The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1916-01-20

LhuN WhtAuSluN1iA lllAAegS
IN other words, the war has
s Kept our tourists at home at 9
q saving TO u.s. OF $3.50, 600. 900, and
Europe has hand ed sua5 as much
more IN hard cash. But this its not
ali. Says Mr.. Sspeare:
"The actual iBhipme nts are only &
one-duarter to one.t third the value
Of the contracts negotiated here.
one can sit down with paper and Il
pencil. and in q few minutes foot
mn q bill OF :, 1880, 000, 900 to 81, $780,
10000 that the ALI les will have to
nay here In the next nine or
twelve months, on materials al
ready spoken for. =
Shall the administration be credited
with this fever OF prosperity Z" They
should be the first to- disclaim It, for
the war has been a Chinese wall OF
neutrality-suspicious. raised to the
Ninth power, fantastic, chaotic, almost
Satanic. But the war must have an
end, and then what? Why, corporate
stocks that have gone up like rock
! ct will come down like q stick. MIL
I1ions Of men crazy to get back ITO
work on any terms will dump their
products on the United States and
Y -" high. blown bubble will be prtcked.
0f 81 even by Mr.. Red
.--s Guis inevitable
4 :. s44cament will be met from an
ethical standpoint and not from an
economic standpoint az ALL" "To
increase the tariff" he says might
seem to be the simplest and easiest
aI,n u ~ a
ocrat taking the easy and simple way
of a protective tariff, demonstrated
by history to-be the sure and effec-
tive way when there was astheory to
be exploited? We have, he thinks,
all the machinery and a goodly num-
Der of laws to handle the situation on
an ethical basis entirely. He says:
''For instance, II after the war
Is over 1t is seen that a movement
is under way to ship foreign goods
to this country in great quantities
and sell them here at price be. n
low which we can produce them
that movement can be checked.
Eat the present time no goods
can be. shipped to this country
from any foreign country without
manifest signed by our consular
agent in that country approving
the cargo. Ifforeign countries at
tempted to ship goods into this
country at greatly reduced price
our consular agents could demand
the right to investigate the means
of producing the commodity tolsee
il the manufacturer was selling
alta lower price than he should.
IF the agents were refused the
right to make such an investiga-
ton the American consuls could
then refuse to sign the manifests
and the products could never
leave the ports for the United
States.
"There would be a chance, of
course; that some goods might get
by the American agents. To meet
this situation Congress could pass
a law making it, illegal for any one
IN the United States to buy or sell
goods shipped into this country in
an effort to undersell American
manufacturer" G''FE 80
The Washington correspondent who
sent this dispatch purports to have
transcribed Mr.. Redfeld's exact
words, otherwise would swear the
Secretary had been misguided. Gaze
at the proposition, ponder the beauty
OF 1t, note and inwardly digest the
logic Of 1t!
The sole object of lowering tariffs
is to enable foreign manufacturers to
sell their goods in America in com
petition with our own manufacturers,
isn't It? What other possible object
could there be? But Mr.. Redfield
says he will not permit this object to
be accomplished. He will add to the
duties OF our consular agents the
functions of a Paul Pry, who will in
vestigate the private business affairs
Of foreign manufac turers, their means
OF production, the cost to them and
their selling price to us. II it is found
difficult to engage consular agent
who is willing to have his nose
tweaked or his vertebra telescoped as
regular concomttant OF his activi-
ties. then ME- Redfield will make 1t
statutory crime for any American
to purchase an imported commodity
at a lower price than ought to be
charged for it! If the George, Jr.,
Republic had promulgated a govern.
mental policy as ,naiyely ridiculous as
Mr.. Redheld's we would call them
children indeed. But here this twad
die emanates from so-called states
man, an exponent Of the administra-
ton, and is therefore supposed to.