Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-09
HOUSE DEMOCRATS
FLAY NEW TARIFF
MEASURE Of COP.

WASHINGTON, July Demo
cratic members of the ways AID
means committee in a minority re-
port filed today in the house of rep
resentatives, denounce the admins
tration tariff bill as conspiracy
to benefit few favorites at the ex-
pense of all humanity"
Like every conspiracy, 1t has been
Matched in secrecy" the report says,
adding:
I'VE record our solemn judgment
that this measure is a plan to plum
der the people of our own country
and to Cypress the people of every
country for the benefit Of a few men
who have succeeded in usurping for
all practical purposes, the taxing
power Of this government, using it
primarily to enrich themselves, and,
secondarily, to finance the political
party which tolerates, encourages
and facilitates the usurpation.'
The report declares the tariff was
not an issue in the last campaign
and this is not the time to write a
tariff law. They assert that the
problems which confront our peo-
pie, cripple our industry, stifle our
commerce and perplex an amiable adj
minItration have nothing to do with
the tariff
Criticising the Republican majority
e., L \, IL
bill from them and from the house
generally and for per-
hitting only a week for it's study, the
Democratic members declare there
has been insufficient time to draft a
substitute. They do not undertake
any detailed discussion of the indi-
vidual schedules in the bill, combining
their q page typewriter report to
a general indictment of the whole
measure and the manner of it's
Emphasis is laid upon two things
the probable effect of the bill on
American commerce and the world
industrial situation generally, and
upon the substitution of the system
of American valuation as a basis for
levying tariff duties.
Foreign Trade
Pointing to the rapidly decreasing
foreign trade, the report
says I'VE need no tariff to cut off the
imports and the exports of the Unit
ed States. Calling attention that
the foreign trade of the United
States fell from s1,1S8,255,449 last
to $527,37S,S25 in May the report
says:
.rertoinlv tho natural ,,roCeSe is
preferable to the infected knife of
surgeons which, by select
ing the industries to protect and
those to destroy, can reap the har-
vest their campaign contributions
seeded last fall. Verify, the oil men
are entitled to their reward, and the
lumber men, and the wool men and
all the others who cast their bread
on the waters of a Republican tide.
Dealing with the plan for Ameri-
can valuatio of imports, the report
says:
First among the subtle covert in
famies that mask their way through
this bill is the proposal to change
the base for ad valorem duties from
the actual price paid for them when
purchased by the importer to a spec
ulative, indefinite, uncertain, nebu-
lous opinion reached by an appraiser
house, consulting, if he is industri
Gus and cannot be bewildered, as to
what is the alleged wholesale prices
of comparable and competitive pro-
ducts of the United States, or in de-
fault thereof, the alleged value in
the United States of the Identical
imported article, whether sold or not,
excluding all or any cost, charges,
expenses, inlucding duties and also
profits and commissions; in short,
permitting the appraiser to place any
value he may see fit on the goods
and making it impossible for the
importer to know what duty he will
have to pay until he has actually
imported and passed them through
the custom house.
I'm the face of the uncertainty
which this bill necessarily compels
as to duties, it will be impossible
for any importer to continue in bust
ness, and the result of this provision
will be the destruction of the import
trade of the United States"