The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-09-13

ufacture and marketing of textiles.
He first distinguished himself as an
advocate Of honest tariff legislation by
finding the "jokers" of the Payne-Al-
drich act, when the agents Of few
New England mills were permitted to
write their own rates to suit them.
selves. He was chairman of the tar.
if committee of the New York Dry
Goods Merchants association and in
this capacity conducted a campaign
which attracted the attention of the
newly created tariff board. To accept
the position of consulting expert to
the board he gave up the management
of the domestic business of the New
York firms of R. B. MacI4ea & Co.
and Converse & Co.
The story of cotton is a companion
piece to the story of Schedule K-the
wooden chedule-declared by Presi-
dent Taft to be infamous and indefen.
sible.
The findings of the tariff board with
regard to the wooden schedule were
analysed by Chairman Underwood OF
the ways and means committee and
condemned as inaccurate, incomplete
and worthless as an aid to legislation.
When the tariff boards findings on
the cotton schedule were made public
the World decided to make its own
investigation concerning 1t, and Mr.
MacLea was selected for that purpose.
The World had the findings Of the
board on manufactures of cotton dis
sected from the practical point of
view of business, analysed in their re-
lation to the interest Of the consumer
and the facts translated into the Ian
guage of the everyday man and
woman.
One hundred cloth samples pur
chased in representative domestic mar.
kets were made the basis of the tar
if boards findings on the cost OF
cotton cloth produced in this country
Mr.. MacLea used the same cloth sam.
pies as concrete illustrations of the
workings of the tariff and from these
exposed the very generally perpe'
trated fraud Of selling American made
goods as imported, and showed why
the excessive tariff permits and fos.
ters this imposition.
Recognizing that the tariff would be
a vital issue of the campaign and that
controversy would center about Presi'
dent Tafts "nonpartlsan" tariff board
and its work, the World undertook the
investigation Of cotton and sought an.
swers to the following questions:
Has the work Of the tariff board
Justified the delay In reducing the tar
if and giving relief from the high cost
of llvlng7
What have the people gained In the
three years under the Payne-Aldrlch
tariff IN RETURN FOR MORE THAN
s5,ooo,ooo,ooo TAKEN OUT OF THEIR
POCKETS AND INTO THE PocK-
ETs OF PROTECTED PRIVILEGED
How honestly, lmpartlaIly and thor
oughly did the "nonpartlsan" tariff
body undertake Its task7
Several months before the cotton re
port was completed Mr.. MacLea de-
clares that he discovered sinister in
tluences In the tariff boards working
to the favored few in the cotton mill
industry Such suppressed informa-
ton as Mr.. McLea considers to be Of
vital Importance to the cotton indus
try and the public has been presented
in the World. He has also explained
what the mass Of figures Of the cot
ton report signifies and presented
some of the most important Of the
conclusions to be drawn from the re-
port, a work which the board saw fit
not to attempt.
The story Of cotton, as written by
Mr.. MacLea and published In the
World from time to time, form one
OF the most interesting and important
features Of the present campaign.