The New York herald., 1921-03-05
Two Views on the Tariff.

IL Wan more than coincidence that
the dnal message Of an outgoing
President and the frst utterance of
an incoming President OF the United
States should deal, the first exciu-
sively, the second at some length,
with the question Of duties on I'M
ports. 1t Is proof that the tariff ques-
tion 10 no longer partisan pigskin
to be kicked about at the will Of vote
seekers, but national issue which
symbolizes the sweeping, all enibrac-
Ing change In our economic relations
with tho rest Of the world.
There are two distinct sides to the
tarif, problem, one affecting our sxter-
nal relations, the other our domestic
standards Of living. Mr.. WILSON
dealt chiefly with the external effect,
and he summed up the entire argu-
ment in one striking paragraph Of his
note vetoing the Fordney tariff blll:
There arc only three ways IN
which Europe can meet her part OF
her Indebtedness. namely. by tho es-
tablishment Of private credits. by the
shipment Of gold. or OF commodities.
1t IL difficult for Europe to discover
tho requisite securities AZ q basis
for the necessary credits. Europe is
not In position at the present time
to send uB tte amount OF gold which
would be needed. and we could not
view further large imports Of gold
into this country without concern.
The result, to say the least. would be
larger disarrangement Of interna-
tional exchange and disturbance Of
international trade. II we wish to
have Europe settle her debts, govern
mental or commercial. we must b
prepared to buy from her. and II we
wish to assist Europe and ourselves
by the export either OF food. Of raw
materials or finished products. we
must be prepa red to welcome COM
modities which We need and which
Europe viii be prepared. with no
little pain. to send U.s."
President HAnpINa narrowed this
paragraph down even to fewer words,
when he said In his inaugural ad.
dress 1--WE know full well we cannot
sell where we do not buy" but his
principal point was the limitation OF
the tariff schedules to the margin be-
tween production costs here and
abroad:
1T has been proved again and
again that we cannot, while throw
ing our markets open to the world,
maintain American standards OF liv-
ing and opportunity and hold our in
dustriai eminence In such unequal
competition. There is . Turing fall
lacy In the theory Of banished bar
riers OF trade, but preserved Ameri-
can standards require our higher
production costs to be reflected In
our tariffs on imports"
Mr.. WILSON'S and Mr.. HARDrra's
remarks belong together. Neither
made mention Of the tariff for reve-
nue., because that becomes incidental.
America, like every other creditor ma
ton, must adopt the principle not OF
free trade but Of freer trade In order,
as the outgoing President said, to en-
able us to realize on our foreign
loans. But It must be foreign trade
free only as our domestic trade Is
free. with q tariff to function ns the
sherman law functions in Internal
trade, and thus prevent unfair compe-
tition by countries whose labor Is
oyerworked and underpaid and whose
low exchanges are a competitive ad-
vantage and who can for that reason
undersell the products OF American
labor, farm and factory.