Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-18
TARIFF WORRIES
MAJORITY PARTY
Manufacturers Resent Whole
sale Removal of Duties on
Foreign Products.
SAY REVISION OF DUTIES
is HURTFUL TO BUSINESS
Members of Congress Deluged With
Protests-Republicans Declare
They Are Helpless.

The democrats are likely to have their
fingers burned before they pull all the
tariff chestnuts out of the fire.
So many things are happening all over
the country that what seemed a week age
tobe perfectly plain road, down which
the Underwood tariff bill could be steam
rollered. seems no VITO be a pathway filled
with rocks and pitfalls. The situation
arises because people in various sections
are just waking up to the fact that the
tariff bill is going to hit the particular in
dustry in which they are interested. The
outcry of the small manufacturer is be-
coming roar of disapproval. Meantime
the republicans are enjoying the sight OF
this widespread dissatisfaction. Their at
utude is not to combat the Underwood
bill at all. They want to see it loaded
down to the gunwalls with all the objec-
tionable features possible. Then they
Will be able to sit back adm say:
Il told you so. Why didn't you elect a
republican Congress and administration %
While the tariff hearings were in
progress manufacturers did not believe
the ways and means committee intended
to take the radical course which is now
plainly marked out. The bill is being
studied in the factories, and men who
have a business at stake, or think that
it is at stake. simply cannot believe their
eyes when they see their own line of
goods or wares admitted free and at the
same time see duty imposed on the raw
materials which they need i'm their own
shops From a manufacturer point of
view this will close every shop in the
United States. and they are saying SO
in the form of several thousands bags OF
mail day to the present Congress.
Cited as an Example.
1t is easier to understand these big
tariff problems when one single example
is cited. So. in Difference to the weather,
the umbrella tariff is a perfect example
of why the manufacturers are just be-
ginning to howl. and why the republicans
are saying II told you so.'' and why the
democrats are jamming on all steam and
preparing to shove the bill through re-
gardless.
Umbrella factories in this country rep
resent $12,O0O,O0O capital. They sell um-
brellas at a fair profit-maybe a little
high. but still they say they give chance
for all their employees to live well. But
here comes the Underwood measure and
reduces the tariff on foreign umbrellas to
80 per cent.
lO lHdhe q .IHe uIflDTelId III AfutTICC IL
is necessary to import certain materials.
These materials are to be taxed at 3o
per cent and 45 per cent-from to 10 per
cent higher than the finished umbrellas
which will be sent in. Therefore the
American umbrella man has to pay
higher duty on the stuff he needs with
which to make an umbrella than does the
foreigner who sends in his finished prod
net for sale in competition with Amer
leans.
Napy mau,1fa cturers uho saw INSTANCES
like this umbrella matter multiplied
throughout the bill wrote to their con-
Eressmen suggesting that a clerical err
ror had been made in printing the bill.
1t was unbelievable to them. Their con-
gressmen, if they be of the republican
party, write back and say that the demo-
Gratis are in the majority and there is no
hope until next election day.
Capital for the Minority.
The minority is making great capital of
all these industrial disturbances, and looks
with glee on the threats to close down
works and plants. One of the latest bits
of ammunition which came into the re-
publican hands is the notice placarded in
a pottery plant in Ohio-in a democratic
district:
The owners state that thirty days after
the Underwood tariff goes into effect
wages will be reduced. in order to place
the pay roll on a parallel with the pay
rolls or foreign firms with which they
will have to compete under the no-pro-
lection law.
Representative Moore of Pennsylvania
a republican member of the ways and
means committee. is being deluged with
manufacturers protests. a large miller
from PENNSYLVANIA called him today
TO tell him that If the Canadians had
hill III could hav hoa
more favorable to that country
Said the miller:
While as progressive l am strongly
in favor of tariff reform and feel that
something should be done to reduce the
cost of living. l do not believe it posi-
bic that democrats appreciate what a
serious proposition their method of treat
ing wheat and -four is. Their action in
letting III flour free and taxing Canadian
wheat 10 cents a bushel might possibly
make slight reduction in the cost of
living. but ii is neither protection nor
free trade. 1t is simply protection for
Canadian mills and would mean a serious
handicap for American mills, which will
undoubtedly go out of business while the
protection on wheat is of very little help
TO the American farmer. In fact the final
result OF closing the American mills
would be a serious loss to the farmer.
Benefits the Canadian Miller.
Canadian flour mills now have ca
pacity of many times their domestic con-
sumption, and the Underood tariff would
enable them to invade our market and
sell the bulk of their flour in the United
States, while our mills would be pre-
vented from buying the Canadian wheat
because of the 10 cents bushel duty
1t is another phase of the umbrella ex-
ample.
Meantime, there are some slight dissen-
sions In the republican party ProbabI
the biggest one Is whether they should
stand for single bill or for a bill broken
,,p into va riOus schedules So tba. .L~-.