Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1912-09-03
Mr. Taft Was Mistaken.


sn anu SUI PRESIDENT Taft said in his
speecn at Boston, April rs last.
!. tine Payne-Aldrich bin was -
, tasty oetter bill than the Dinelev
niil II ! had refused TO sign tha
rayne bill 1t would have maintainad
.ne Dlhgley bill with higher rates than
the Payne bill" -
"nen Mr.. Taft made this statement
ne must have known that it was nm.
true. As for the wool schedule. ha
hneW that the rates were not higher
"a the Dlngley law than in the Pavna.
slurien law, for right after signing tba
later Dill did he not denounce ita wool
.a1ss as 'indefensible?'' And, as for
me cotton rates of the Payne bill he
Anew tney were Just as s'indefensible,.
as the wool rates, for at the time he
mace this statement in Boston he had
the tariff boards report on cotton he
fore him.
II Is true that the cotton renort ~
.he tariff board did not make this in
formation available at a glance to Mr.
IaIt or to congress or to the public
Inc tariff board carefully avoided eiy.
ing this information in q getatable
understandable form.
Suppressed the Answer.
WAS the tariff raised or lowered ,.
mas been an insistant question ever
since the Payne-Aldrich law was en-
acted three years ago The tariff
BOARD avoided answering it.
IN making my official report to the
BOARD | submitted a table that did an.
swer this question in respect to each
one, excepting three. of the 100 cloth
samples around which our months of
investigation conferred After much
sloestepping and discussion this table
was expurgated and published in it's
emascuiated form. The boards ex.
cuse was that it was not its duty to
answer the question; congress could
make its own computations. The off,
Gal explanation for refusing to pub
ilsh the table showing whether the
rarin had been raised or lowered was
That the market fluctuations made it Of
no value. This vas only a bubble.
because the respective tariff acts were
SO arranged that the increase in duty
on sliding scale kept pace with the
price fluctuations.
The tar1H board chose to print tables
that would show only the assessment
Of duty under the two acts ana left it
to anybody who desires the informa-
ton to figure out for himself the sig
n 20 o4o
Benefit Only to. Privilege.
From every point of view of the
tariff CRATER it is no doubt highly de-
sirable that such facts, staggering as
they are to the dishonest pretensions
that the cotton tariff was really lower
ed, should be buried as deeply as pos
sible in mass of unexplained Stats
tics. But it is to the advantage Of
every honest manufacturer and mer-
chant who is seeking stability in bust
ness and fair opportunity to make a
reasonable profit, that the truth should
be made known. Just such policies of
official evasion and suppression have
made possible in the past the juggling
of tariff legislation by and in behalf of
the privileged few.
1t is undisputed that the cotton
schedule as written in the house ways
and means committee by Representa-.
tive Serene Z. Payne Of New York did
not provide the full measure of 'revi.
sion downward" that the Republican
party had promised. Still it was not
until after the Payne bill went to the
senate finance committee, of which
Mr.. Aldrich was chairman, that the
interests got in their most deadly
work 1t is well known that Senator
| Aldrich freely consulted, If he did not
actually permit, the Lippitt-McColl In
terests to write into the amended bill
the duties affecting their own products
the fancy weaves made by only q
few of the largest and richest New
England nills--NeT York World.