Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1913-05-07
rpor. EMERY on TARIFF.
advantage of European system Of
scientific Investigation.

.,,.zs- " ork in many cases, tnat congress
are more or less sat sea- during
session such as is now going on; that the
,ait,ons OF labor and industry here and
sh,osd are hurled at our Legislators in
-,oh volume and in such haste that they
,..,not digest the facts and remove the
,,.s. that our system OF tariff making, in
o,ber words, is wrong, and needs change,
ware some OF the statements made by
prof. Henry @. Emery, son OF former
Chief-Justice Emery, of Ellsworth, and
,ormer chairman OF the national tariff
hoard at an assembly luncheon OF the
Ros,ou Chamber OF Commerce recently.
There was a large gathering of members
TO hear Prof. Emery, probably because
thew realized that anything he had 10 say
about the tariff problems would be au-
tboritative and gathered from knowledge
Of setual work in Washington.
Psof. Emery, who IS now at Yale, told of
the death OF his commission because IL
became partisan issue. He said that the
tariff would always be partisan issue, in
so far as the making OF schedules. Never
thelcss. he pointed out The advantages OF
the EATpl1Ab NeASAtAs hA1N aAs1N q tftN~ IVA
nom partisan body, which could learn the
industrial facts for the oyerworked and
oyerw heImed Congressman, so that the
making of schedules would not be based
ON the mass of untruths and misstatcments
and misrepresentation of biased parties
such as come forward In Washington
whenever the tariff Ia about to be
changed.
aMuch dissatisfaction had been felt"
said Prof. Emery. "with the system OF
hssty legislation without adequate know
ledge OF Industrial facts, based only on
coatpruniise between the conflicting state
nsnts OF interested parties. The result
was an agitation for a non partisan tariff
commission. Such body was never
formally created by Congress, bu, an ex-
pertinent OF this nature was made by
President Taft in virtue OF certain rather
vague powers vested In him by the act
OF 1909. That &C; had been framed accord
ing to the old method, and it was the hope
OF many business men that a change might
be- effected for the future.
UNFORTUNATELY, under the exigeneies
became itself q partisan Issue, and was
abolished about two years AFTER 1t had be-
gun its investigations OF the domestic
tariff Since then the new party in power
has proceeded to outline tariff policy OF
Its own and to prepare a complete tariff
bill, relying, as had the republican Con-
crosses before them, or the old methods
OF securing information, only acting with
even greater haste.
II am here to show that the interests OF
all classes Of the community require the
establishment OF some improved method OF
securing that knowledge OF facts which
must be the prerequisite OF any salts
factory tariff legislation. Please notice
that the new method will be simply a
method of Increasing xnowiedge, and
nothing else. Much has been said about
taking the tariff out of politics by means
OF a tariff commission. Obviously, no
such thing Is possible.
"The interests OF different economic
groups in tarifs-making are divergent, and
there will always be difference of opinion
on the bread problems OF tariff policy.
Consequently, the tariff must always be q
party issue. And the representatives OF
the people in Congress must, OF course, de-
termiue the policy to be adopted, and tho
rates, according to the mandate given them
by the voters.
What can be taken out OF politics,
however, is the investigation OF the facts
themselves. These can be ests blished
through the investigations of an unpreju-
diced body without party affiliations; and,
what is more, they can only be esta blished
BY continuous and patient investigation
OF the details of business conditions.
THE trouble with much tariff debating
In the past has been that 1t has been theo-
retical and general. II has been main
tanned, on the one side, in sweeping terms,
that higher wages in this country mean
higher labor-cost and a consequent handi-
cap on the domestic consumer. On the
other hand, il has been maintained with
equal yigor on the other eide that these
higher wages are more than Offset by the
higher efficiency Of American labor, by
better machinery, or by greater advan-
tages in the way OF natural resources.
"The trouble with all such arguments
as these Is that there Is no general rule
which can be applied to all industries, or
even to all branches OF the same industry.
In some cases, American labor is more
emcient; in some cases, American manu-
lecturers have better machinery; in some
cases, they have better natural advantages,
out in many other instances this Is not
the case at all.
mo sweeping general assertions can be
made which are not sheer waste Of time
on matters OF this kind. 1t must be set
''ea, as matter of fact, in each individual
case.
great deal has been said about the
more intelligent methods of tariff making
suopted by foreign countries, although
our whole theory Of legislation is different
''om theirs, and we cannot adopt Eu-
fopean methods outright. In Europe the