Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-30
THE WAY TO CURE TARIFF ABUSES

BOiiNiOS Wleu the ABUSES IN tne ITdUnink
of tariff laws have been removed.
The United States is committed to the pro.
tective policy, and has been with more OF
less consistency since Washington's first adj
dress to Congress. on that memorable oc-
I casion he said that "a free people require
that they should promote such manufactures
as to render them Independent of others for
essential supplies" 1t was in re-
! sponse to resolution of Congress asking
| Alexander Hamilton to suggest plan for
the announcement and promotion Of manu-
factures In conformity with the Presidents
recommendation that he made his famous
Report on Manufactures"
There have been free trade" tariffs. but
they justified the name only because they
marked a swinging Of the pendulum from
extreme proteCtionism. we have never had
what the British know as free trade Since
the Civil War protection has vndcated it,
self so completely that the Democratic party
has not dared to do more than modify the
protective duties or the Republicans. There
are more protectionists in the Democratic
party today than before, in spite of the
! dominance Of academic free traders i'm its
| higher councils.
The tariff issue does not turn on a con-
! tnuancc Of protective duties but on the
abuses in the application of the protective
| policy to specific cases. 40 Republican who
! wishes to be honest with himself will deny
| that there have been favored industries
Nor will he dispute the charge that the
tariff barons" have made contributions to
campaign funds in the confident hope that
the iavortism would be continued. Tho re-
volt against such abuses was inevitable be-
cause in democracy there must he equal
opportunities for all and no special privi-
leges for the few who can get the car of the
lawmakers nd T., tb,fr
minders of the way the money was raised
that helped to put them in office.
But even though the Congresses had acted
with the purest motives. the system of tariff
making has been wrong. There is no body .
OF accurate and scientifically prepared data |
on which to base any rate of duty At
tempts have been made to secure such data /
by the creation of n specially authorized
commission to gg'her the facts Congress-,
however. has never taken the commission
idea seriously. The commission appointed
by President Arthur in 1882 devoted a few
months to the matter, but no witnesses ap-
peared before it save some theorists and
some manufacturer Interested in higher
rates on their own products. It's report was
printed in two large volumes, and is now
gathering dust on the shelves of a few pub
lie libraries in the neglect which it's lack
OF thoroughncss and scientific basis de-
serves. About 30 years passed before an
other commission was appointed, although
numerous efforts were made in the mean
time to persuade Congress to call in cXpert
advisers, President Taft's tariff board. Gre
ated in 1872 was not intended to assist Con-
gress so much to guide the President in
his recommendations. It made some inves-
legations into the conditions prevailing here
and abroad in specific industries, and Con-
re
had not been made Then it killed the board
by refusing to appropriate money for it's
support.
Neither the Taft Board nor the Arthur
Commission was the right kind. What the
country needs is permanent body of men
so far removed from partisan political infiu-
ences that when 1t makes a report upon the {
conditions prevailing in the hosiery industry
IN Europe and in American, for example. and
on the rate of duty needed to enable the ;
American producer to compete In the home II
market on equal terms with the foreigner.
is recommendation will be accepted with as $
much confidence a decision Of the Su- j.
oreme Court.
The creation Of such commission would
AXE the tariff from politics as fast as II 4
;ained the confidence Of the public. No one o
wants to destroy any American industry II
every one. Democrats we'll as Republi- "
ans. is eager to increase the number of our
Industries and to make conditions such that
hey can prosper, II is beside the question | r
o argue that Congress will never surrender
is taxing power to commission, because N
hat has not been seriously proposed
The country has prospered under the 81
resent system which unsettles business 4
very four years. But If it were possible
1r man TO he assured that so long as the l.
onditions abroad remained the same he
1uld be certain OF tho same degree of tariff I'll
rejection, the past prosperity would pale Gl
Ito insgnifcance n comparison with that u,
hich would follow. And even if conditions NJ
Hanged abroad an assurance that such 60
langes as were made in the tariff would y,
, only those which were justified by the ie
cts would make for stability. Certainty WI
ould take the place Of uncertainty in busi- HE
,ss, and politics would be purer because
the removal of the corrupting influence
men seeking after special privileges with
oney bags in their hands.
Railroad men were skeptical about the ~
lue Of the Interstate Commerce Commits NJ.
IN when it was first created. but they al
ould be the first to object to abolishing it, ~ ~
tariff commission of the right kind would da
for general hr'~'ness what the Interstate fai
mmerce Commission has done for the rail-
ads. 1t is bound to come. If the present
ngress does not create il, the credit for q
Wing one of the most perplexlng problems IN
American politics win go IN one of its an
ecessors in the future. bal
Pea coal to be advanced" Chestnut pa
David Lamar, the Wolf of Wall strast Iau l