The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-08-21
The FARM BLOC
and THE TARIFF
WASHINGTON STORY TELLS OF
WORK OF IDAHO SENATOR IN
FIGHT FOR TARIFF BILL

~ 10 the eIIecC1Ve WOrk or the 'farE1
tariff bloc" Of the senate, of which
Senator Frank R. Gooding of Idaho
is chairman, the American farmer
under the senate tariff bill, will get
a degree of protection never before
accorded him in any American tar
dff law. For the first time, the farm
er has been put by the senate on a
plane with the manufacturer, ard the
degree of protection accorded the
latter has been carried onto the
products of the farm as well. This
is going further than any previous
republican congress has done; while
under democratic tariff laws, most
farm products have been carried on
the free list
Th creation Of the tariff bloc"
was the idea of Senator Gooding and
his tireless efforts during the winter,
spring and summer months, not only
perfected the first organization the
senate has ever seen, formed to pro-
tect the interest of the American
farmer, but kept that organization
together, kept it working, and made
Its work effective.
OF late Senator Gooding has been
condemned by some of the large
metropolitan newspapers of the east
because he led the fight for an ade-
Q1ate duty on wool. For time they
overlooked the fact that he, as chair
man Of the tariff bloc, led the fight
Tor all other ag1 !cultural rates In
the bill, and fought for adequate dut-
les whether the products were grown
in his state or not. Perhaps no single
item In the agricultural schedule was
so bitterly fought out ats the duty
on vegetable oil, something Idaho
does not produce. 1t was Senator
Gooding who championed the cause
of the growers of soya beans and
other beans and nuts, and his fight
against the soap manufacturers, who
were seeking free oils, was every bit
as vehement, if not more vehement
than his fight for a 33-cent duty on
wool.
The eastern newspapers, which late
ly have been assailing Senator Good
ing, are the identical newspapers that
have been fighting and condemn1ng
the Fordney- NC Cumber bill from its
very inception; they are papers that
have been clamoring to keep American
ports open to free ingreSs OF mater
ials from abroad, for they are papers,
as Senator Gooding demonstrated, that
thrive largely on the one, two and even
four-page advertisements of large I'M
porting houses which have no concern
in tn protection Of American 1nduS-
try, but are chiefly concerned in their
ability to continue to buy their stocks
from Europe at unbelievably low
prices that now prevail, because OF
the depreciation of the currency OF
all European countries. These same
importers, as Senator Gooding, Senat-
or McCumber and Senator Watson all
showed in detail, do not pass on to
the American buying public the bene-
fits Of their low purchase prices, but
exact profits on imported goods rang
ing from 500 and 700 to 1000 and
even 5000 per cent.
Because the Idaho senator had the
temerity to expose the unconsc1on-
able profits demanded by the big
eastern importers and because he
gave the names of those who were
-exacting profits that are astounding,
New York, Boston, Chicago and other
big eastern importers hav. anderfak-
en- to "get" the senator. and they
thought they found their opportunity |
after the sena.e voted duty of 3o
cents a p5ull on wool.
These impor.e. IS have just awak.:r
ed to what eyer.r Idaho voIer has
known for years, that Senator Coed
ing is a shesrmla, and having made
that discovery, the condemn him for
making a fig 1T for what he regarIs
as an adequate duty on wool. one CT
the principal products of his state.
They ignore the fact that the duty OF
33 cents or WOO, WAS adopted by
vote of 80 to 16. they ignore the fact
that had the half-doZen WOO. grow
ing senators refrained from voting,
the result wol have been the sane
they ignore the fact that the wool
rate in the senate bill is the rA1tt
equivalent oa tie WOO rate in the !
Payne-Aldrich law, with the exc cp-
tion that the present bill gives C. the
wool grower the exact degree o. PRO
lection It intends to give, whereas the
Payne law, while seeminglJ s,iV:ng a
rate of 33 cents on clean wool II ac-
tually gave rate o. only IS cents.
The record OF the tariff debate in
the senate, disproves that Senator
Gooding evidenced any greater inter-
est in the w ,ol duty than in duties
on other agricultural products AS
chairman Of the tariff blcc'' it fell to
his lot to lead the fight for proper
protection to the farmers OF "ll
states and all Secsion5, and ne re-
suits achieved by the tariff bloc are
q testimonial to the effectN eness
with which Sena;or Gooding made his
fight.
More than half the products Of the
American farm were placed on the
free list by the Underwood law.
Every important farm product is
given a reasonable degree of protec-
tion by the senate bill. Many OF the
rates agreed to by the
senate are higher than the rates fixed
by the Fordney pill as it passed the
House, the increases being secured
solely through the efforts OF the
farm tariff bloc"
The agricultural schedule of the
tariff bill has been voted upon by