Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-11
Rather Bad Start.

we note III InufSuftS uiSdtttes thdt
II the consent of REPRESENTATIVE Under
wood and other House leaders can be
secured a Joint resolution Will be
passed through Congress within few
days repeating that portion of the new
tariff law, authorizing a five per cent
tariff rebate on goods brought to this
country in American-owned ships. The
decision to ask for the repeal of the
clause was reached by Administra ton
officials after experts of the State ana
Treasury departments had decided
that to carry out its exact terms would
mean a reduction of five per cent in
tariff on goods from practically all of
the chief exporting counties except
Brazil. France and Russia. Senator
Simmons gave assurance that the Sem
ate undoubtedly would agree to a re-
peal of the entire clause as 1t had
originally rejected it.
THE President eharacterizes it as a
ebfuneer." but Was it? The provision
is said to have been designed t, con
fer special favors on American ships :"
II wae put into the tariff bill by the
House. The Senate struck it out. but
later agreed to it in the following form:
That a discount of five per cent on
all duties limos ea ny this act s.lan be
allowed on such goods, wares ard pier-
chandise as shall be imported Ii Vtsseis|
admitted to registration Under the laws
of the United States: Provided. tfatI
nothing In this subsection shall lie So
construed as to ahrosata or in any man
ner5 impair or affect The provisions OF
any treaty con ctJded betw sna he United
States and any other foreign nation.
Already Chairman Underwood has
piaced himself emphadoally against
repeal of the differentiaI II the Presi-
dent failed to discover it, with all MS
intimacy with and dictation OF the tar
iff bill. it must have been handled very
adroitly The President now says it is
a serious blunder and likely to provoke
retaliation from sother nations-and
tho new law is less than week old
ard the work of reducing the high
NoCt Va iiNihS iioe tsNh DNe liz -
likely to send a special message to Con-
gress urging sthat the objectionable
prcyisionsbe Stricken out Of the law. A
Boston Advertiser writer puts it this
way:
How did this objectionable and in
defensible section ever get into the
Underwood law2 The discovery of its
unsoundness is not new 1t was expos
ed so completely and SO sensafionally
in the Senate, this summer. that the
whole provision was thrown out, per-
force IT would have been national
scandal had the Senate insisted on
keeping it in the bill. Yet, now that
President Wilson has signed the bill,
this mpudent and suspicious section
reappears as law.
1.-The incident is suggestive and ire
mendously significant.
1T IS plain that President Wilson is
not going to show any false pride
about asking for amendments to the
new tariff law, as fast as the hlundefs
in that law should be discovered. This
is at least encouraging for all who de-
sire TO see prosperity and Industrial
PEACE, under the new legislation II
seems reasonable enough to infer that
President Wilson will allow nothing to
stand in the way of his determination
that the country's industries shall not
suffer unfairly from the new law, ana
that in case il becomes plain that there
have been unnecessarily harsh terms
imposed upon American Industries. the
President will instantly appeal to Con-
gress for such remedies as may be nee
essary."
Our neighbor goes on to say that
while all this is comforting there rs a
side not SC praiseworthy and adds:
This Objectionable provision in the
bill was fathered. as all know, by an
unscrbpuious lobby at Washington,
working in the interests OF the ship
ping trust When it was so bluntly
and so completely exposed, last sum-
mer, and il was so quickly dropped
out of the bill, in consequence, what
mysterious and powerful influence pre-
vailed with the conferees, that they
should have restored the exemption to
the BILL. with such profound secrecy
while the public was utterly ignorant
of the grant Oh SuGu SA%Nlii iA'oiS ~
the privileged few?
There is no chance of putting the
responsibility for this hlgh-nanced
piece of chicanery upon the Repdbll-
can conferecs. 1t can be proven that,
I'D to the very day the Democratic
f-e,nferees agreed to report their Dill 10
both houses, not one Of the Repueli-
cans had even an inkling of what the
majority members of the committee
were ioing. Then, it was too late 10
study the bill at all eloseiy, in view oil
the great number of alterations Whieh
had been made The Democrats took
care that there should be no such
chance The oil, with TINS sweet
scented piece of rascality so well con
-x.x...l.4i thin IL hecame q law.