The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-08-19
By DAVID LAWRENCE.

by DAN I'D LAW RENCE.
| Especial Dispatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1922
| WASHINGTON, Aug. 19.-The end
of one of the longest tariff battles in
American history is here Coming out
of it all is the highest tariff bill since the
Civil war.
| For three or four weeks the bill will be
considered by a conference committee of
| the house and senate, and while both
bodies must finally approve the action of
the conference committee before the
measure goes to the White House for
| signature, the chances are there will be
relatively few changes in conference and
that the debate ON the conference report
will require only a few days Mem5ers
of both houses are anxious for an adj
journment so as to be able to give their
undivided attention to the autumn cam
paign so the urge for hasty consideration
of legislation from now on VIII mean
stepping on the legislative accelerator in
earnest.
1t cannot be said truthfully that the
Republicans are satisfied with the Ford
ney-AIcCumber bill, as it will be known
i'm tariff history. Economic conditions
throughout the world have been uncer-
tain and costs of production have been
changing with the rise and fall of labor
prices since the war.
President Hardings request for power
to proclaim other rates if the new rates
shall be found burdensome or inequitable
has been written into the senate bill and
there's a chance that this provision will
receive much attention in conference for
there is one school of thought which be-
lieves the power granted is too large and
another which holds that the power is
too restrictive to be of any consequence
as corrective.
On Calendar rs Months.
For rs months the tariff has been on
the calendar of both houses. Mr.. Hard
ing called a special session to consider
taxation and the tariff in April, 1921.
The emergency tariff bill was passed as a
stop-gap and it was argued that the new
measure would be a permanent tariff
BILL" but as both the senate and house
have gone deeper into their tasks and
learned more about conditions of trade
the word permanent" has gradually
been eliminated until it is doubtful
whether the leaders of either house would
care to predict that the Fordney- Met um-,
Der bill will 60 unreyised in the next few
years.
One factor which is new in tariff max
ing Is the feminine vote. In the past
was only indirectly applied through the
masculine ballot. However, the woman
Of the house and her daughters who buy
things will have a voice in the matter
Retail stores, who have fought the new
tariff bill, of course, have large numbers
of women among their customers They
viii not hesitate to tell their customers
where the responsibility lies for higher
prices.
Congress has felt sensitive about this
from the very beginning. The best evil
dence of it was in the vote of free hides
There revolt in the senate came almost
entirely because of recognition that the
American peoples shoe bin would be in
creased and that women voters would re-
member such an increase when they
went TO the polls. But skillful as the
tariff makers have tried to be in avoid
ing the antagonism of women, there arc
many articles on which high duties have
been proclaimed which will indirectly in.
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