The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-05-16
az WILLIAM c. REDFlELD,
Secretary Of the United States De-
partment Of Commerce.


Secretary Of the United States De-
partment Of Commerce..
The plain people-the average man
will be benefited by the Underwood
tariff bill by the removal OF taxation
from the ordinary articles OF food and
use.
| have always felt that the Repub-
lican party took too serious view
OF the Canadian hen. | have no doubt
she IL a very efficient bird. but have
never been willing to admit so great
a superiority for the Canadian hen
over the American hen as to require
that the product OF the former be
taxed to protect the latter
I have never seen any tables to
show that the Canadian hen laid so
many more eggs day as to make
the American hen afraid Of her.
Yet for some unexplained reason, We
have carried q duty on eggs for many
years as though there was something
pcrtentious about the egglaying abil.
tiles OF the hen across the border,
Now that duty is cut from cents to
cents. and although that does not
mean a great earthquake OF prosper
from q very common article or food.
That does not mean that our mar
kets will be flooded with Canadian
eggs. for the simple reason that the
eggs are not there to do the flooding.
Il will not affect the farmer at all,
but 1t may affect favorably the retail
price OF eggs in the great centers OF
population. And so with other food
prnduCtc odn fvoo Or raducod
On the other hand, the farmer is
particularly benefited by the putting
on the free list OF many articles OF
manufacture which he has to use
These articles are selling In large
quantities abroad. so there is no
longer any excuse for taxing the
American consumer to protect the
concerns that make them.
30 far ~ the removal OF the tax
can directly reduce the price, the
farmer should be benefited thereby.
In fact. the feature Of the bill--if one
may distinguish one feature from an
other-is the large addition to the
free list of articles Of common con-
sumption by all people.
A few of the more prominent are
agricultural implements, bagging,
binding Irvine, typewriters. sewing ma
chimes, machines for construction and
maintenance Of roads. coal, fertilizer.
hoop and band iron. nails, spikes and
staples. horse and OK shoes. oils, rails.
barbed wire. wire fencing, and In gen.
eral the articles of commonest use.
80 far, therefore. as the removal OF
unnecessary tariff taxes can affect the
retail prices OF ordinary commodities.
the bill 10 q step In the direction or
reducing the cost Of living.
say 4 step, because there are a
great many factors in the cost Of liv-
Ing which the tariff bill does not touch
and IL not intended to touch.
For example. one of the greatest ele-
ments In the cost Of living and one
which bears most on the producers is
the cost Of distribution. A barrel OF
potatoes may cost the consumer sew.
eral times what the farmer gets for 1t
merely because of the cost OF distribu-
ton, which Is often much more seri-
GUS than the tariff rate. II Is said to
cost q quarter of q cent to transport
a pound Of coffee from Rio Janeiro TO
New York, while IL cost cents to
take It from the retail grocer TO the
house nearby.
The tariff bill cannot touch, and is
not expected to touch this particular
excessive element of cost.
Furthermore, everybody knows that
In railroad transportation the waste
at terminals Is several times greater
than the cost Of hauling the freight.
We still continue to handle our pack.
age freight box by box in the old.
fashioned way, one at time. so that
out of every dollar we pay for freight.
more than half Is because OF medieval
handling methods and not for trans
portation itself
In the same way, perhaps the most
serious single element Of tax on the
community Is that made by bad roads.
II frequently costs farmer dollar
q ton-mile to get his goods from the
farm to the railroad station because
the roads are bad, but from the sta
ton to the city where they are sold
II costs but "a OF q cent a ton-mile.
mention these things to show that
the tariff bill Ii no cure.all. II Is a
step towards removing obstacles
which prevent the freer exchange OF
products Of the farm. the mill and the
mine, but no intelligent man expects
II to be more than a step.
What, then, Is the principal benefit
arising from the tariff bill? To my
thinking II is, a moral and a mental
beneht. It will prevent, because 1t
promotes competition, the taking OF
our people into the power of great
combinations. or Of great business en-
terprises. whether. or not they are
combinations. 1t opens the door suffi.
GENTLY wide to give a man a chance
to buy OF somebody at q fair price.
and It prohibits American industries
charging an -unfair-price. It does
away with the existence Of a favored
class OF producers who have special
b privileges at the hands Of the state
which the rest OF us do not have.
We would look with amusement
or wrath. according TO our state OF
mind-on legislation to provide In.
comes for doctors or fees for lawyers.
We have never got to the point where
we thought II proper subject of leg.
isiatfon TO provide work for plumbers
or carpenters, but there has been a
group among IN for whom II has been
thought proper that the government