The Washington times., 1913-08-20
NO DUTCH STANDARD, ANYHOW.

though the Senate in committee of the whole ha
accepted that proposition On the other hand, ther
are intimatons that when the measure reaches tn
Senate proper the real fight, which did not get t
an actual showing of strength on Tuesday, will
opened on the broad proposition of making suga
free. If there is any Democratic support for tn
duty, aside from the Louisiana members, it is nc
yet ready to come into the open and show its hanc
To defeat the Administration on the sugar schedul
at this time would be generally demoralizing an
political eXpedency dictates that, even if such de
feat is to be inflicted later it shall come at the lates
possible moment, in order to avoid as much as pos
sible the general ruction which open rebellion 8
this stage would cause.
AS the sugar schedule now stands, having bee
accepted by the Committee of the Whole, it pre-
vided for the continuance of the present rates unit
March 1 next; then the new rates. substantially 7
per cent of the present duties are take effect
continue three years, at which time all duty will
dispensed with and sugar will be free.
If that program shall finally pass the Senate an
the conference, the Dutch standard will 60 out 0
the law as soon the bill is signed As the measur
stood when it was taken up by the Committee of tn
Whole on Tuesday, the Dutch standard would hav
been continued until March 1. Senator Bristov
while fighting to prevent the ultimate -freesuga
plans adoption, was, as for four years past inssten
on the immediate removal of the Dutch standard
As he has pointed out many times, and as this news
paper has urged in season and out, the Dutch stand
ard is nc. part of decent and honest tariff polio
toward sugar; il is a cheap and disreputable trick
perpetuated in the law for generation simply be
cause the people who ought to have removed it wer
too innocent to understand its real meaning, an
those who understand that real meaning were inter
ested in keeping it in operation.
When the Payne-Aldrich measure came befor
the Senate in 1909 The Times had been for month
hammering away at the Dutch standard, which i
had been first to expose and explain in all its crook
edness. 1t took almost week for consideration o
the sugar schedule in the Senate at that time, AM
Dutch standard was the crux of the fight, Brstov
and the rest of the Republican insurgents insisting
that whatever else might be DONE that piece of job
berry ought to be ended at once. They lost on a YER
close vote; but they brought Adrch to abjec
defeat than at any other point during consideration
of that measure.
The last gasp of the Dutch standard was giver
in the effort to secure new lease of life till Marc
l. next. Ii would have succeeded but for the viganc
of Bristow, who. would listen to no compromise HI
pointed out that, now that it is really understood
the Dutch standard has no friend who dares open
avow his friendship, and there could be no possible
excuse for giving few months additional life Il
such an utterly repudiated graft He forced hi
point and the Dutch standard was stricken out
effective from the date of the bills becoming law
This long fight to get rid of the Dutch STANDARD
has shown how absolutely necessary it is to have .
tariff commission of experts. For more than gen
Grafton the Dutch standard and the polariscope test
have been kept in the tariff side by side, consun;
scandal against the Government the producers AM
the consumers, and vast but skillfully concealed
favor to the refners. The explanation has alread
been given: nobody understood, except those inter
ested to boost the graft along.
If now, it is possible for forty years to have suc
an outrage as that perpetuated in the face of Con
,ress and the country, what shall be said of tn
expert" qualifications of Congress to make tarif
schedules? 1t is no reflection on the intelligence
Congress to say that neither it nor any other lik
body of men could possibly be equipped to make
by the regular legislative processes tariff bill sa
from just such jobbery as this. Congress canno
make scientific analysis and investigation of uItimat
industrial processes; it cannot be expected to d
that Yet just that is absolutely necessary if tarif
schedules would be made Alright
Another equally striking proof of the recesst
for expert assistance has been afforded by the no
torous cases of the woolen and cotton schedules
In the case of WOOL Congress was induced tim
after time to pass schedule that it didn't under
stand, merely because the people who benefited by
were smart enough to write it that it could no
be understood by the layman
1t is hard to understand, in the face of so man
illustrations of this kind, how anybody with reason
able understanding of tariff making can persist il
opposing the only plan that can possibly produce
tariff reasonably free from jobs and jokers.