Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-02-08

ported nearly 1000 schedules ia Con
rress and succeeded in having about
10 per cent OF them adopted. rhora
was tariff commission In the ti,ne of
President Taft which labored miphti,v
nut if IL had any influence toward tab
ing The tarih out Of politics 1t was not
discernible to the naked eye OF The
Washington observer. SO with ,bn
next thrif commission. The tariff Is
a tax. Taxes are imposed by Congress
Congress is a political body. And
whenever Congress imposes tax there
is politics In the taxes. politics In
the discussion and politics in the nn.i
action. whatever may have been tho
constitution OF the body that reported
the facts upon which the action Wa
based.
Makes One-Third of I.coIne.
In 1915 the tariff brought in abou,
S2O5. $4,000. which Is u 1-2 per con,
less than the receipts FOR the preceding
year. 1t is also just little less ,hnn
half the amount OF the internal reyc-
MUGS. so tina; the tariff liz responsible
for about one-third of Uncle Sans in
come.
one way 10 increase this income OF
course, is to raise the tarifr duties O,
put on new ones. Two tariff measures.
NJ least. Will probably be considered
by Congress Ono Of these Ia IN, ro
sugar to come into the country free of
duty after May !. 1916: and the other
is duty 10 protect our new infant
Industries which tho European war
has brought into being-cspccially ;he
dyestum industry.
The Underwood tariff reduced III.
duty on sugar from "a per cent 10
40 per cent and provided that II should
come in free after May I. 1916. Under
THIS tariff our receipts from the i'm
Doftation Of sugar were reduced si@-
zoe. 900 during the fiscal year lo15. 1!,is.
however, was largely due to the war,
as shown by the fact that during IT,,
last quarter the receipts from thi.i
source We're larger than ever before
totalins more than sl5.0O0,o0O. Now,
by repeating the law which would al
low sugar TO come in duty free after
The INST or May. our national income
viii be nearly SGo,O0n,DoO larger thai.
1t otherwise would.
OF Nonpartisan Character.
Both Democratic and Republican
Congressman have spoken in favor 90
a duty which will protect the newly
created dyestuff industry from European
competition after the war, while the
President himself has spok en- I'm favor OF
protection against dumping by The
European nations. The most interest
ing thing about this discussion OF the
tariff in Congress is Its relatively non
partisan character. Some Democratic
members OF the Ways and Means Com
mi;tee have said that they do not be-
iieNe the tariff should be altered yet
while some of them openly favor pro-
lection for dycstuffs and the repeal OF
free sugar. Republicans mostly favor
these two latter measures, and without
being definite as yet, say that the schcd-
ulcs should be revised.
The Intelligence or the American
people has awakened to the fact that
the tariff should not he an exclusively
political issue. but that IT ought also
to be the subject OF scientific study.
AS means toward this end, the com
ing together of the partisan political
thought i'll favor of some form OF {.
tariff commission is generally well
coined in all parts OF the country and
by men of all shades Of political opin-
ION. with perhaps the exceptions of the
extreme high protectionists and the
extreme free traders. There is great
reason TO hope that tariff conditions III
the future will be better than thcy
have been in the past because OF the
greater intelligence which will be
brought to bear upon the solution OF
tariff problems.