Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-19

@A E1 GA44A QA k-Q0StA chester. who was to have been the principal speaker at the annual meet ing Of the Eastern Connecticut Devel- opment committee in this city today is | unavoidahly detained at home by ill., ness in his family. The announce ment that MT. Cheney will not be able | to attend the meeting was made on | Thursday. Charles w. Pearson, sec- retary of the Norwich Chamber of | Commerce, which is to entertain the | committee, received a letter from Hon. | MT. Cheney on Thursday expressing l his regrets.
 Mir. Cheney's address was to have | been on the tariff commission. a sllb- | ject of vital interest to every busi- | ness man, and 1t is with keen disap- pointment that the members of the 1 committee learn that he will not be able to- attend.
 It is expected that over 15o men representing all sections of Eastern Connecticut will gather at the Waure- gan house at noon today for the an- nual meeting. From 12 to 12.30 there will be a reception for the speakers and the banquet will be served at 12.30 o'clock, the business meeting to fol- low immediately afterwards. Mir. eheney's Views on Commission.
 Tn his letter to Secretary Pearson, Mir Cheney gave his views on the tariff commission and in concluding he Commerce and the Eastern Develop ment Committee to use their influence with the Connecticut delegation in congress.
 Mir. Cheney's views, as expressed in his letter, are as follows:
 There has been a great deal said about the Tariff Commission taking the tariff out of politics. This would not be the result of a tariff commis- mission, nor do believe that it is a desirable end to aim at. As long as there is a disagreement between the citizens of the United States as to the purposes for which tariff should be imposed, yone group of persons main taining that the tariff should protect the industries of the United States. and aid in their development and growth to the end that the United States may make within it's own bor- ders all those things which are neces- sary for it's national existence, (and at the present time there are fewer people than usual who do not appre- ciate the desirability of a nation be- i ing self sustaining), and another l group of persons maintaining that the | tariff is solely for the purpose of rais- | ing revenue for the purposes of the | government and should not fulfill any | other function than that of providing l revenue, the tariff is and of necessity must be q political issue. I there ] fore think that it has been much more 1 properly put to say that the Tariff 1 Commission should not aim to take the 1 tariff out of politics, but to take the politics out of the tariff. that is, the 1 blind favoritism and log-rolling which | has been an unseemly incident in the ! consideration of the tariff by our con- 1 gress in past years. It reduces this very important element in our national 1 policy to a basis of scientific fact, carefully and scientifically determined, and with justice and equity to all, on 1 order that congress, the president and l the people of the United States shall have before them for consideration. not l the ex parte statements of people in- terested in the tariff rates, but impar- l tial judgment of trained experts as to 1 what would be the result of raising or
 lowering the tariff on any particular artic1.
 | The principle of a Tariff Commission l is not so new as people generally
 would have us understand. In fact
 there has always been at the forma.
 ton of every tariff a tariff board hast fly assembled without special train. ing and with very little information upon the subjects which they have been asked to pass. This has beer the corps of men called in to advise the @4embers of the house and the sen, l has been made up in no responsibl,
 way and without system, from the ex
 aminers in the customs houses, tn
 clerks in the census bureaus. and tn,
 statisticians of the treasury depart l ment men having little ability an; training for the work laid out for them
 To my sorrow, 1t has been my To
 in three tariff revisfons to have to con } tend with the ignorance of this hastil, } constituted tariff board and to pa , tientIy and carefully explain to then 5 the parliamentary principles relating t ? the subjects upon which their advic had been asked. During the forma 3 tion of the last tariff bill, gentleman } from the treasury department wa
 given astounding power in relation t
 the schedule affecting our industry, a
 interest amounting to $250 600 900 T year and having so little informatfo : in relation to the subject that it wa o necessary to carefully explain to hiI e with diagrams, samples and price-list
 the difference between materials whic
 any man in the silk business VouI
 have seen at a glance; and when . was all done. it had to be gone owe n again, and then he did not undersGan 4 it, yet decided with perfect ease an V freedom of duty involving millions C
 dollars, and the committed, knowin
 nothing about the subject-and nc trusting the manufacturers, accepte
 his statements as authoritative.
 Instead of having an investigatio
 which Is conducted over a period ( . possibly a month-for never has ths amount of time been given to any on
 schedule of the tariff by the commit l. tee of congress-there ought to be
 continuous and careful investigatfo ~ by men trained to the work going o E all the time. to the end that we ma II know in advance with fair degree
 accuracy whether the reduction in :. duty will result in an increased in ,s port and increased revenue or a dt io creased revenue; whether the add
 tion of higher duty would result . | stopping the imports, in lowering u . revenues or in rasing the revenue. ,1s what its effect would be upon the il vv dustry of the United States.
 ,P In order to determine these facto
 it would be necessary for congress !. have at their disposal an enormo1 n amount of information relating to u 4 cost of production of all articles a \ fected by the tariff in the Unit
 States, the price at which such articI = can be brought into the United State
 and their costs in foreign markets.
 I believe that the plank which VI
 incorporated i'm, thu republican pla
 form, that tariff rates should be bas
 on the difference in the cost of pr