The Washington herald., 1913-04-20
TARIFF
Will NOT AFFECT
PRICES At Once
Secretary Of Commerce Red
field Explains Workings Of
Proposed Reductions.
AUTHORITY ON SUBJECT
All Roots Of High Cost Of Living Not
to Be Cut Out by Lower
Duties Alone.
By JOSEPH p. AMIN.

BY JOSEPH r. AMIN.
ANY one who believes that for every
dollar taken off the duty on q product
there will be a similar dollar taken from
the present cost to the consumer all al
once shows a woeful ignorance of the
principles of economics"
In this way Secretary of Commerce
William c. Redfeld answered the ques-
tion now uppermost i'm many minds-how
will the tariff reductions affect the high
cost of living.
Mind you," he added, Il do not mean
that the removing of special privileges
from the tariff law and substituting a
competitive system for a highly protect
ed one will not result in some lowering
of prices. What i mean is, that with
some products the difference may be
slow i'm manifesting itself, while in the
case of other products the results of the
reduction may appear sooner. Even
these may be somewhat local in effect,
governed by the nearness of the point
of consumption to the port of impor-
tation, or by similar causes"
Mr.. Redf1eld's knowledge of the tariff
questionable ability to view. it from an
economic viewpoint and to balance the
needs of business with the rights of the
consumer-won him recognition at the
commencement of his first and last term
as a member of Congress from Brooklyn
and led to his selection by the Democratic
National Committee to lead the tariff
speaking in the late campaign, and by
President Wilson to be member of his
Cabinet in charge of the Department OF
Commerce.
Strikes at Artificial Causes.
Tariff reduction" Mr.. Redfield con-
tinued, docs not cut all the roots of
the high cost of living. 1t strikes at
some of the more artificial causes Of
that cost, and makes il easier for the
people as a whole to deal with the
other real problems involved in that
question. Where the high tariff system
10 responsible for abnormally high prices
20 the consumer, the new BILL if enacted
in its present form, will have helpful
effect. Even that effect may not be
everywhere immediate. except in the
case of a few sections where the tariff
may directly affect local markets.
Take. for instance, free raw wool.
Doubtless the introduction of this ma
terial free of duty will permit the man
ufacturer to produce his finished article
more cheaply. but there may be manu-
facturers who have contracted for. say,
six months ahead to furnish fabrics at
prices based on the old law, in which
raw wool was highly protected, with
correspondingly higher prices for foreign
and domestic products. Naturally, such
a manufacturer will not undersell his
contracts, unless. indeed, he may be
working on q contract providing for a
sliding scale, and, of course, retailers
will not reduce prices until the manu-
facturer sells to them for less. Again. a
retailer who has his shelves stocked
with goods bought at the old prices nat
y. 80 ~
difference as he can by holding up prices
until he is forced to lower them.
Effect Not Immediate.
For these and similar reasons, / say
the full effect of the tariff reduction
cannot be immediate. though doubtless
ii will be general. The immediateness of
the effect will be governed also largely
by such matters as local production and
consumption. and by the amounts Of
stocks on hand. Placing many dairy
products on the free list and reducing
others probably will have an early effect
in those parts of the country near Can
ada, whence importations of this nature
would come. New York may feel the
difference in the supply of eggs, the
duty on which is reduced from to =
cents a dozen. But this reduction will
have little immediate effect upon the
Southern and Central States, where the
supply of eggs is not directly affected
by possible importations, and the ulti-
mate effect there is hardly likely to be
noticed, for other causes may operate
to alter it,
The high cost of living is due largely
to inefficiency in production and dis
tribution. The high cost of distributing
goods is one OF the single biggest ele
ments in it. Stop to consider that ii
costs eight times as much to deliver
a pound of coffee from the corner grocery
store as it does to bring that coffee in
ship-bottoms from Rio de Janeiro to New
York. The waste from inefficient meth
obs in handling package freight in rail-
way terminals, freight sheds and transfer
yards amounts to very large per cent
of the total freight charge of about
s., 000. 100000 per annum. The inef-
ficiency arising from bad roads makes il
cost something like three hundred mil
lions a year merely to cart our cotton
crop from the fields to the railway sta
ton. i think few people realize the i'm
mense tax put on us all by the bad roads
and inefficient handling. Compare the
swift moving train in which a powerful
engine hauls great number of fully
loaded cars at fair speed with the casual,
half-loaded cart or truck by which the
product is taken from its point of pro-
duction to the railway station. The diff
ference is that between darkness and
light; between efficiency and waste.
Coed Roads VIII Help.
If our farmers once realized the awful
tax that bad roads impose upon them
public opinion sternly would demand the
making and maintaining of good roads
everywhere. 1t now costs the farmer
twelve-yes, twenty or more times as
much per ton mile to move his goods
TO the railway station as it does to
move them on railroads after they leave
the station. The farmer, indeed, in bad
cases and at certain seasons may have
to pay as much as 81 ton mile, while
the railroad carries the freight when il
gets 1t at an average of three-quarter
cents per ton mile.
"A thorough system Of good roads
would strike an immense blow at the