Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-08-17

ing cost, to say nothing of the differ
ence. Fourteen of the samples show
duties of 125 per cent of the manu-
featured cost: ten of them carry du-
ties of $50 per cent; nine of them,
nearly one tenth of the whole, bear
duty of 165 per cent. Three samples
show duties of 200 per cent higher
than the actual manufacturing cost
The revisers of the tariff had some
special pets in this industry. Four Of
the samples showed a duty of $50
per cent Of the manufacturing cost;
two of the samples showed duties of
300 per cent, of the whole cost of
manufacturing the raw material into
the finished product. One sample had
duty of 400 per cent and one 600
per cent. The cotton schedule is fair
ly illustrative of the other manufac-
turing schedules. These tariffs upon
the things that the people wear and
eat and use in their daily life are
tax directly upon the people; it is
tax upon the consumption and the
consumer has to pay the tax.
'The progressive republicans in
congress made every effort to carry
out the pledge of the republican plat
form and secure an honest revision
of the tariff. 1t was of no avail. The
| poypo Common A1JrioIo Dorroco mn
chine had absolute control of the COM
merce, and President Taft signed the
| bill. The result was the people who
| had been cheated, miSled and betray-
ed repudiated the republican party in
| 1910 and cast an overwhelming vote
against it. It repudiated it again in
1912 and Mr.. Taft carried only the
states of Utah and Vermont The
Democrat party came into power and
it presented the Underwood bill. You
cannot measure the effect of the tar
if by one schedule or half a dozen
schedules. The tariff considered as
whole affects the cost of living. The
Underwood tariff reduced most of the
robber schedules of the Payne-Aldrich
law. It reduced some of the protec-
ton that the farmers had under the
Payne-Aldrich law, but on the whole
it was my candid judgment then and
it is now, that the Underwood tariff
bill was much more favorable to the
farmers and to all classes of people
except the manufacturers themselves
than was the Payne-Aldrich law. Be
ried an income tax provision which
was calculated to raise by direct tax
on swollen fortunes $100,000,000 a
year. To vote against the Underwood
tariff bill required me to vote against
the income tax. I offered amendments
to the Underwood bill to give the far
mers the protection [ thought they
ought to have, but my amendments
did not carry. | thus chose the better
bill of the two and voted for the I'm
derwood bill and against the Payne
Aldrich law.
II believe in protection to American
industries and American labor. I be-
lieve that reasonable protection is
! measured by the difference in cost
between the manufacture of the ar
ticle in this country and the cost of
manufacture abroad A tariff based
on this principle can be made only
upon scientific study and research. I
have favored, together with the pro-
gressive republicans, tariff commits
sion whose duty it will be to ascer-
tain the cost of production in this
country and other countries of the
world. A tariff bill deals with thou
sands Of products. Reliable data for
determining the cost of production has
been worked out with accuracy on
several of the most important sched-
ules covered by the tariff. AS to the
products the cost of producing which
is not known, we must make the best
estimates possible with the material
at hand. With a tariff commission to
gather accurate data it will not be
difficult to pass tariff bill that will
protect the American manufacturers
who are dealing fairly with the Amer
lean people.
'The voters should not be misled
and vote to increase the cost of living
by high tariffs without any benefits
in return. For years and years the
farmers of this country, particularly
in the northern states, have stood SOL
idly for protective principles. They
have gone to the polls election after
election and returned to power the
party pledged to this doctrine 1t
was not directly for their advantage
that the tariff walls were raised high
er and higher. But in the belief that
they were ultimately to come into
their own through the upbuilding of
a great market, for many years they
consented to the maintenance of these
high duties. They were not unmind-
full of the fact that they were there
by compelled to pay more for manu-
featured products they purchased than