Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-09
WITH THE
TARIFF.

with their tariff bill. In the first
place they are having trouble to
keep a majority in the senate cham
Der, and. besides a good many re-
publicans, from time to time, vote
with the democrats and upset the
schedules agreed on. In every in
stance they are made lower. In
sveral cases the republican COM
mittee which reported the bill ad-
mitted the rates we're too high and
movd them downward themselves.
Senator Norris of Neraskba, a re-
publican, called the attention OF the
senate to the fact that in the case
of sewing machines and some other
articles, the rates were fixed with
the purpose of raising the home
price, so as to furnish the manu-
facturers profits with which to in
wade foreign markets and under
sell the foreigners in their own
market.
1t is a very high tariff bill. Con-
cededly the rates are the highst
ever levied under any tariff bill.
That its effect will be to raise
prices and the cost of living in this
country we have no doubt. For
that the republican party will have
to answer later. Meantime, the
masses of the people are taking
little interest in the bill. They will
continue to take little interest un-
til they feel its effects. Then they
will wake up probably and get very
angry. Speaking of the trouble the
republicans are having in the senate
with the tariff bill, the Springfield
Republican says:
1.-THE trouble with the tariff bill
under debate in the senate is not
that the democrats are filibuster-
ing against 1t but that the repub-
licans are themselves destitute of
enthusiasm for it. Their indiffer-
ence is. marked by their scant at
tedance on the floor when the bill
is under discussion and by the diff
ficulty the leaders have in obtain
ing and maintaining a quorum.
"a tariff speech was delivered
this week with but senator in
the chamber to serve as an audi
ence. Frequently a small group of
two or three on each side of the
aisle compose the entire attendance
and that sort of thing goes on for
hours. 1t is futile to pretend that
the bill is regarded by the major
ity party itself with anything but
m%isgiving when such conditions be-
come chronic.
The bill is under fire from re-
publican newspapers of prominence
to such a degree that Snator Nc
Cumber charges them with being
controlled by the department stores.
The hybrid system of valuation
which it carries is an extreme de-
parture from all previous practice
and its constitutionality has been
attacked by Senator Walsh of Mon
al in a speech which no n on
the republican side has adequately
answered. The unprecedented dele
cation of power to the president to
fix tariff duties with no judicial
review of his decisions will expose
the senate valuation scheme to
severe attack in the courts the mo.
ment the time comes to collect
duties fixed by presidential decree
But before the bill can be en-
acted a conflict with the house must
be fought out over this same scheme.
MI. Fordney Of the house ways
and means committee insists that
he will never surrender his preci-
Gus American valuation scheme,
which is also a radical departure
from generations of practice. But
American valuation has recently
been denounced by Senator Capper
of Kansas as a cloak to hide the
enormous tariff imposed in the in
terest of certain manufacturers,
who want secret protection under
a popular name. No plan of valua-
ton will be tolerated by the Amer
lean people which is merely a
scheme for assessing higher duties
under the guise of higher values
"This tariff would in effect be
higher than any tariff since the
civil war. 1t would cripple our
foreign trade. It would protect
profits regardless of differences in
costs of production here and
abroad. It would neeG to be dras-
tically revised within a year be-
cause of the unstabilized rates Of