Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-06
SENSE, GENTLEMEN, NOT NONSENSE

| Ihe plan OF the administration 10 pass an
anti-dumping law to prevent the flooding of
| the American market with cheap foreign
goods at the close Of the war is formulated
by the same kind of intelligence that would
send a child to stop team of runaway
! horses.
The crisis which Is about to confront Amer
! lean trade is one Of the gravest in the whole
! commercial history of the nation. We can
weather the storm If we decide now to take
council of the practical wisdom of the past
and meet the issue in the spirit of broad
patriotism.
The few Democratic theorists when con-
fronted by the danger to national trade that
will follow the return of the workmen of
Europe to the factories, ought to forget their
maxims and combine with all real Ameri-
cans to defend the home market against IN
vasion. They have begun to realize that 1t
will need some kind of defense, and are even
now struggling with the problem
The Republicans, on thor part. have big
ger business to attend to than holding in
quests over past mistakes and indulging in
personal quarres. Mr.. Taft's recent at
tacks upon Roosevelt are as ll-timed as Mr..
Roosevelts attempt to say whom the Re-
publicans may nominate Both these men
are protectionists and believe in adequate
preparation to meet the commercial crisis
that may be upon us before we know 1t.
Personal differences become petty when
confronted by the great issues pressing for
solution.
II these issues are to be met the whole
tariff question must be lifted from the
slough in which 1t has been wallowng for
many years. The Progressive movement of
1912 was much protest against the sale
of law to favored manufacturers as against
he Of bp bOgspq IN bnd
strong because of the slush funds received
from manufacturers who bought tariff fa-
vors. The moral sense of the whole nation
was aroused then as it had not been stirred
since the days Of anti-slavery agitation.
There can be no new protective tariff that
will satisfy the country unless it is fair to
ALL and unless it is framed in the open for
the sole purpose of developing and safe
guarding all industries and all vocations and
diversifyng and accentuating the talents
and genius of the whole people. as Senator
Borah we'll said in Washington the other
day.
No halfway measures will do. The propo-
sition to make it q crime for an American
to buy goods for import at a price less than
the customary price asked abroad is inter-
esting only because it shows that the Ad-
mnistration has discovered a greater de-
gree of protection is needed than is afforded
by the existing law.
But such anti-dumping system would
fail of its purpose. British statesmen who
began to realize few years ago that some
thing must be done If England was to hold
its own in competition with the other man
ufacturing nations, sought to avoid the ad-
vocacy of adequate protective duties by
urging the passage of laws to prevent Ger
many from dumping her surplus in London.
But the common sense of the British
jected this plan.
Canada has not been so wise. It's anti
dumping law, however, was passed by a low
tariff Parliament to accomplish what their
low tariff law could not do. They thought
that they had whipped the devil of protec-
tion around the stump of political expedi-
ency when they provided that the duty on
goods imported into Canada should be
levied, not on the invoice price. but on the
prevailing market price in the country from
which they were imported. For example, If
q dutiable article, worth 81 in America, were
sold to a Canadian for rs cents and the duty
on it was 40 per cent, the customs collector
was to collect 40 cents duty instead of 80
cents the amount which the invoice would
call for. In addition, the law provided that
an extra duty. equal to the difference be-
tween the invoiced price and the ordinary
market price in the country of origin, should
be charged, with the sole restriction that
this extra duty should not exceed one-half
OF the amount of the regular duty. This
would make it necessary for the importer
to pay so cents duty on the dollar article,
Theoretically this was a beautiful plan;
but it has not worked satisfactorily. The
manager of the Canadian Manufacturers
Association said two or three years ago that
it checked dumping only when business was
good in the United States; that is, when the
United States market was absorbing the
product of the home factories. But, he con-
fessed, it has not been and could not be ef-
feetive when business was bad in the United
States; that is. when the manufacturers here
found it necessary to seek outside markets
The Canadian anti-dumping law works
when there is no need for it, and 1t breaks
down as soon as it is put to the test.
No little boy carry a mans load. We
like to see the little boy play that he is a
man and encourage him TO think that he is
as strong as his father. But the place for
nursery games is in the nursery
There are full grown statesmen in Amer
lea capable of drafting. with the assistance
of the honest business men of the country
a tariff act which win be equal to the test
that will be put upon it within the next two
years
Forget your personal differences, gentle
men Leave your theories in the library and
take up the task that awaits you