New-York tribune., 1912-02-13
MERCHANTS HEAR TAFT
President, at Drygoods Dinner,
Urges Tariff Expert Bureau.
is FOR PRUDENT REVISION
Says Changes Should Be Made
Only After Accurate Informa-
tion Has Been Obtained.

President Taft was enthusiastically re-
| ceived last night at the first annual dinner
OF the National Retail Dry Goods Associa-
ton. at the Hotel Astor. His advocacy OF
a prudent revision of the tariff an amend
ment schedule by schedule based on In
formation gathered judiciously and scien'
tihcally. was applauded vigorously by more
than two hundred merchants from all parts
Of the country.
II was the Presidents second dinner call
last night and he did not arrive until
shortly after 10 o'clock. The diners rose
and eheered as President Taft, with his
staff, and accompanied by his brother'
Henry w. Taft, passed through the room
and TO the speakers table. Charles H.
Strong, jr., Of Cleveland. who was toast
master, proposed the. Presidents health.
and the diners responded amid cries OF
Another term"
A feeling of genial cordlality was brought
into the meeting by the President when he
asked for song from George II. OCon-
nor, OF Washington, who had contriouteo
much to the pleasure Of the evening by his
selections The President beamed during
the recital and at times broke out into
| hearty laughter.
! He said he was delighted to be there and
to go back through his life and remember
| how much he had contributed generaily
to the support OF the audience before MIN
He had been informed that this was their
first dinner, he said. and inferred that they
had only lately caught the disease Of an
nual banquets, but having had some ex'
| har wQnfeC
TO congratulate them on having reached
that point in the development OF q great
business Expressing his pleasure at the
songs OF Brother OConnor." the Presi
dent then turned to the serious topic Of
the tariff and said in part:
Government Is a great business In sense
and touches general business on mahS
points. You are closely Interested In IN
point You are engaged In selling dry
! goods and ] should think, you are con
cerned in tariff and imposition Of duty:
! Now | believe we are working In WASH
inrton In YOUR interest, I'm the direction o.
minimizing the disturbances or business
which have heretofore arisen from the pas
sage OF tariff bills.
After the applause had subsided th'
President told OF the Importance to busi
ness men OF knowing prices and business
conditions so as TO be secure from losses
under the present sYal percentage o
profit. lie continued:
The principle we have tried in Washing
ton is very simple. IL is that we ought L
know what IL is we are dealing with; ina
\ we ought TO know the facts before W.
! change the law I'm order that We may un
derstand what the effect OF the chans'
will be. And we must knowsthat Congress
as whole, or by committees, Is not so con
| vtltuted. and does not sit long enough. u
inform itself accurately as 10 What thos'
| facts are with reference 10 lorelsn AIN
domestic relations. 49,
| Now, every other government in tn
| world has an information bureau or eX
perts whose business II Is 10 follow tIau'
and 10 learn the trade Of other countries
and the cost OF production In other coun
tries that compete with the things raised
and produced and sold In their own couil
tries And those bureaus are kept up t'
date and statesmen who are about 10 legis
late can go there and get accurate lntor
nation. Not information dEaWh WIN
view 10 fghting a political battle Kot ~
| formntIon drawn with the purpose OF max
ing speeches from platforms and denounc
ing the "other side" as unpatriouc ane
| asking the electorate 10 put our slde lnL'
office. but facts judiciously ana soiehltn ~,
callv ascertained in a businesslike way tol
use I'm the development OF their trade am
I'm the forming and framing or their uau'
and tariff laws.
President Taft said that this country
ought to have the same common sense an'
follow such a course. He added:
7 bona we have introduced n system tha
! viii obtain and become permanent ant
that the tariff will not be amended eNcep
nv separate schedules, and that no scheu
uia will be amended without knowing VIVA
tho errect Of the change VIII oe upo'
ThIs has been forced upon us, as wha
ye needed bv the dlscusslons OF the fayhv
| Aldrich tariff IL has been forced lot @ ON!
unon our intelligence. but II VIII pc torCe'
Tnnn The pDIItlcal sagacity or the peopt'
In XyashIngton IL you business men VII
insist upon II.
rJare again there was prolonged arplaus
,or the Presidents words. lie finished o!
savinp that he did not believe tarin queS
tions could be entirely taken out OF pom
tca because OF varying opinions as to fre'
trade and degree OF protection out Una
every man ought 20 agree as 70 the "isuoD
OF the system, he suggested.
There we're upward OF hundred ory
goods firms represented by the diners.
the Presidents table were w r. Emery
rres,dent OF the Emery. Bird, Thayer Dry
goods Company, of Kansas city, MO; JON
y Norman. OF II. s. Barney & Co.
Schenectady. n. Y; the Rev. Dr. n. McGe
| Waters. Charles A. Silk, or ST. LOUIE Coh
troller Prendergast, A. NJ. Cooper presl
dent OF the Howlands Drygoods Company
Of Bridgeport Conn; G.. II. strong 1r
president of the William Taylor So
COMPANY, OF Cleveland; Congressman JONI
w Weeks. the Rev. DR.. Henry 5. Comm
G c. Phillips, OF THE Drygoods Econo
| ,,Ist and GeOrRe III OCOnnOr,