Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-12-22

The duty on hides thus plays no
part in the price the farmer gets for
his steer
When beef is up the kill of cattle
increases and hides go down. The
beef however, being perishable, is sold
at once; the hides are not perishable,
the price rises sufficiently to make
them profitable. The cattle grower
obviously cannot sell his cattle and
store their hides. If there is any bene.
fit in the duty on hides the packer
gets the whole of It. Wool is not a
mere by-product Hides are.
IF Caesar only knew" was the cry
Of the oppressed in the ages that are
past Our ruler is no Caesar but pub
lie opinion. Where law is bad it is
bad. because it is based upon inaccu-
rate public opinion. The American
public is honest. 1t is not far away
and it wants to know.
The interstate commerce commits
sion has told the truth about the rail
ways. and railway abuses have been
checked.
The national bureau of forestry has
told the truth about tree numbering
and the destruction of forests has
been checked.
The department of commerce and
labor has told the truth about the
production of canned goods and the
evils of the packing houses have been
checked. n
Let congress and president and peo
pie decide for protection or free trade;
! let congress and president divide the
dutiahle from the free list and estab
lish the scale of rates. but let us have
for tariff legislation, as for other leg
islation, some Off cial, impartial, dis
passionate source of information, Sc.
cure from political influence, with suf.
ficient ability, and, above all, suffici.
ent time to investigate the fiscal and
industrial needs of our people. Hav.
ing investigated, let this commission
tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth, and not private
ly in the ear of the president, but in
public to the people.
The function Of this board will be
not merely the collection and collation.
of information. 1t will digest and
summarize, for example, the mass OF
that It may be available for immedi
ate use. Moreover, it will keep
abreast of changing conditions in in
dustry and enable the government to
avoid years of troublesome and eXpen
sive litigation (such as has arisen, for
example. in the case of automobiles
when some new industry appears
whose very existence was not con
templated in the framing of current
general tariff schedules.
The function, in short, of this board
resembles that of master in chan
Gerry, to whom questions of fact are
referred in equity proceedings. He
hears witnesses, collects and seeks
out information, considers conflicting
testimony, and having digested such
information, presents an unbiased
statement of facts to the court in
whom is vested all powers of deci.
sion.
In like fashion, this board would
first assist congress in supplying thor
ough detailed and impartial state
ments of facts needed for tariff legis.
lation, as substitute for the present
eX-parte statements, many OF which
are far from complete and which
must of necessity be considered not
with deIiberation, but in desperate
haste by men embarrassed with many
other duties.
Furthermore, this board would re-
lieve the president, the senators and
members of the house of constant
pressure on their time. Whether a
tariff bill is or is not being discussed
constant professions of delegations
and individuals are coming to Wash.
Eington with complaints or suggestions
about the tariff from one years end
to another. Congressman have to give
time to their constituents and the
president is equally obliged to give
time to such delegations. All such
callers could be at once referred to
this board, who would listen to all
such complaints, sift the wheat from
the chaff, and furnish to the legisla
tive and executive branches of the
government only condensed informa
ton OF real value, thereby avoiding
the present useless waste of time in
Improbable interviews.
This isn't politics, but isn't it worth
while?
Editors note-This is the last OF
three articles by Mr. Guild on this
subject. The first article was publish
ed in The Courier December IL. and
the second article Dec. 1871