Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-06-21

enseu & Woodman, Mallers Building.
Chicago: 225 Fifth Ave-. New YORK
City; Gumbel Bldg. Kansas City. MO.
MAKING THE TARIFF BILL.
In view Of the fact that the Wilson
Underwood tariff bill which the demo-
Gratis have framed to remove the pro-
tective wall which has given the
United States the greatest prosperity
1t has ever known, Is ready at last to
20 before the senate where 1t seems
assured the democratic majority will
be successful in passing 1t, the country
at large ought to be interested in
knowing just how the bill was framed.
Former Congressman Nicholas Long
worth, son-in-law Of Colonel Theodore
Roosevelt, but not supporter of the
strenuous one in the recent campaign,
tells a most interesting account OF the
preparing of the measure.
Mr.. Longworth speaks with special
knowledge, having been member of
the ways and means committee up to
March 4, and having participated so
far as republicans were allowed to in
the framing OF the bill.
The making Of the Woodrow Wilson
dent-elect announced that he would
convene congress In special session to
revise the tariff Thereupon the ways
and means committee announced
'.hearings." They extended over three
weeks In January. with an average of
two days to each schedule. What fol-
lowed the hearings" let Mr.. Long.
worth tell:
The hearings closed, the actual work
of making the tariff bill was begun.
The democratic members assembled
about the table In the committee room
and the minority members were polite
ly but firmly shown the door.
The bill represents the meeting of
minds Of fourteen gentlemen. OF
these I'VE had no experience whatever
in tariff making; seven had only such
experiences as Was gained In the draft.
ingtpf the four or five schedules passed
through the house during the last CON
gress, only TO be- repudiated In the
present bill Two only, Mr.. Under
wood and Mr.. Harrison, were ever con-
cerned with an actual tariff revision.
A tariff bill 80 framed necessarily
represents ignorance rather than
knowledge, and the combination Of doc
trinaire theory with effort to reach the
compromise that may command the
most votes rather than practical study
of industrial facts and their application
in lawmaking. What willful ignorance
it actually represents again let Mr..
Longworth tell: t,g.
The tariff board spent a year and q
half. employing trained experts all
over the world, upon one schedule
alone-the wool schedule yet the re-
port Of the board was absolutely
ignored In favor of the investigation
by the committee, which covered per-
tod Of two days. The same is true OF
the cotton schedule and others on
which the tariff board made at least
partial reports. All the information
thus acquired was absolutely ignored.
Attention was given only to the in
formation cleaned in the three weeks
Of hearings, and only to that part Of
1t which happened to square with the
democratic theory.
How abject was this ignorance we
learn from the current report to the
window glass makers of the country Of
O. c. league, head Of a delegation Of
them that went to Washington in the
asked q readjustment of the schedule.
They pointed out that the rates as
they stand would turn over the whole
glass trade anywhere near seaports to
their Belgian competitors, who could
lay down glass in New York cheaper
than they could ship it from Pitts
burgh.
They were told by one senator that
this was an admission of their own
'sineficiency." They were told by an
other that Belgian glass workers were
paid about the same wages as Ameri-
can. As matter of fact, American
glass manufacturers pay about 500 in
wages to every $35 paid in Belgium!
In such facts as these we find con-
firmation of Mr.. Longworth's judg-
ment:
From such a method of procedure it
10 no wonder that the bill ia crude, I'M
workmanlike and Unbalanced. And that
is not the worst Of it. A bill so fash
t.ned offers premium upon trading"
when 1t reaches the senate. There is
nc authority to fall back upon in de-
tending it's propositions. Under such
procedure it is inevitable that right
and Justice will generally yield to geo.
graphical considerations and political
expediency.
Mr.. Longworth courteously abstains
from comment on the presidents per-
sonal share in framing the bill, which
has been 80 bluntly confessed by Mr..
Underwood. But In concluding his
article he quotes prominent demo-
cratic leaders answer to this question:
Under what economic theory can
you support placing the finished pro-
duct on the free list, and leaving duty
on all the intermediate products? You
leave a duty on wheat and put flour
on the free list It Is not protection;
It is not revenue; 1t is not free trade.
What is It?
Here is the answer Of the demo-
cratic leader, clearly disclosing the
caliber OF democratic tarin statesman
ship:
It Is the theory Of delivering the