Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-09-17

a large extent for the delay of a
year and half in enacting the
tariff revision and it has had an
effect in keeping some of the rates
lower than old time protectionist
republicans would have put them.
I A statement which shows how
the banks feel about the tariff is
| contained in a recent bulletin of
the National City Bank of New
York, the great financial institu-
ton which stands at the head of
American banks. Discussing the
| international situation with espe-
cial reference to Europe's need of
selling her manufacturers here SO
that she can earn money with
which to buy American food, the
bank says:
ut seems altogether probable
that some means will be found for
purchasing 1t. although the diff
culties are great and the pending
unfinished tariff legislation at
Washington tends to increase
them"
This shows clearly how the banks
feel that the high protective tariff,
once a pet scheme of theirs, now
is regarded as q factor which in
creases the difficulties of doing
| business.
In a word what the American
creditors of Europe say is: Eur
ope owes us billions which we are
demanding. The only way to get
the money is to take European
goods. A high protective tariff
prevents those goods from coming
in and being sold here. Therefore,
by our own legislation, We pre-
vent Europe from paying us the
money we want in the only manner
which she has of paying"
| 1t is an impasse and is reminis-
cent of the old system of the debt
ors prison. In the old days, wnen
a man could not pay his debts he
was put in Jail. In Jail he had no
means of earning money and
therefore could not pay the debt
and be released. America wants
Europe to pay its debt but a high
protective tariff puts Europe in a
debtors prison by removing her
one avenue of payment.
Such a problem is good ex-
ample of the difficulties which
confront q statesman for there is
the other side of the picture. IL
goods made in Europe with cheap
labor come into the United States
under low duties they can be sold
| here for a song. This means
American factories making the
same sort of goods must shut down.
The American workmen who have
been drawing high wages and rails
| ing families in accordance with the
high American standard of living
must walk the streets, unemployed.
The food raised on American farms
would decline in price. because
foreign farm products would come
in and undersell them.
Representative Longworth, a
member of the committee on ways
and Means which frames tariff
legislation, said that it would be
wiser for the American people to
cancel the whole 81, 0OO, OOO,ooo
debt than to let European products
come in here at low rates ana
drive the American workmen out
Of employment and bankrupt the
factory owners.
Another curious reversal in tar
If legislation alignment which the
war produced was the placing OF
Representatives Of farming com
munities and of certain southern
Jurisdictions in the high protective
tariff column. When the price
recession came, congressman re-
ceived complaints from farm con-
stituents that their prices were cut
in two because of a lack of tarlff
protection. Industry has crept IN
TO several southern states. There
are cotton mills in the Carolinas,
n sugar industry in Louisiana, steel
in Alabama, naval stores in Georgia
oil in Texas and Oklahoma. These
old time free trade communities
are experiencing change of heart
on the tariff and demanding pro-
lection from foreign competition
II seems that the country Is
undergoing change which Is pro
ducIng the remarkable situation
where the northern banker Will pc
the free trader and the southerner
the protective tariff advocate. rms
Is lust another of the economic
\,