Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-09
TUE TARIFF AND POLITICS

,hs Editor Of Eron'n0 he"Ds' n....,.,
is" :. The Secretary OF the treasury 'I,
~ ..ooch in Helena, Mont, little
raoe which has not received the
em. ..,lon that it deserves from men wno @
'"'p.,u, 1.,,ouIng closely the attitude OF the
us,.trat,on " toward matters OF Ni'a'
Aan'',.. on ,o our national prosperity.
inp0'.a, .so, occasion. in stating that the
U" ...,or is trying to take certain
ornamental questions amons '"en' '"s
lu"s, ~, out of politics, MIR. McAdoo sara
nii" ,os been no real prosperity
,ss United States in 10 years | don I
a., what the politicians say II IS not
..,,san matter, but an economic one
,,sor,t believe in attempting TO make
h'u .,,,toI out of either economic
moral questions. Politicians nave
m and down the country telling
,,st their particular party could
Us " ".osneritv First 1t was the Re-
.I1,ons then the Democrats. Inc pol
p,,,ane have been playing this game or
a1 to get offices, but their predic-
- and promises are all DUNK we
w. w. not had any real prosperity in the
,..t.d states for 10 years. because our
,.,nsss outgrew the clumsy financial
s..,nr, s.',, which we have been talking about
o',srsctlng for 80 years, but which we did
y. cot until President Wilson insisted
~ ~ conpress taking it up as soon as the
,.,,g hll was out of the way
Sr"r rnr,ya ard-looking Americans have real
- for many years that the tariff was
=, being handled in this country as 1t
..sbt 10 he handled. II may be stated
mai this is strange state OF aitalrs,
.ncs Americans are not an i'm ntelliRent
,,ce and practically every American mas
ivan more or less thought to tariff prob
Inns during all the years since liS9. when
Sn, drst tariff act was passed. And yet
y can hardly be denied that nobody Is
,,olv satisfied with the situation as II
exists.
Now, when you come right down to
mndamentals, what Is the trouble? Are /
rol,icIans to be blamed for waging cam
nlrns ON the basis of protection, or tar |
IN for revenue, or free trade? II does |
not appear that this is an unnatural or |
IMPROPER course to pursue. Protection I
md free trade are inherently political |
Issues. and as long as we neglect to es- |
ablIsh a definite tariff policy. these mat
ttrs will always be the subject of agi- |
ttion.
But, does the real trouble lie here? Is
4 not true that the American public has
repeatedly registered it's views with re-
nrd to the tariff only to find after a
number of years that those views have
not been carried out, but. on the con-
tfary that the expressed will of the peo-
pie has been covered up by n compliCat-
d and uninteligible series of sections
and sub-sections of various tariff acts.
90 that the average man could not possI-
BY tell whether he had been given what
he voted for or whether he had been |
rvsE something totally different?
II must be admitted that we are living
h an ambitious age. Some men would
say that II we had not been able to
ioye this problem in n century and a
quarter that we would never be able to
solve 1t. Happily, however. this Is not
me temper of the times. Men and women
are trying to be efficient to n greater de-
ress than ever before And IL il prob
ably true that never before in the his
toy Of the country have so many intelIi-
Gent people in all walks of our economic
NE united in the demand that a fair trial
befgiVen to the Tariff Commission plan
Ehlch In It's essence is an attempt to
enhg ABOUT greater national efficiency
and to do away with one of the most
Striking sources of national waste.
The real point then is that II Is not now
% much the tariff as II Is tariff-making |
lnal we want to take out of politics: and
now are tariffs made? The matter could
not be better summarized than In the !
words OF Professor Seager. of Columbia
! lnlVersty. who describes the process as
lalows in his Introduction to Eco
rOmcs'.
To fully master any one of these
hhedules and determine what rates of
say would afford adequate protection !
tmout undnly hurdcninE consumers
sOuld require years of study of the in !
'astnes affected, both at home and ,
.0oafd !, To fully master all of them, with
ne ne aOO odd different articles TO which
NY refer, is task beyond human cap /
NY NEEDLESS to say, Congress in draft $
ny ny lsrin bills makes no such ambitious )
.asmp'' .asa Instead. it contents itself with ,
SANS the testimony of interested per- :
IN .sns as 10 the amount of protection their ,
s-sinesses require. and accepts their I
.1.sments as its guide in apportioning I
'iV'setlon to different industries"
GUY EMERSON.
fhiadelphia. December G.