, 1922-09-25

az conditions shall make II necessary for the pre-
s~erEatior OF the home marke. for american labor,
agriculture anc industry The followers Of VII
son and Cox reaffirmed ~the traditional policy Of
the Democratic party on the tariff.
The import record Of 1920 made some protective
Legislation imperative and on May = Of the fol
lowing year the emergency tariff bill was signed
by Mr. Harding. having been vetoed by Mr.. Wilson
a few months previously With one or two excep-
lions favorable 10 the south, farm products had
been on the free list in the Underwood Simmons
law. The emergency Law materially restricted this
class of imports, at the same time adding to the
customs revenues. Coming at a time when the
farmerE were bad1y hurt by Democratic ds1ation
and free farm products, il performed its work ad-.
mirably as a stop-gap measure sas
The Democratic theory ia. Increased imports
would mean increased revenues for the federal
treasury was exploded. From 1914 to 1872, inclu-
sive. we imported s27 .000.0O0.0 900 worth of foreign
products ON which we realized S2-296,OOO.OOO in
customs revenues. OF this total $92,0O0,O00 was
collected during the period July / to October 3,
1913, when the Republican law was in effect. and
about S20,000,000 from Republican rates on wool
and sugar carried over into the following year.
while the revenues derived from the emergency tar
III law during 1922 should not be credited TO the
Democratic Law. Probably about S2,000,000.O00
would cover the revenues of the Democratic Law
during the nine years cited. During the nine years
immediately preceding 1914. five Of which were un-
der the Dingley law and four under the Payne
Aldrich law, we imported s13, 900, 900, 600 worth OF
foreign goods, which netted the federal treasury
sz,'6O.OO0-OOO- Therefore, less than one-half the
imports under Republican tariff laws yielded IS
per cent more revenue than did the Democratic law.
All figures used here are taken from the official
records.
1t would be unfair to make use of the prices
which have prevailed from 1918 down to the present
time in arguing against the Democratic contention
that increased imports result in decreased living
cost. The war and the raised wage level have
smothered that issue. Compared with 1913 the in
dex numbers of wholesale prices for 1914 on clothes
fuel, metals, lumber, chemicals, bease furnishings
and miscellaneous commodities record no appreci-
able change, while the prices of farm products
and foods, which were placed on the free list, show
an increase of 5 points each. The expose of i'm
porterz' profits recently made by the senate com
cittee on finance shows decisively that not only
have the importers absorbed the duties saved to
them by the Democratic law in their profits, but
they have in a very great number of instances
mulcted the buying public of profits ranging from
$50 TO 1890 per cent on the goods they imported.
The contention that Democratic policies were
responsible for increased wages could not possibly
be sound. We cannot increase wages by increas-
ing imports. That the American federation of Ia
Dor is fully cognizant of the benefits of protection
is amply testified to by the resolution adopted by
that body in Buffalo in 1917:
@Resolycd, That this convention go on record in
favor of a policy of industrial preparedness and
the enactment Of laws by congress that will ado
quately protect all wage-earners of our country
against loss of employment through any invasion
OF the products OF any other nation
In short. the Democratic tariff law failed In
every particular. so far as domestic interests were
c11ce-te5 It did not lower prices. 1t did not
increase revenues. II had no part in expanding ex-
ports. 1t did create depression and cause suffer
ing. The new Republican tariff law is protection.
not perfection. It has been passed in the face of
the most desperate opposition on the part of ini-
portcrs ever known. 1t places the country on safe
ground. 1t is the handmaiden of prosperity and
the TWIN are now one, the nuptials having been
scaled by the signature of the president.