves.
1t believes, however. that the ascertain
ment OF information with reference to
tariff legislation is not political question
and that this information should be
gathered by non-partiSan authorities who
are Independent of political influence in
their work, and who care more for Sc
curing the truth in their Investigations
than for bolstering up either the cause of
protection or of tariff for revenue only.
They desire so to frame their inquiries
that they will bring out the actual facts
of the cost of production of various COM
modities in this and other countries, and
to feel no interest as to the question of
whether these facts justify high tariff or
point to low one. 1t is with this as
its plea that the tariff board will go
before Congress, through it's friends, and
ask that body, with one branch republic
can and the other democratic, to give
it lease on life at least sufficient to
enable it to. continue it's Investigations
through all OF the schedules of the exist
ing tariff law. ---