Evening star., 1920-08-08
FACTS
FOR A TARIFF BILL
U. S. Commission Preparing Exhaustive
Information Upon Which Congress May
Act in Special Session Next Spring.


| American industry and business.
| Another very important field of
work in which the United States
Tariff Commission is engaged is the
/ study of new commercial regulations
and restrictions which are being
adopted by foreign countries. Suffer-
ings entailed by the war made all
the nations of the Garth wish that
they were practically self-sufficng-
that they could produce all that they
needed for themselves, so that in the
event of war they would not be
starved out. That led in most coun-
tries of Europe to a certain amount
of hysteria, and most of these coun-
tries have been reshapfng their COM
mercial policies so as to develop to
the utmost their resources and to re-
strict trade in such a way as to Sc
cure marked advantage for tled>.
iselves.
Some of those nations that own
colonies are planning to monopolize
all the raw materials that the col
onies produce. The different mem
bers of the British empire are PLAN
ming certain preferential policies
which look toward as near an ap-
proach as possible to free trade
among themselves and high duties
against the outside world. The inn
portance of this is found in the fact
that the British empire encompasses
about two-fifths of the earth's sur
face.
| The United States Tariff Commission
is preparing itself so that the Amer
lean government can be advised to
adjust the tariff in such way that
1--we can reciprocate for fair treatment
!. on the part of other nations and can
Ipenalize unfair treatment that other
, nations impose on us. Therefore
Congress put it upon the tariff COM
mission to study all the commercial
treaties, agreements, arrangements
and conventions of foreign nations
and to determine whether any of
them discriminate in any way against
!, trade of the United States.
The commission is getting out re-
, ports on such tariff studies-one on
the colonial tariff policies of the
world. 1t is also preparing a digest
of the commercial treaties. a volume
which never before existed. This
will be in English and will irclude
inot only all commercial policies of
other nations with the United States,
: but also with one another.
Commfssion Needs Funds.
The tariff commission has all this
work well under way. but through
/ IA "a
ivanced as it should be in the inter-
ests of American business. When
Congress created the tariff commits
sion it was estimated that it could
do all the work assigned for 100000
La year. The work has been enor-
lmously increased by changed condi-
tions since the commission was cre-
lated, and the cost of doing this work
thas more than doubled through
change in the purchasing power of
the dollar, but the appropriation has
remained fixed. The commission is
making a herculean effort to cover
the broadened field on inadequate
funds.
The commission has been shown
warm spirit of cooperation by Ameri-
can business interests. there has been
no friction and all important busi-
ness leaders or associations have ad-
mitted the accuracy and significance
of the information gathered by the
commission and expressed warm ap-
preciation of its methods Among
these are the Chamber OF Commerce
of the United States, the Foreish
Trade Council and many trade ana
industrial associations Although the
tariff commission has almost unlim-
ited nowe- to compel business men to
furnish information, it has never
found it necessary to employ those
powers.
In spite of the vast varied volume
of Investigation to be made in QUICK
time by the tariff commission, 1t is
working shorthanded. There are but
four of the authorized six members
now holding office-Thomas walker
Page, chairman: David ]. Lewis. VIII
liam S. Culbertson, reappointed the
other day, and Edward Z. Costigan.
The secretary is John F. Bethune. Tne
staff consists largely of men trained
for this particular line of work The
work is divided through the stan In
the same arrangement as the tarih
act follows-viz., the chemical Sec
ton, which is schedule A of the act'
Iearthenware, which is schedule b.
metals, schedule c, and textiles.
schedules /, ]. K and l..
| One of the early and important re-
| ports of the commission was covering
INTERIM legislation" for the period
before a new tariff act becomes
| operative. and during which vast
quantities Of goods on which an in
crease was levied would be brought
in. Previously the United States lose
many millions in revenue through the
lack of interim legislation"
Reports Already Published.
Reports on foreign trade ports and
/ on reciprocity and commercial treat
| les have already been published
series of fifteen tariff information
booklets has also proved of value TO
Congress and to American business.
covering chemicals and dyes. the but
ION industry, manufacture of silk, pa
pers and books, costs of production
| in the sugar industry. the glass In
dustry as affected by war. surgical
Instruments the brush industry, etc
Special reports have been made for
use by the House ways and means ana
the Senate finance committees on par
ticular commodities.