Evening star., 1926-03-23
Difficulty Is Accentuated.

| The character of recent appoint
| ments to the Tariff Commission has
accentuated the difficulty, DR.. Taus-
sig said.
II imagine this has been a disap-
| pointment to the Executive" he said.
Senator Robinson of Arkansas.
| Democratic leader of the Senate, and
chairman of the Senate Investigating
committee, questioned DIR. Taussig
regarding the rights of member of
the commission to sit in a case in
which he or his family were pecuni-
arily interested.
Dr. Taussig replied he thought the
tariff commissioner should not sit in
such a case. that judges on the bench
did not sit in cases in which they
were personally interested.
Senator Reed of PENNSYLVANIA. Re
publican, interrupted. asking II DR..
Taussig thought there was any rea-
son why Commissioner Classic should
not have sat in the sugar tariff inves
tigation because his wife owned 10t
shares Of stock which brought her in
perhaps $500 year.
Says Classic Should Not Participate.
DR.. Taussig answered that. in his
opinion, Commissioner Classic should
not have sat in that case.
Senator Reed suggested that the In.
terest was so small he saw no good
reason why Mr.. Classic should not
have continued in that investigation.
He said that he understood three or
the commissioners owned cows, but
that they had sat in an investigation
on butter. and he wanted to know II
they also should be excluded. DR..
Taussig said he thought the cases
were not similar.
DR.. Taussig testified that he had
been appointed by President Wilson,
as, he believed, "a mugwump." He
| was asked whether he had been ap-
pointed as a Republican or q Demo
crat. He said that he believed in free
trade, although he had been registered
as Rpublicaen voter in Massachu.
setts.
The former chairman of the COM
mission was asked If there had been
dissension on the Tariff Commission
| while he was chairman. such as has
been so much in evidence in the last
few years. DR.. Taussig replied there
had not been such dissension. He was
chairman, he said, from 1917 to 1919.
during the war period, and while COM
missioners had differed over the ques-
ton Of going ahead with cost ascer.
tainments, he said that they had acted
| in a nOn-partisan way.
Questioned by Senator Robinson
! regarding the practicability of as
| certaining the costs Of production
abroad. Of articles for importation,
| DIR. Taussig said that such ascertain.
| ment is extremely difficult, due, in
| part, to the secrecy of business op.
erations maintained by some con.
Germs abroad.
! DO you believe in the principle
| Of protection?" asked Senator Reed.
| The witness replied that it should
| not be applied except under most
/ unusual conditions.
| DR.. Taussig told the committee
| that he had been consulted with ref
| erence to the law creating the Tariff
| Commission enacted in 1916, and that
he had sent to Washington a draft
| of bill which in general had been
| included in the law.
! DR.. Taussig was asked II the Tariff
! Commission could not function better
If 1t was a partisan body rather than
bipartisan. He said he thought not,
that II all the members belonged to
the same party, believing either in
! free trade or protection. the Commis-
sion would be too biased in one direc-
ton. What was wanted in its report,
! he said. was Information as nearly
scientifically correct as possible.
| At the conclusion of the hearings,
Chairman Robinson announced they
would be continued at 10 o'clock to-
morrow morning.