Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-12-22
A TARIFF BASED ON TRUTH
THE AIMS. THE HISTORY AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF AN
AMERICAN TARIFF COMMISSION
BY HON. CURTIS GUILD
ARTICLE III.

Former Governor of Massachusetts, aud Flo
(F'rom the Philade
ARTICLE III.
A man fortunate in his surroundings
and approaching his half-century
needs only to look back to his college
days to remember that his dancing
shoes came from Herth, of Paris; his
walking shoes from Walkenphast, OF
London; his underwear from Cart
wright and Warmers, in England; his
hats from Piccadilly; the glass on his
fathers table from England or b.
hemia; the black silk of his gradual
ing gown from France or Switzerland;
his carpet from England; his sisters
summer ginghams from Scotland; his
bicycle from Coventry. His little
brother could not even welcome in
the Fourth of July with the conven-
tional tin fish horn without paying
tribute to the tinplate works of
Wales.
Today American industry supplies
not merely the necessities but the
Injuries, for to the quality of sound.
ness and durability have been added
taste and beauty of design. The vic
tory Of American tinplate may be
counted mere material gain if you
will, but the triumph of American cut
glass Is gain not merely in our stan
dard, but in the worlds standard OF
beauty.
Similar changes of condition are GER
tain to take place in the future, and
by the establishment of commission
n r. inf m n
can be more promptly and wisely
handled in the future than they have
been in the past, or than they can be
handled today.
Other changes in condition strike
deeper. Duties once advocated as at
fording needed protection to American
industries now operate, as far as they
operate at all for the permanent de-
struction of national resources.
If the present rate of cutting goes
on. according to the estimate of the
state forester, five years more will wit
ness not merely the utter disappear
ance of trees, but the disappearance
of soil from the upper slopes of the
White Mountains in New Hampshire.
Our supplies of material for furni
ture and cabinet making are vanish
ing, states and cities are spending
thousands on foresters and foresta.
ton. Agriculture, manufactures, SAM
tation, every cause that profits by a
steady water supply, is crying out
against the senseless destruction OF
the forests that conserve and protect
water supply.
Again, new inventions constantly
arise which are not clearly covered
by any schedule. The courts were
busy for years deciding whether a
motor car, unmentioned in the tariff
in force, was vehicle in which steel
leather Or rubber was the material
Of chief. value. The same difficulty
existed on aeroplanes A tariff com
mission would from time to time re
port these facts and also when chang
ed conditions of production demand
some one changed tariff schedule, re.
port as to this or that detail for cor.
rection, SO that the tariff might be
kept perpetually up to date without
the constant dislocation of all business
by periodical wrenching apart CT the
entire system whether in most cases
changes were desirable or not.
Investigation will always be neces.
sary, not merely for the correction of
things that have been done. but for
the prevention of things that may be
done.
In hopeless ignorance the ordinary
congressman classed for years wool
with hides as produced by the same
class of people against the same kind
lof competition.
Now, wool needs care and breeding
sheep are bred and raised to produce
a certain kind of wool; wool-raising is
a specialized industry and when wool
is down, as in 1S93-97, sheep are
slaughtered by the wholesale as no
longer profitable. There is sound
argument from the protectioniSt stand
point for duty on WOOL
There never was any logic from any
standpoint for a duty on hides There
was no duty on the skins Of goats, or
Of sheep, or of horses, or of alligators
or Of kangaroos or even of calves
There was a duty of Is per cent on
the skins of adult cattle. The
farmer never got any benefit from it.
Cattle are sold in open market for
export and domestic consumption, and
the price goes up and down in accord.
ance with the demand for beef SINH
lar animals bring the same price
whether the hide is later to be taken
off in foreign country or here. The
American packer buys his steer with
the hide on for exactly the same price
that the foreign exporter pays for his,