Arizona republican., 1913-05-05
In the Main the Argument Has Taken the Same Old Range Made Familiar to All Through the Congress Sional Record
PROGRESSINES PUT
 IN NEW ELEMENT
New Party Has Steadily Called Attention to the Manner i'll Which Defects Emphasize the Necessity for Change
Special Correspondence)

WASHINGTON, May 1.--General de- bate on the tariff bill has been raging back and forth for several days now and it is entirely safe to say that not a member of that body has changed his convictions for or against either the bill any of it's four thousand items. in the main, the debate has taken the same old range made familiar to fol- lowers of proceedings in Washington by hundreds. perhaps even thousands. of pages of the Congressional Record. Republicans assaiI the democratic bill as a disaster breeding measure of free trade. Democrats defend il as a meas ure of relief to the people of the coun- try from the high cost of living and assail the republican theory and prac- tice of high protection as unconstitu- tional robbery. Wit, metaphor and po- etry are employed indiScriminately by both sides and for all practical ad vantage. the report of the proceedings as between republican and democrats might be taken from any one of the many similar sham battles that have preceded this one.
 But new and striking element has been injected into this debate by the little band of prOgressives in the house. The standpat newspapers. republican and democratic alike, have devoted lit tie or no space to this significant feat ure of the present debate, but it is q feature which will increase rapidly in importance as the tariff bill proceeds along it's well oiled way and which is bound to gain vastly in public recog- ,,-iF bill receives the presidents signature.
 While republicans and democrats are emphasizing hy their speeches the fact that the pending bill is a product of the same old vicious method of tariff mak
 ing that has marked the enactment of previous tariff laws. the progreSsives have steadily called attention to the manner in which the inconsistencies and defects charged by republicans or admitted by democrats emphasize the necessity for change not merely in tar if rates, but in what is of even grater importance in the method of tariff making. The republicans go gaily ahead pointing out items in the meas ure which more or less obviously are the results of ignorance or incidence and, at the same time, democrat after ] democrat makes admission that in this 1 that or the other respect the bill is not l right and could be improved Thus ! while neither side admits the logical ] implication of it's argument. both sides
 are steadily adding to the proof of the i necessity for the creation of a perma | nent. nonpartisan. scientific tariff com mission. which shall secure to all the l ,,. AC 1 merely for the private use of the ma | jority members of the ways and means
 committee-the full information about 1 every item considered in a tariff bill. | The proposition of the progressive ! party is the establishment of a non partisan, scientific tariff commission. reporting both to the president and to 1. either branch of congress. which shall report first as to the costs of pro duction. efficiency of labor, capitaliza- tion, industrial organization and eff ciencv and the general competitive DO Sition in this country and abroad of industries seeking protection from | congress: second, as to the revenue producing power of the tariff and it's
 relation to the resources of govern ment; and third, as to the effect of
 the tariff on prices. operations of mid-
 dlemen. and on the purchasing power
 of the consumer"
 l. is worth while to consider the
 bearing upon this proposition of cer-
 tain facts, brought out in the debate
 in the house this week. Mir. Palmer of PennSylVania, one of the leading
 democrats on the ways and means , l a. fro, ,,l-
 der the pending bill, although Ameri- can manufacturers can continue to
 produce. it will be to a somewhat less extent in some lines and with less l profit in nearly all" This admission of the crippling effect Of the pending bill upon American manufacturers at once inspires the question whether it would not be better before enacting such a. measure to have such full in formation regarding all these matters ' as would enable the enactment of a | measure which would be just to al [ concerned and would show whether il is necessary to cripple any line oi American industry in order to give tc
 consumers of the product of that in dustry lower prices on the goods theS ' purchase
 In explaining the reduction in dutie. . on steel and iron and other metals, Mr
 tContinued on Page SiXl