Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1922-06-01
A TARIFF BILL WHICH
GIVES AGRICULTURAL
INTERESTS A SQUARE DEAL

| that this is the first tariff bill which
| has ever been presented to Congress
which gives the agricultural inter-
ests OF the country square deal
asserted Frank r. Gooding, of Ida
| no, in Senate speech advocating
passeage of the pending bill as re-
ported by the Senate Finance Com
| mittee. The Senator was spanking
Iboth In his capacity as a Senator
from Idaho, and as Chairman OF the
Farm Group" which had, by its re-
presentations to the Committee, Sc
cured several score of amendments
placing duties on farm products com
mensurate with the duties imposed
upon manufactured articles. 1t was
the first, and thus far the only ex-
haustive speech discussing the tariff
from the standpoint OF the American
| farmer.
The xetent to which the Finance
Committee bill protects the Amerl-
Lean armer was demonstrated by Sen
Iator Gooding in the course OF his
remarks. The NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
law. now in effect, he said, places
las farm products on the dutiaDle
| list, while SO farm products are car
ried on the free list. The average
| duty on these 81 farm products un-
der the Underwood law, is 4.9 per
cent.
! "The Finance Committee bill
now before the Senate continued
Senator Gooding, puts 50 farm
| products on the protective list ana
none on the free list. The pending
bill gives an average duty as to 81
| farm products of 21.3 per cent.
am making this comparison to show
that the Democratic Party as far as
agricultural interests are concerned,
is nearer a free-trade party TO-DAY
than 1t has ben at any time in Its
history.
Senator Gooding then proceeded
to demonstrate the accuracy OF his
assertion. The Act of 1882, he
showed, placed duty on all farm
products, the average duty being
'l14.O5 per cent, or 2S5 per cent more
protection than the Underwood law;
the Walker Act of 1916 placed a
. duty on 2S farm products, the aver
age duty being "a per cent, or 4S5
per cent greater than the average in
the Underwood law, and the Wilson
German act placed 81 farm products
: on the dutiable list, with an average
. duty a little over 10 per cent, or
270 per cent greater than the Under
wood law average.
. Senator Gooding read from re-
; cords of the Tariff Commission to
show how the emergency act, put
. ting an end to ane ra OF free wheat.
free wool and free sugar, had saved
the wheat and wool and beet sugar
industries of this country; had check
ed ruinous competition from Cana
da and from Cuba and had turned
the tide of prices upward. and saved
those and other farming industries.
Senator Gooding next dissected
| the pending tariff bill, showing
wherein and to what extent it pro-
tects the products of the farm and
cited instance after instance of the
damage done to American farming
by foreign competition under the
Underwood law.
Continuing, he said: THE Under
wood Simmons law represents very
I truly Democratic policy, for which
/ they have been fighting for humid
red years, free trade in the farm
products of America. There is no
/ question about taht, and those pro-
! ducts which have been given duties
are so nearly free that they are not
even revenue bearers. While they
put the farmers products practi-
cally all on the free list they have
given the manufacturers high pro-
tective duties, l venture to say as to
some things, although / do not think
they will plead guilty of giving pro-
/ lection to the manufacturers while
+ they put the farmer on the free
list, forcing him to compete with
{ Asiatic labor and all the labor of the
world"
"You might just as we'll open your
ports and repeal the Chinese ex-
clusion act as to let them bring their
products in free of duty which they
were doing before the emergency tar
if bill was passed and are doing now
to some extent.
Senator Gooding went fully into
the question of wages, and demon
strated before he got through, that
the rates of the Underwood bill, ap-
piled to manufactured articles, &C.
tually are higher than the rates i'm.
posed by the bill now before the Sem
ate. The Underwood law was passed
in 1918, the last pre-war year. TAX
ing the average wages paid in Ameri-
ca in that year as 100 per cent, the
wages of today, according to the U.
S. Bureau of Labor statistics, have
risen to eos per cent; in other words
wages have more than doubled and
freight rates today are about 81 per
cent higher than in 1913.
He continued: 81 am going to
make the statement now that when
they take into consideration the
cost Of production. with labor 105
per cent above the price in 1918
when the Underwood bill was passed |
the Underwood tariff law gives a |
higher duty against the manufactur-
ers than does the McCumber bill, a |
higher duty, if you please. Those |
were only revenue duties. Do not for
get that. They are not protective
duties. The minority leader, the
Senator from Alabama, Mr.. Under
wood, will not admit that he gave the
manufacturer protective duty, not