New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-05-15
Farm Bloc, Which Forced
Imposition of Duty by
Committee, l. Routed
by Consumers PROBES,
Averts 81 Boost
I'm Footwear Price
Lodge Sees His Election
Chances Enhanced bv
Aid to Manufacturers
By Carter Field

tnd hides will be OF the free ,ist
:aretu! canvass Of the ~ena,v lu~. com-
pieted shows that there has been
complete reversal Of this, one oe tho
nost important schedules of the .ariY
III, IN that its rates sfec. ayery man.
scnaa and child who does not 20
asefoot
The House put shoes and hide on
free list, but when the bill rot to
s Senate the farm bloc decided that
Ninterests Of the stock raiscrs among
neis constituents demanded duty on
ides. Otherwise, they reasoned, the
heap hides from Argentina and else.
there would result in the hide. OF
aerlcan cows and steers rottinr on
4.msrIcan farms, OR else in tho wards
~ INC packers IN Chicago aud Kansas
City.
Committee Imposes Duty
THIS would never do, they figured.
so they descended upon the Senate
Finance Committee, and, when thc
smoke cleared away, duty Of Two
cents pound on raw. green. uncurcd
md picked hides and four cents on
dried hides had been imposed. This
might not have aroused go much clarnor
from Mr.. Average Citizen, but in its
wake, logically enough if the American
shoe manufacturing industry were not
to be destroyed, there was duty or
shoes
This duty is what hit the voters
eeiarely in the face, for it was 40
pc cent 1t would boost a s. pair of
shoes to 81, even II none Of the mid
dienen added anything in passing it
along
There were loud protests at this, and
even the stock raisers out West began
to- wonder if this duty on hides would
90 them very much good II they had
70 'ay 40 per cent more for their
snScs in order to keep the price Of
hides little higher.
The first political reflection of this
enange of sentiment out in the heart
o1 farm bloc land was when Senator
Arthur Capper Of Kansas than whom
no me In either branch Of Congress
kef his car more closely glued to
the ground Of the state whose voters
PAS ever so often, on his ftness to
con 'nue serving them, suddenly
cha'iged front. He came out in smash-
ing editorials in his various farm
papers declaring for both free hides
and free shoes, with much emphasis
on the shoes. Other members Of the
farm bloc have been making the same
kind OF explanation to their constit-
pents.
Farm Bloc Changed Front.
They have gotten to the point where,
their recent clamor for a duty on
hides to protect the farmers, they
contend that duty on hides would
benefit no interest save that OF the
Ipackers.
All of which is very satisfactory to
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the Re
publican leader OF the Senate, for the
Massachusetts Senator, who is up for
Nre-e! ection this fall and facing a hard
fght has just been informed by most
important element in his state that it
will hold him personally responsible
~ hides are not put on the free list
This element is the shoe manufac.
turers. They are not worried at all at
,the prospect Of free shoes, provided
<hey can get hides at the same price
iToy which manufacturers in other coun-
tries get them.
They say fatty that they don't need
\ duty on shoes to protect them from
foreign competition, and don't want it,
eign hides without paying any duty.
In the old days. when all Of the shoes
they manufactured were sold in tas
United States, they would hive been
glad enough to have as higi, q duty on
shoes as possible, and would not have
Jared very much whether there was a
duty on hides or not. But the shoe
manufacturers at present have grown
70 the point where they must sell
abroad in addition to supplying prac-
tically the entire American demand, if
=hey are to keep their factories run
ming full time.
They fear that il high duty is i'm
posed on shoes the countries to which
chey are now selling will retaliate and
make it impossible for American shoes
TO come in. A duty on hides, they
fear, is apt to build up shoe manu-
featuring industry in Argentine, which
would find 1t impossible to sell its
rides TO America, and might therefore
iecide to manufacture Its own foot
sear, and perhaps that for all South
America, out Of the hides produced
~glIt at home.
That is why the New England shoe
lanufacturers, and everywhere else IN
g country for that matter. are wor-
s,ea at the Senate Finance Committee
submission to the original demands OF
sne farm bloc. That is why the Massa-
Continued on next pass)