The Hartford republican., 1915-12-03

!. | oTouBnt ABOUT by the expiration &
, the commercial treaties in 1917, bu
I the European war has interfered
Germany is strongly Protectionist
, Almost all her Tariff revision ha
, been in the direction of increasinI
= rates on the few occasions wher
changes have been made. There Il
no dispute over the Tariffs, and tn,
matter can be handled in a business
like way because the whole countr,
Is In agreement upon the policy oi
Protection.
Since the revision OF the Tariff In
1903 was the last that Germany
made-and there will be no other orc
probably until the end of the war
the circumstances o. that revision
.Htrc investigate by the writer Re
rtr.s and articl"s were studied and
government officials were consulted
ic writer is indebted 80 .,1,,. ]
Won Bernstorff, the German Ambas-
sador, for his courtesy in explaining
in detail the system whereby Ger
many organizes her existing forces
for Tariff revision; the system of re-
vision in its relation to existing COM
mercial treaties and the obstacles to
revision at the present time on ac-
count of the war.
The exact procedure followed in
the Tariff revision of 1903 and what
led up to II is described with accur-
ate details by N. /. Stone, Tariff ex-
pert of the Bureau of Statistics of
the old United States Department of
Commerce and Labor, and for this
careful account written as long ago
as 1905, the writer also is indebted.
In 1903 in Germany as the old
Tariff in its method of classification
and technical construction of its
schedule had remained practically
unchanged since the beginning of the
nineteenth century, and as the agri-
cultural interests were clamoring for
increased Protection, IL was thought
best to elaborate an entirely new
scheme of schedule and system of
classification, which would be more
in accord with the specialized pro-
ducts of modern industry. The Ger
man government began preparations
for the drawing in the early part of
1S9S-almost six years before the
old commercial treaties were to ex-
pire. The work of preparing the
new Tariff was carried out largely
by two departments, the treasury
and the interior.
While the treasury officials were
assigned to the technical work of &,
drawing up the schedules, the Minis
ter ii the interior proceeded to en-
roll the corporation of the business
world for his part of the work. One
Of the first steps was to create
special commission for the elabora-
Of measures for forthcoming COM
,f thirty members. one-half of whom
we're appointed by the Chancellor of
he Empire on the recommendation
of the German Agricultural Associa-
ion the German Association of Cham
)ers of Commerce and the Central
Association of German Manufactur-
ers. each OF the organizations being
by five members; the
,ther fifteen members were appoint
ID directly by the chancellor in the
following manner: six representa-
ives of the agarian interests, five
rom manufacturers and four repre-
of wholesale trade.
AS the five members recommended
,y the German Association of Cham
,ers of Commerce included three
and only two repre- ,
of the export trade. the
composition of the entire commits
ion was as follows: eleven agarians,
hirteen manufacturers and six rep 6
esentatives of commerce. OF these ,
wenty-one were avowed Protection A.,
SITS. while the views of the remain 9
ng nine were uncertain. Consider ,
BILE criticism was made later in the :
ebates in the Reichstag. as well as
n the press. regarding the makeup =
( the commission, charging the gov /
rnment with deliberate packing" q
he commission with Protectionists. y
he Chancellor was blamed for ig- y
oring the precedent established BY
bismarck at the time of the Tariff Z,
evlsion of 1879. when representa- =
ives of labor and of the middle class
5, including artisans, tradesmen as
rell as consumers, and professional
len were invited.
The government defended its ac- .
on on the ground that the COM 1;
lission was engaged on purely tech n
L. |