Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-15
CONGRESS IS SPLIT
IN ITS PLANS FOR
TARIFF REVISION
gx EL1zABETH KING STOKES
G.tascl Wire Service to The Atlanta Jour
nal, Copyright, 1879

Ely EL1zABETH KING STOKES
G.tased Vine Service to The Atlanta Jour
nal, Copyright, 1879
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12.--Is the
country back to normally" on
it's way there, or still stuck IN
Reconstruction" mud? This is the
question that congressman will
have to answer when they get home
next month If the letters that are
| business men of the country are any
indication.
Most of the communications re-
fer directly to the question Of gen
the passage. at once of the emer-
gency tariff. measure now in the
senate. The Republican party was
put in power On the "normalcy
platform and American business can
hardly afford to wait until March
fourth for hopeful signs-thls is
the tenor SO congress has on rec
ord now full indication that the one
vital and outstanding interest OF
the public today is rehabilitation of
| business-better prices, better mar
kets, steadier production, immedi-
ate protection from unequal COM
| petition of foreign producers, in
short, revival of old time prosper
| lty. The war accustomed industry
to large profits and an almost in
sattable market.
Representative Joseph W. Ford
ney, of Michigan, chairman of the
ways. and means committee. and
| tariff expert of the house, has let
ters s.. from producers showing large
| profits made on their products when
| they themselves We're hardly COM
pensated for cost of production.
This is the type of complaint now
on file at the. capitol The cutlery
in the main is from agricultur al
1 CT
days of other tariff fights, it has
been the manufacturers of the coun-
try who clamored loudest for pro-
lection. Today. the voice of the cot
ton grower Of the south is as rec
ate as if he shoured from its gal
leries. Wool men from Texas, Ohio
and Utah are insistent. Wheat
farmers of the northwest have ad-
| vanced on congress to IAN extent
states to grasp every 1oophole in
the legislative program to bring
up even for International discus
| sion, the pending emergency tariff.
Moment Has Arrived
The moment for session of old
have arrived in the minds of con-
| gressmen. The last general revision
| was that of 1918. Senate experts
In both parties now are discussing
the emergency bill as if it were a
chip off the old block that always
| has precipitated months Of the sen
| ate's most scientific argument 1t
is being debated internationally
with the government appropriations
| and a favorable vote now is hoped
for next week. Then will come the
| expectance of presidential veto and
an attempt to override it for which
the tWo-third vote is not so con-
fidently predicted. So, on the whole,
the measure is on weak legs and
more and more as the time for the
general tariff legislation at the
next meeting approaches. it's posi-
ton seems political rather than
economic and remedial. In the house.
where the bill passed on December
~ after only a day or two of de-
bate, it was considered as a true
emergency feature, in the nature of
the war legislation passed hurried
ly and as of the moment. Congress-
men already are at work on the
new tariff bill. Many tariff students
osition did so with the belief that
the advantage would lie chiefly in
it's psychological effect upon
prices.
The present bill before me can
be summarized in few lines. 1t
prescribes new rates for the pc
riod of ten months after passage,
naming new duties for imported
wheat, flour, beans, peanuts, pota-
toes, onions, rice, lemons, few
cotteEseed, sheep, mutton, lamb,
beef, veal, pork, cotton, cotton man
ufactures, wool, sugar, butter,
cheese, milk, tobacco, cattle, hides,
apples and cherries.
/ Senator Thomas reminded the up.
| per house this week that tariff
legislation will be the conspicuous
feature Of the work of the next
congress" Senator Smoot, on the
! Republican side. said he hoped the
tarff BIZ law Will bafo be Pa5seda o and be-
never rlaf HAPPENED pI ned b psHns was the
significant reply of Senator Under
wood, minority leader. The author
of the Underwood bill and tariff
lieves that business conditions in
the country will not settle and be-
| come stable in less than year or
so, $50 that we shall have per-
manent basis upon which we can
write fixed and conclusive and per-
manent tariff legislation
Fordney's Ideas
| Yet Chairman Fordney In the mousse
favors a high protective wall around
American industry as soon as pos
wants a reciprocal tariff according
to bargaining program upon when
he has been working. When the true
test of the tariff sentiment come
at the next session there will be
an array Of factions holding many
/ shades of opinion. The tariff eX-
perts in the upper house, on the the
Democratic side, are Senators IN
derwood and Simmons; Repup1l-
cans, Penrose, Knox and Smoot. IN
the house, Congressman Fordney ano
Longworth, for the majority, and
Kitchin and Rainey, Democrats
There is also in both houses a
group who will argue, not agalnst
the protection principle which mas
been gaining for years IN amer
can tariff history, but for consldzz
the peculiar conditions of interna-
tional finance, vitality afteet1n IN
American busineTs. Senator Edge
of New Jersey, under whose legls-
| Iation private corporations now are
| heing organized to extend credit &c
foreign buyers is in this category
Although a protectionist, ne IS op-
"No man can bark back to tne
DAVIS Of Mckinley and the solely pro
said, and apply those conditions
to these days and present an argu
ment that is really logical or con.
vincing, or will apply in any. parl
to the present situation. II tnt
American producer needs help, don
let us hand him pair OF oroken
pay for the goods we send abroad
viii heln to restore foreign ex.
change to a reasonable basis ano
Indirectly help Europe to curtal us
enormous Indebtedness to the Unlteo
| States"