The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1921-08-03
WEEKLY NEWS ARTICLE

Washington, July 3O.-Followin
their established methods Of pro
cedure during this administration O
putting the cart before the horse
the Republicans are now in the &C
OF debating and passing a tariff bill
when the entire business interest
OF the country are clamoring for ,
revision Of the tax laws.
The bill is well-named the Ford
ney Bill for Uncle Joe" Fordney 1.
the Grand Panjandrum of the tariff
To him the tariff is a panacea; Il
cures corns, warts. bunions ant
chilblains; prevents falling out Of
the hair, strengthens the kidneys
cleanses the liver, and is good fol
what ails You whether anything IL
the matter with you or not.
1t is fashioned on the old lines OF
the Payne-Aldrich bill, only more
SO. 1t is being passed under a gag
rule, which prevents amendments
except on few schedules, the House
delegating its legislative function to
the Ways and Means Committee.
The Joker" in the bill is the Amer
lean valuation" clause, by which
the value Of the article is fixed at
the port Of entry and not at the
port of shipment. This will make
the tariff rates much higher than
they appear to be under the sched-
ules Of the bill. For instance, as the
Philadelphia Record points out:
II foreign article is valued at
81 and the same article here is
valued at 50 and the duty, say, is
100 per cent, the value of the foreign
article thus becomes 81, duty paid.
The American manufacturer could
raise his price to SO or even $3.50
and undersell his foreign COMPETE
tor and the Treasury. would get no
revenue whatever.
Representative Garner (Dem. Tex
who made the principal speech
against the bill, declared that un-
der American valuation the present
Underwood bill would yield more
revenue than the Fordney bill.
Using the duty on straw hats,
which under the Payne-Aldrich bill
was so per cent and 81 2-5 per cent
under the Fordney bill as computed
by him, as basis of comparison, he
said that the same scale ran through
the entire SAG pages of the bill.
That the bill will continue, if not
increase, the high cost of living is
more or less obvious from even
cursory glance at the schedules, in
addition to which it is predicted
that it will disarrange the entire
economies of the county.
The agreement by which the bill
was voted on July 21 meant only
that il would pass the House on that
date by almost a strict party vote,
but it may well he doubted if the
hill becomes law before the regu-
lar session of Congress this winter,
first because a prolonged debate is
certain in the Senate with a radical
revision of the bill as passed by the
House, and, secondly, because it is
probable that the Senate will take
up the tax revision bill as soon as it
comes from the House and sidetrack
the tariff bill.
Chairman White Shows Up Republic
can Sabotage
The probability that the Senate
will sidetrack the tariff bill . and
take up the tax. revision bill when
the two measures reach that body
was strengthened when President
Harding in his speech urging delay
of the soldiers bonus bill. cited as
the first of the three things essen
tial at this time the revision of our
toAotioh. cat Uuih
Of our taxes, of course, comes from
taxation and the readjust-
ment of this taxation is essential to
the proper conduct of business all
over the country; yet Congress is
fiddling over tariff bill, estimated
at the highest to yield $500. 200, 900
when the expenditures to be met run
between five and six billions.
Business men are clamoring for
tax revision, and business conditions
have become SO bad that Chairman
George White of the Democratic Ma
tional Committee, himself a bust
ness man. felt impelled to issue
statement based on President Har-
ding's address to the Senate, point
ing out that that two years and two
months ago. President Wilson upon
his return from the Peace Confer
auca In Nav 1910 urpad CouUraoo