Evening star., 1929-12-15
FLEXIBLE TARIFF CLAUSE
! is HELD KEY TO BATTLE
Defeat of Provision Would Mean Rates
Would Be Revised Downward if Left
TO Congress, Expert Holds.

StanC1al Sl9ckenlng OF ACTIVITY ana
consequent decrease Of employment
due to insurmountable competition
, from abroad.
Incidentally. while it is largely for
gotten now, it is actually important
; to remember that Speaker Longworth
stood, and still stands, with President
Hoover. Speaker Longworth's recon-
mendation was in much the same term
as Mr.. Hoovers. Speaker Longworth's
words we're "a modification Of certain
tariff rates as few in numbers AS pos
sible. can see no reason why
I any elaborate revision of our present
tariff law ought to be undertaken at
this extra session"
Now, how did it happen that the
Lower House departed from this recon-
mendation of its own Speaker and Of
the President? And how did 1t hap
pen that the Lower House, after having
caused the tariff bill to wander seven
months in the wilderness is now COM
ing back to the position of President
Hoover and Speaker Longworth?
Business Workers HOOt At Pair.
To begin with, the representatives of
! several manufacturing industries (the
representatives: that is, in business and
not in politics. hooted at President
Hoover. These representatives were CT
the type of Grundy. They demanded
that the tariff revision should be not
limited at all, but general. They ex-
pressed doubts of the Presidents ortho-
doxy as a Republican and as protec-
zionist. They put their lobbying forces
to work. They were, ct that time, very
local and very self-confident. That &C
ton of some industries was the begin
ming Of the trouble.
The next step out of the path oc-
Cured in the ways and means commit
tee of the Lower House. That is the
committee which has the initial Wrltlng
of a tariff bill. The ways and means
committee consists of Is Republicans
and 10 Democrats. The Republicans
when that party is in poWer) write
the bill. That is according to the rule;
whichever party is in power, its men,
bers write the bill.
What goes on within the ways ana
means committee is not made pubic
| and no one can say with commence
or with completeness just what hap
pened. Some who, after the dit1culty
arose, tried to analyze the beginning
of it said that part of the cause lay
in the appointment of the Subcomm1t-
tees within the committee. AS chair
men of the subcommittee, men were
chosen who in several cases represented
districts desiring upward revision.
"Home Staters" Chairmen.
The chairman of the subcommittee
op sugar was a sugar man from Colo
! RADIO: the chairman of the commlttee
on metals was from the metal manu-
featuring State of Pennsylvania; the
chairman of the committee on logs and
shingles was from the shngle-HaAAls
state of washington.
| That, of course, made dlfterence,
Then of course, the inevitable log
rolling began, according to the prln-
ciple described above. 1t is not neceS-
sariiy an odious process; 1t Is lnherent
in the nature of a revision OF the tarln
when the revision is done on seVeraI
commodities simultaneously.
Within the committee the members
rejecting the various industries log
rolled with each other, naturally. Then
and more Notwithstanding written
high rates for their industries, they
had to log-roll with the whole BODY OF
435 Representatives. They had 10 geJ
minimum OF 2lS REPRESENTATIVES 10
vote for their high rates When they
approached individual Representatives
to vote for the rates written in the
ways and means committee room MAUI
rally the individual Representative thuS
approached for his support inquired
what had been done about some mdus-
try in which his district was partlcu-
larly interested, such, for example, as
cement, or bricks, or manganese, or
what not.
Outsiders" Exact Price.
Especially when Representatives out
side the committee found that those
inside the committee had looked after
their own commodities, it followed that
those outside exacted a price. 1t was
reasonable that they should. A Rep
reSentative could not 60 home with the
spectacle of other industries favored
and his own local industry not favored
That is the very essence of og-rolling.
It is not wicked. 1t is merely human
nature and it is inevitable.
That really tells most of the story.
The spirit that is inseparable from re-
vising the tariff several schedules at
a time, operated in the Lower House
from the very first moment to bring
about a tariff revision broader than
the limited" one President Hoover had
recommended. The result was tariff
which the West and the South could
attack as giving much to industry.
Incidentally. there is a curious irony
in the geographical character this fight
has taken. 1t is pictured as fight,
mainly. of the West against East. Yet,
in the Judgment of some who followed
the beginning most closely, 1t was the
West that was most responsible Tor
the broadening of the revision from
the limited" one President Hoover
recommended.
Western Interests Are Blamed.
It was the Rocky Mountain region
that wanted a higher tariff on sugar,
and it was the Pacific Coast that wanted
tariff on logs and shingles. In the
judgment of persons very close to the
situation, it was the desire for higher
protection for these commodities that
led to giving higher rates on many
other commodities. through the process
described above. Thus the controversy
began.
II should be added that not all the
Is Republican members of the ways and
means committee favored the broaden
ing of the revision, or the increased
: rates The committee frequently di-
vided in roughly the ration of 9 to s, or
8 to 7. Among those who tried to keep
: the revision limited, and comparatively
low. three came from the extreme East
All that is over the dam, however
The fight in its later stages became
visualized to the public as the West fol-
7 low industrial rates, and the East fol
high industrial rates. In that rough
picture. as often. there is some mac
cItracv and some in iuStiee In individuals