Evening star., 1922-07-09
DEMOCRATSlSP[|T
OVER RICE TARIFF
Senators Reject Committees
Cut in House Rates-Debate
Touches Wool Trade.

Ihere was another wide split yes-
terday among the democrats on the
tarin, number Of them joining with
e"e republicans in rejecting the
lower rates on rice written into the
Dill by the Senate finance committee
majority. The House rates were ap-
proved on motion of the COMMITTEES
which receded from it's amendments
fhose rates are: Paddy, or rough
rice. ! cent pound; brown rice, IL
cents a pound: milled rice, cents a
pound; broken rice and rice meal, l
cent a pound.
Separate votes were had on each
rate. but roll calls were demanded
on only two. those on rough rice and
on milled rice. On the first roll call
Senators Ashurst Of Arizona. Broussard
and Ransdell of Louisiana, Caraway
and Robinson OF Arkansas, Jones
Of New Mexico, Kendrick OF Wyo-
ming and Sheppard OF Texas voted
La Toilette, republican. Wisconsin,
voted with the remaining eleven
democrats in favor of the lower COM
mittee rate.
In 1fOllette Renews Attack.
On the second roll call Senator
Asnurst was not recorded as voting
ana Senator Caraway was not in the
SidhpeI. 4ne vote on the rougn
rice rate was 3S to IL. while tina
on the milled rice rate was 81 to L.
While the rice paragraph was be-
fore the Senate throughout the day.
the DEBATE took wide range. Sen
ator La Toilette renewed hIs attack
on the bill and particularly on the
cotton schedule. speaking for three
hours. He declared this was not the
time to revise tariff, because OF
fuctuating conditions in the business
world. Also he inveighed against
the present system of tariff building.
under which, he said. tariff grab
bers" went before congressional com
mittees, asked for the rates they
wanted and. "as a rule. were given
exactly what they asked for"
Denies BENEFIT to Workers.
Senator La Toilette declared that
scientiffc Information should be gath
cred by the tariff commission and
the tariffs based on that He declar-
ed that such information could not
be gathered now because of unsettled
world conditions.
Disputing the claim that tariffs
protected the wages of the workers.
Senator La Toilette asserted thai
labor never gets any benefit from
a tariff if the manufacturers can
prevent it,"
III the manufacturers making
profits of 10, 20, so or 100 per cent
will not voluntarily increase the
wages of their workers" asked the
speaker. what is the use of talking
about effecting an increase, of those
wages through tariff"
stirred Over Wool Rntc.
Wool was brought into the discus
sion by Senator Gooding OF Idaho.
chairman of the republican agricul-
| tural tariff bloc. He presented a let
ter signed by Cohen, Goldman & Co.
clothing manufacturers of New York
city, and sent to a cloth ing dealer in
his state. in which il was declared
that the proposed duty of So cents
pound on raw wool would result in
an increase of about s4 in the price
of suit of clothes. The letter eS-
planned that the tariff rate would be
increased to 81 by the time the wool
reached the clothing wearer because
of the overhead and profile of The
successive handlers.
Senator Lodge of MASSACHUSETTS
the republican leader. suggested that
the wool rate proposed WAS. cents
lower than that now in force. and
under which clothing was bens
manufactured.
Senator Gooding said that was the
case. and added:
"If what this letter says is. true.
every wool dealer. every manufac
turer of cloth and OF clothing. anu
every retailer is profiteer and =
crook. If what II says is not true
the man who sent ii is a criminal
and should be prosecuted.
That is the kind of propaganda
that has been circulated against this
| bill by the importers and others"
Reviews Rice Production.
The controversy over the rice rates
| was almost exclusively on the demo-
| cratic side. Senators Ransdell and
| Broussard speaking in support of the
| House rates. and Senator Walsh.
democrat. Massachusetts,. opposing
| those rates as unnecessary because
of the growing volume of rice eX-
ports from the United States.
Senator Ransdell reviewed the his
tory of rice production in this coun-
try, telling how the first rice had been
smuggled in and the industry started
along the coasts of North Carolina
and South Carolina. Now, he said.
little was grown there. the industry
having been transferred to Louisiana.
Arkansas. Texas and California.
The Louisiana senator reviewed also
conditions in the rice Industry in
Asia, and declared il was not pos
sible for American producers to COM
pete with the cheap oriental labor. On
this point, Senator Walsh argued that
rice was cultivated in this country
hx,