Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-01-03
President Declares Himself in
Favor of Reduction of the
Tariff on Wool.
PRESENT RATES TOO HIGH
Message to Congress Advocates I'M
mediate Revision Downward of
Schedule k-Protective Prin-
cipIe Strongly Upheld
in Document.

Washington-Wi the report of
the tariff board on schedule K Presi-
dent Taft sent a message to congress,
as follows:
To the Senate and House of Representa-
lives:
In my annual message to congress, De-
cember, 1909, l stated that under section
Of the act of August 5, 1909, l had APP
pointed a tariff board of three members
to cooperate with the state department
IN the administration of the maximum
and minimum clause of that act, to make
glossary or encyclopedia of the exist
ing tariff so as to render its terms intel
iigible to the ordinary reader, and then
to investigate industrial conditions and
costs of production at home and abroad,
with view to determining to what eX-
tent existing tariff rates actually eXem-
| plify the protective principle, viz: That
duties should be made adequate, and only
adequate, to equalze the difference in cost
OF production at home and abroad.
further stated that believed these in
vestigations would be of great value as a
! basis for accurate legislation and that I
| should from time to time recommend to
| congress the revision of certain sched-
ules In accordance with the findings Of
! the board
| In the last session of the Sixty first con-
| greSs n bill creating permanent tariff
! board of five members, of whom not
! more than three should be of the same
| political party, passed each house, but
failed of enactment because of slight DIFF
/ ferences on which agreement was not
| reached before adjournment An appro-
| priation act provided that the permanent
| tariff board. if created by statute. should
report to congress on schedule * in De
! cember, 1911.
Presidential Appointments.
/ mi
| within my power the purposes of this
! bill for a permanent tariff board, 1 APP
| pointed in March, 1911, board of five.
| adding two members of such party af1ili-
| alton as would have fulfilled the statu-
| tory requirements, and directed them to
make report to me on schedule K of
| the tariff act in December of this year.
In my message of August II, 1911, ac-
companying the veto of the wool BILL |
| said that, in my judgment, schedule K
| should be revised and the rates reduced.
| My veto was based on the ground that
since the tariff board would make, in
| December, a detailed report on wool and
wool manufactures, with special refer
/ ence to the relation of the existing rates
of duties to relative costs here and
] abroad, public policy and a fair regard
to the interests OF the producers and the
/ manufacturers on the one hand and of
the consumers on the other demanded
/ that legislation should not be hastily en-
acted in the absence of such information
that I was not myself possessed at that
| time of adequate knowledge of the facts
to determine whether or not the proposed
act was in accord with my pledge to
support q fair and reasonable protective
| policy; that such legislation might prove
only temporary and inf1ict upon a great
! industry the evils of continued uncer-
| tainty.
Advocates Reduction of Rates.
I now herewith submit report of the
| tariff board on schedule X. The board is
| unanimous in its findings. On the basis
| of these findings [ now recommend that
the congress proceed to consideration
of this schedule with a view to its reyi-
! sion and q general reduction of its rates.
The report shows that the present
| method of assessing the duty on raw
wool-this is, by the specific rate on the
/ grease pound, i. e. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to
exclude woods of high shrinkase in
securing, but fine quality, from the
American market and thereby lessons the
j range of woods available to the domestic
manufacturer; that the duty on unsecured
wool of SO cents per pound is prohibtory
and operates to exclude the Importation
| of Clean low-priced foreign woods of in
feror grades, which are nevertheless val
| liable Eaaterial for manufacturing and
| which cannot be imported in the grease
WOODS, if imported, might be used to dis
/ place the cheap substitutes now in use.
To make the preceding paragraph lit
! tie palmer, take the instance of hum
! dred pounds of f1rst-class wool imported
under the present duty, which is IL cents
a pound That would make the duty on
The hundred pounds $11 The merchan-
| iise part of the wool thus imported is
! the weight of the wool of this hundred
| pounds after securing. IL the wool
| shrinks so per cent, as some wool does,
| then the duty in such case would
amount to $11 on 20 pounds of secured
| wool This, of course, would be prohibit
tory. If the wool shrinks only 50 per
cent, it would be S11 on so pounds of
4 wool and this is near to the average of
the great bulk of woods that are imported
! from Australia, which is the principal
source of our imported wool.
These Determinations could be over
| come by assessing a duty in ad valorem
| terms but this method is open to the OBJ
| lection, first, that it increases administra-
tive difficulties and tends to decrease
! revenue through differentiation; and.
second, that as prices advance, the ad
| valorein rate increases the duty per pound
at the time when the consumer most
| needs relief and the producer can best
stand competitions; while if prices de-
cline the duty Is decreased at the time
when the consumer is least burdened Ly
/ the price and the producer most needs
/ protection.
Method That Meets Difficulty.
Another method of meeting the diff
Guilty OF taxing the grease pound is to as
cess a specific duty on grease wool in
terms of its secured content. This obvi-
! ates the chief evil of the present system,
| namely, The discrimination due to differ
| emit shrinkages, and thereby tends great
| " to equalize the duty. The board re-
! ports that this method is feasible in prac-
ice and could be administered without
! great expense.
The report shows in detail the difficult
ties involved in attempting to state in
| categorical terms the cost of wool pro-
! duction and the great differences in cost
| as between different regions and different
! types of wool. 1t is found, however. that,
| taking all Varieties in account, the aver
| age cost of production for the whole
J American clip is higher than the cost in
the chief competing country BY an
| amount somewhat less than the present
duty.
The report shows that the duties on
ao.is, wool wastes. and shoddy, which are
| adjusted TO the rate of 80 cents on