Evening star., 1921-09-07
TARIFF IS DOOMED
F0RPRESENT YEAR
Speech by Mr.. Hays Reveals
View of Administration on
Foreign Trade.
CONDITIONS ARE STUDIED
Unable to Foretell Needs of
Country While World
Is Unsettled.
CONDITIONS ARE STUDIED
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

The death knell of tariff legislation
this year has been sounded. President
Harding still expresses the hope that
Congress may pass a tariff measure
this year, but the true state of admin
istration feeling about what will hap
pen is expressed by Will Hays, Post
master General, who. after a long con-
ference at the White House the other
day. prepared speech for delivery in
Cleveland. which has just been re-
leased. and contains this significant
prediction:
referring to one phase of the ac-
tivity at Washington, peculiarly eco
nomic, the tariff. To thoughtful men
there must be approval of a certain
hesitation and disposition to be eau
footed in the consideration of this
subject. If l were to attempt to eX-
press a summing up of the present
state of mind of Congress and
thoughtful men about the tariff, it
would seem to me that it amounts to
a good one in which to write a
permanent tariff bill to last for many
years to come. Conditions through
out the world are too chaotic to be
able to foretell exactly what is need
ed. These conditions of f1uctuation
and instability. which make the writ
ing of permanent tariff so difficult
at the moment, may in some measure
be relieved after the disarmament
conference has taken place and We
have accomplished steps which the
President has in mind for the ad-
tions."
Speaks MS Leader.
If Will Hays were simply the usual
might not carry as much significance
as they do. but he was chairman of
the republican national-committee
and managed the last presidential
campaign. during which time hopes
for tariff were expressed by many
republicans. only to be Offset by Wig
orous opposition from New York
bankers and business men. who be-
lieved that America as a creditor ma
ton should not erect a tariff wall
from carrying return cargoes.
The truth is the administration has
discovered that the export trade of
the United States is not an insignifi-
cant factor in a business revival. and
that ways and means must be found
not only to finance but to stimulate
imports. To those who have contended
that, with the improvement in inter-
national exchange and the rise in the
purchasing power of Europe, Ameri-
can producers would again enjoy the
world trade they have been having
in the last few years, the tariff has
seemed like an anachronism. The
United States Chamber of Commerce
has on many an occasion pointed out
this difficulty.
Will Encourage Imports.
The meaning of Will Hays speech
therefore is simply that the admins
tration will eventually write a perma-
nent tariff bill to protect industries
that need protection, but it will not
commit itself to blanket policy of
protection that will keep out imports.
1t will try to write tariff that will
encourage imports that ought to be
encouraged and discourage the kind
that I7fll ruin American industry. 1t Is
more of a job than was first .eckoned
upon. and will not be disposed of as
hastily as was the emergency tariff.
The chances are that the 1isarma-
ment conference, which the Postmas-
ter General says may be 4 factor in
the problem, will not be concluded un-
til the early part If next year. The
American people can hardly expect
a permanent tari;. Dill before 1922.
There may be those who hope the job
may be finished, but Will lays told
the inside story Of the situation-the
men who know tarif in the Harding
admin'r- ration ar. counseling caution
and q
copyright. 1917