The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1929-10-04
THE PRESIDENTS STAND
is SOUND
minneapolis Tribune)

With the Presidents state
ment concerning the flexible pre-
visions arrangement, we are in
hearty accord. We have repeated
ly expressed the view that the in
terests of agriculture in genera
and the northwest in particular
would best be served by keeping
the %"flexing" powers in the hands
of the President. This view is
based on purely practical grounds.
Agriculture, when asking for an
increased rate, needs only to have
a sound case in order to secure
action through the medium of the
tariff commission and the Pres
ident. Neither the tariff commits
sion nor the President proceeds
to drive bargains with agriculture
Neither the tariff commission nor
the President offers to concede ag-
riculture its merited increase if
the agricultural representatives
will tthen turn around and con
sent to an increase on shingles or
plate glass.
We do not view with any par
ticular alarm this extension of
the presidential prerogative. The
President has no arbitrary power
to raise or lower schedules at
will. He is supposed to act upon
the findings of the tariff commits
sion. The flexing authority, up
wards or downwards, is limited to
so per cent of the rate imposed
by congress. The President can
not transfer an article from the
free list to the dutiable list, nor
from the dutiable list to the free
list. Thus the presidential author
ity is hedged about with such
sharp restrictions that any serious
abuse of it's exercise is hard to
contemplate.
We recognize that the arrange
ment does not yet work perfect
ly. It will take time to find a bet
ter yardstick for the tariff com
missions researches than the as
certainment of foreign production
costs. Everyone understands the
frequent impOssibility of establish
ing, with any certainty, these
production costs. Everyone under
stands, too, that the delays Incl
dent to futile Investigations often
defeat the purpose Of the device.
We grant, as we'll, that any salts
factory substitute for the foreign
production cost yardstick is going
to be difficult to evolve. We APP
p%reciate the fact that the mental
ity needed on the tariff commits
sion is the objective, scientific,
no%n-partisan mentality, and that
obviously this type of mentality is
not likely to be selected when the
appointment is political. The pol
itical rewards ordinarily go to the
politically faithful; and there is
always a grave danger that the
politically faithful will not ap-
proach tariff questions with minds
free from political bias. And, GER
sion should be without political
bias.
The Tribune is under no illu-
sions concerning the flexible pro-
visions arrangement. 1t is a new
and still comparatively untried de-
vice. In numerous respects it is
still crude. It's obvious defects
unquestionably call for correction,
and the remedies are not in all
instances clear. None the less The
Tribune believes that in time the
arrangement a be made to func-
ton in a way which will be bene-
fetal to the country as a whole. /
The one thing all critics of the
tariff agree upon is that the log
rolling method is bad. Abolish the
flexible provisions arrangement
altogether, and you go back to
congressional log-rolling. Take the
present flexing power out of the
hands of the President, lodge it
in congress, and you again go
back to congressional log-rolling.
We are confronted with a flat
choice between presidential flex-
ing and congressional log-rolling.
The difference between the two is
the difference between a method
which holds out some eventual
hope of improving tariff making (:
and a method which holds out no :
hope whatsoever. :