The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-05-20
TARIFF BILL IN ITS WAY
VIII Have Easy Going to Day of
Enactment.

The Washington correspondent of
the New York Tribune can see only
easy shedding for the Underwood
tariff bill from the present time to
the day of final enactment. He
writes as follows:
After six weeks of battering by
the Republicans and cries of protest
from within and without the Demo
cratic tariff citadel remains unshak-
en-, and the opposition leaders are
ready to confess defeat. The Presi-
dent, 1t Is acknowledged. holds the
Democratic party in the hollow of his
hand, and will have sufficient support
to put through the Underwood bill as
1t stands with minor amendments by
the Senate Finance Committee, which
will not involve the modification of
any of the basic principles of the
measure.
Whatever the individual views of
Democratic Senators and Representa-
tives, and however solicitious they
/, may be for the industries of the
states and districts they represent,
the demand for tariff reduction has
outweighed all other considerations
There was never any doubt of sue
cess in the House, with its over
whelming Democratic majority.
There is now little doubt of success
in the Senate, with its slender Demo
cratic majority.
Senators of the dominant party
from the states that will be most af-
fected by free wool and free sugar
nave, after a perfunctory protest, ac-
knowledged their willingness to
stake the advantages that will be
gained from general tariff reduction
against the disadvantages that will
follow the injury to particular indus
tries. and abide their own political
fortunes. Some, such as Senators
Walsh and Newlands. are still trucu-
lent, but their threats are regarded
generally as efforts to convince their
constituencies of their fealty. rather
than as an indication of their pur-
pose to oppose their party when the
hnal vote is taken. Only the Louisi-
ana Senators have actually crossed
the tariff rubicon, which is free sug-
ar, and they alone find that the spec
Tic disadvantages outweigh the gem
eral advantages of the Wilson-Under
wood bill.
Admitting that the tariff bill is as
good as passed. there are problems
which even the most fair-minded
statesmen believe will arise In II.
wake to haunt the triumphant major
ity. Aside from the more obvious
questions whether the Denocratic
bill will reduce the cost of living. re-
tard or stimulate trade. cripple indus
try and reduce wages-which are the
subjects of perpetual controversy be
tween the two parties-there are 9th.
er questions which must be answer
ed. Some of these are:
Is the tariff for revenue policy to
be based on the fixed principle of the
difference in wages at home and
abroad, or is 1t to give way altogether
to system of direct taxation as ex-
emplihed in the income tax?
Is there to be any definite method
OF fixing the measure of revenue tax
for purposes of revenue?
How is the colonial policy of the
United States 10 be modified to fit
the new tariff policy?
Concerning the first problem IL is
asserted, particularly by the Louisi-
ana Senators. that the present admin
istration by declaring for free sugar
has departed entirely from the prin-
ciple of a tariff for revenue. Sugar
in nearly all countries is the commo-
dity on which revenue tax is col
lected. By abandoning the indirect
sugar tax. which has led to the deyel.
opment Of thriving industry in the
United States, the Democratic party
Is charged with abandoning the tarifi
for revenue principle entirely. If II
is to be abandoned in that case, why
II is asked, may 1t not go further and
tax directly luxuries or articles used
only by certain classes of the people
OF the United States?
In framing the Wilson Underwood
bill the Democrats have concentrated
on themselves the fire of all factions
OF Republicans. Senator La Toilette
has charged that there is nothing 10
be commended in the way tariff bills
have been framed in the past, or In
the way Democrats have framed the
present bill. BY his sixteen questions
which he wanted TO have the Finance
committee put to protesting manu-
facturers he aimed to discover the
exact difference in labor cost be
| tween the United States and Compel
ing countries. In advocating his
plan of inquiry he assered that this
difference in labor cost should meas