The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-08-14

!
Special Despatch to The Reformer
Copyright 1920.
MARION, O., Aug. 14,-Senator
Harding has sent a message of good
cheer to the believers in protective
tariff. He means to revive the tariff
both as an issue in the campaign and a.
defense for American industry. The
occasion of his outburst of enthusiasm
for the protective tariff was eommu-
nication from California telling of the
plight of the lemon growers but in
reality the Republican candidate who
gave scant paragraph to the subject
in his speech of acceptance has been
waiting for chance to tell old line Re-
publicans that the tariff is as close to
his heart as any other political ques-
ton
Mr.. Harding is a firm believer in
| the protective tariff. With great
earnestness. he told the correspondents
here that he thought a new tariff law
was inevitable and necessary. Of
| course, no one pretends any more that
| there is much revenue to be gained out
OF a tariff law for the most that ever
lwas secured under the highest tariff
measures was about $500, 900 which
used to be half America : budget but
nowadays, with an annual expense of
-four billion dollars, is relatively neg
| ligible.
The income tax has taken its place
as the great revenue producer.
Senator Harding, however, sees the
tariff from quite another angle-namely
protection of American industry 1t
| may yield small amount of revenue
but at the same time he thinks tariff
protection will help industries survive
and keep payrolls intact ~
The Republican candidate didn t go
into detail With the exception of
wool, he didn t mention any other COM
modities or industries that would be
favorably affected by a tariff revision.
He did not discuss those industries
which used to be in need of a protec-
tive tariff but whose cost of production
due to efficiency methods now is lower
than that of foreign producers nor did
he say he would see to it that the
protective tariff WASH used as a
| means of keeping price levels high. The
senator simply made a blanket utter
ance covering the principle of a pro-
tective tariff and declined at this time
70 give any further specifications. Of
course, in the midst of campaign it
would be unwise to mention specifi-
cally the industries that would be pro-
tected for that would open up a subject
that would be as tangled and as per
picking as the writing of a new tariff
law itself
But the principle of protective tar
iff, Mr.. Harding has no hesitancy in
proclaiming. The Democrats them
selves have recognized that principle in
urging a tariff on dyestuffs to protect
our infant industry, started during the
European war from the influx of Ger
man products. The Democrats, how
ever, have not committed themselves to
any general tariff policy as yet.
The politics of Senator Harding's as
sertion of his belief in a protective tar
iff is significant. The Republican man
ayers promised in 1918 that they would
revise the tariff as soon as possible
and there were some Republican bust
ness men who thought that should have
happened at the last session of con-
gress in which both houses were con-
trolled by the Republicans. But the
leaders in congress thought otherwise
They really feared it would be useless
to attempt any revision of the tariff
with world trade conditions changing
from day to day with developments in
Europe
To the high tariff men, the Repub-
licans also pointed out the uselessness
of tariff revision from another view
point-namely the certainty that