Evening journal., 1922-05-02
Uncle Ted's Bedtime Stories
The American Valuation Plan

'Only a few minutes more and
Uncle Ted will be here" exclaimed
Ruth. as she closed her geography
and settled back in the easy chair
where she had been studying her
lessons.
yes. the train is already in and
Uncle Ted is on his way up from
the station" replied Jack.
And even as these remarks passed
between them they heard the steps
Of Uncle Ted at the front door and
both bounded out into the hall to
meet him.
"And how is President Harding?"
asked Jack. after the exchange Of
greetings.
"All right. I guess" responded
Uncle Ted, "but I didn't see him
when I was in Washington. You
mustn't think that everybody who
goes to Washington sees the Presi
dent. although everybody has a
cance to see him II he wishes. Any
law-abiding citizen Of the United
States who is known to a Senator or
Congressman, or can be property
vouched for. can get an introduction
to President Harding. That kind OF
an introduction simply means that
a man will have a chance to shake
hands with the president and eN-
change a few words, but does not
mean a meeting to talk about any
matters Of business. A meeting with
the President TO talk over any i'm
portant subject Of public affairs re-
quires a special appointment with
an understanding as 10 the subject
that 4 TO be discussed That, OF
course. IS necessary, for otherwise
all the time of the President would
be taken up by all sorts OF cranks
who have the notion that they have
schemes which will cure all the Ills
of the country.
1T Is mighty nice OF President
Harding to give up a large part OF
his time TO shaking hands with Wis
itors to the national capital, and on
one OF my visits last winter I had
the pleasure OF meeting him. on
this trip however. I didn't go near
the White House. I spent two or
three days around the Capitol. how
ever, and met our United States Sen
ators several times"
Tell us what they are doing"
urged Ruth.
We'll. just at present they are
giving most OF their attention 70 the
consideration OF the tariff bill. The
tariff bill. you know, is the proposed I
law TO place a tax on importations
of goods from foreign countries into
the United States. The House Of
Representative passed the bill sew
eral months ago. and it has been |
under consideration in the Senate !
Committee on Finance ever since. /
The Senate Committee suggested a
very large number of amendments |
to the bill and reported 1t TO the |
Senate and now II Is up for discus |
sion and probably viii be debated |
for many weeks to come. The in !
dications are that there will be a |
hard fight on the bill, as the Demo- |
Gratis are opposed TO the kind Of |
tariff bill the Republicans favor.
The principal difference Of
opinion seems to be over the ques- |
ton Is what is called American /
Heretofore. under tariff i
laws Il has been the custom to levy /
a tax on goods imported into this /
county, with the tax computed ac-
cording to the value of the COM /
modify in the country from which /
Il is brought Owing to the depre-
citation OF currencies in some coun-
tries as a result Of the war and the
cheap labor conditions that exist,
the values Of many commodities are
so low that II the tax were COM
puted on the value of the goods in
the country where produced, the
tax would vary so much on goods
from different countries and would
be so small, in some instances, as
not to be a large enough tax as to
give the producers OF American
goods a reasonable amount Of pro-
lection. In order TO meet such a
condition as that, the House Of Rep
adapted what they
called the American valuation plan 4
which provided that the tax should {
be levied according to the value Of
he goods when offered for sale in (
he United States.
The Senate Committee on {
Finance didn't think this plan was
practical for the reason that the i'm Z