Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-27


revision. 1t will occur either in
the special session of the new
Il Congress, which Mr.. Hoover will
call in April, or 1t will occur IN
he regular session in December It
may be that some of the revision will be
lone in the special session and some in
The regular session.
There is also, as yet, some doubt about
the extent of the revision It may be
merely a revising of some schedules, in
the form of an amendment to the exist
ing Fordney- McCumber tariff law, or il
may be a general revision resulting in a
new law, bearing a new name.
Even If the revision be restricted to a
limited number of schedules, as an
amendment to the existing tariff law
nevertheless the action will be pretty
broad, and before the end will take III
a large number of schedules. The better
guess would say that there will be a
general revision of the tariff within the
two years life of the new Congress. be-
ginning March 4. The demand comes
from SO many lines of industry, and Is
so insistent. as practically to guarantee
general revision, by one name or an
other.
Tariff Revision Big Subject.
Tariff revision is big subject. 1t is
an enormous subject In the huge
volumes of congressional debates for a
hundred years tariff consumes more
words than any other one question
Several statesmen owe their places in
American history to the stand they took
on the tariff. Many familiar characters
owe their preservation from oblivion in
large part to the fact that their names
20 60 TO- TO-.
ing of which they had leading role.
McCumber." The one preceding is called
the Underwood" Before that the
"Dingley." Before that the wilson:
before that the Mckinley" and so on
back to the Morrill," and the Walker"
Tariff revision is big subject in an
other sense. 1t affects substantially all
industry. And as American industry
has become bigger and more complex,
the ramifications of the tariff are wider
and more intricate. The coming tariff
revision, before it is through, will touch
many INTERESTINGLY every interest.
1t will engage great popular attention.
At least, it will if the past is true
guide.
Tariff revision is truly a broad and
intimate subject. The present article
aims, in the main, to deal with one
striking aspect of the present approach
to revision.
Coming Action Unprecedented.
The coming tariff revision-the pres
ent stage of its unprecedented in one
respect. That is, the lack of any for
midable body of public opinion de-
handing revision downward: the lack
of any leader making himself the
spokesman of low, or moderate, tariff.
Senator William Cabell Bruce of
Maryland described the condition the
other day. If he had any notion of
making himself the spokesman of the
low tariff viewpoint, he is made i'm
potent, because he failed of reelection
last Fall He will not be in the Con-
greSS that will revise the tariff. Sena-
tor Bruce, of course, spoke as a parti-
san Democrat. He said:
"A general tariff revision Is under
way. The tariff trough, filled with
tariff increases. has been placed in posi-
ton, and the pigs, big and small, are
gathered about it and are grunting and
squealing and jostling. And
there will be no representative of the
great consuming American public, free
from political pressure, to see to it that
the interests of the public are properly
taken care of"
Representative Corden Hull of Ten
nessee, a Democrat, the other day ut
tered faint appeal for low tariff,
which is the historic doctrine of his
party He was and is embarrassed a
little by the fact that his party, in its
recent national platform and presiden-
tial campaign. modified its ancient
stand by squirting toward kindness for
protective tariff
Representative Hull and others who
believe with him-if any-are even
more deferred by prevailing content
ment with protection.
Calls Protection National God"
America seems to have come to the
point where it has set up the high
protective tariff as one of the national
gods. In the present state OF popular
feeling, to talk against protection seems
to take on the impudence of irrever-
ence. 1t is almost in class with at
taeking religious fundamentalism. To
say you are a free trader is to invite
a kind of moral odium. 1t is as perilouS
as to say you are an atheist Indeed,
there is far more frankness of assault
against the religious fundamentalism
of the Bible than against the economic
if that is the right word-fundamen-
talism of protection.
At the opening stage OF every previous
tariff fight the writer of this article
found on his desk every morning many
angry arguments against protection;
many copies of speeches and other doc
uments from imprisoned believers in
tariff for revenue only. or other varia-
tons of dissent from the high protect
i've theory. There was in 1922 and 1913
and 1910 as much printed and spoken
agitation on both sides of the tariff as
there is today about prohibition. In the
present stage of previous tariff fights,
Washington correspondents and news
paper offices were flooded with low-tarif
Free Trade Body Cited.
Daily We listened to zealots against
protection, who came to our Offices and
expounded the economic truth as they
saw it. There were organizations. there
were college professors, there were spe-
cialists in economic theory, there were |
clubs. There was, at one time, a for