The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-04-04
WEST ARRANGES
TARIFFS, EAST
\ W|LLPAY COSTS.
Senate Bloc Of ThinIy Settled
States to Embargo Wool
Importations.
BY j. BART CAMPBELL,
International News Service.

/
and formidable in Congress than
the non-partisan agricultural bloc"
has over-succeeded in being.
Most of the Republican leaders Of
the agricultural bloc" have joined
in the tariff bloc" movement for
the avowed purpose Of writing into
the bill schedules which will vir-
tually act as embargo against the
importation Of those things upon
which the farmers and tho live
, stock men Of the West and middle
West depend for their bank &C.
counts.
The executive committee Of the
tariff bloc consists. in the Sen
ate, of Gooding, of Idaho, chair
man: Capper. Of Kansas chairman
of the Senate agricultural bloc'0;
McNary. of Oregon; Nicholson. Of
Colorado, and johnson, of Cali
| fornia.
Trailing along with them are Sen
ators like Poindexter and Jones, Of
| Washington; Stanfield. Of Oregon:
Shortidge, Of California; Bursum, Of
New Mexico; Cameron, Of Arizona;
Warren. of Wyoming; Spencer. Of
| Missouri New, Of Indiana; Sterling
and Norbeck, of South Dakota;
Oddie. OF Nevada; Phipps. of Colo
RADIO; Ladd, Of North Dakota; Har-
reid, of Oklahoma, and Townsend,
of Michigan.
"A Strange Company"
A strange company. when 1t 10
considered that some are stanch
| % he horticultural hlnC.'
others who have stood steadtastly
against most OF its activities.
Between the Alleghenies and the
Atlantic coastlne are millions Of
consumers and toilers-packed and
jammed and pocketed together
more Of them iostled together han
| all the rest of these United States
| hold in the way Of population. They
and their employers pay the great
err part of the taxes which pour into
| the Treasury to keep the country
running.
Daily Joint sessions were held by
Republican members OF the senate
! Finance Committee belonging 10
the tariff bloc" before the new
wool schedules were worked out.
Senator Smoot held out successfully
against the maximum demands OF
the tariff bloc" but eventually he
wrote a specific duty Of SO cents
per pound on wool Of clean con-
| tent" into the measure, which TO
the wood growers of his part OF
the country il, perhaps, the best
thing they have ever been able TO
get into a tariff bill.
Senator Gooding. as chief spokcs-
man for the tariff bloc" wanted
the accent per pound duty carried
by the present emergency tariff law
retained in the new tariff bill. That
law was put over by the "a&ricul.
! tural bloc" and As cents was fixed
| as a duly on washed WOOL Wheh
the sheep men of the West were In
deep financial hole, and a wool en-
barge was thought necessary TO save
all Of them from bankruptcy.
Acts rs Embargo.
But members OF the tariff bloc
do net deny that that 33-cent rate |
will act as an embargo against the |
wool of Australia, New Zealand, the
Argentine, and South Africa.
But from their viewpoint such an
embargo is all right, no matter now
much II may boost the living costs
of the Eastern consumer and toiler.
| After all. the agricultural bloc
was intended to benefit, primarily, |
the farmer first and the consumer
secondly. But the tariff bloc ar.
cues, as did the agricultural bloc,
that the consumer is bound to sur.
| fer when the producer suffers, ana
the consumer cannot benefit I'M
less the producer does.
! Wool is. perhaps, the best ex.
ample Of what the tariff bloc" is
up to. Under the old Payne-Ald-
, rich bill-which the late Senator
Penrose used to swear by-there
was under the famous Schedule
X" a duty OF II cents per pound
on "unwashed wool" The present
proposed duty of 33 cents per pound
! on washed" wool Is represented
as the equivalent Of the Payne
Aldrich schedule, but, as matter
of fact. il materially increases the
| old tariff on wool by the simple
process Of assessing the duty on
! the secured basis.
Claim Duty Is Fair.
The wool growers Of the West
| claim that such a duty is reason.
able and fair" because Of the ad
vantage, they claim, their Austria
| Ian and other foreign competitors
have in being able to produce wool
that possesses a high average OF
natural "clean content due to the
favorable climatic conditions under
which it Is grown.
Because of different climatic and
geographical conditions the wool
growers Of the Argentine and
| Australia, for example, are able to
produce wool that Is almost clean
which, when thrown upon the
| American market. places the wool
growers of the West at a serious
| disadvantage. So runs the argu-
ment of the tariff bloc
But here is where the rub comes
in for the consumer and the manu-
| faoturer: Under the Payne-Aldrich
rate of II cents per pound on "un.
ed" wool, 100 pounds. estimated
| rs per cent Clean" could be brought
in for q total duty Of $11.
How Cost Would Jump.
Under the proposed 33-cent wash.
ed" rate the import charge would |
total s24.75--a jump of $13.75.
Or, allowing for a "shrinkage' of
An nor cent sixty pounds of import |