Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-07

Their depends largely upon the energy
with which persons interested in various
schedules urge changes upon their local
| Representatives or upon the Senators
from their States.
A person who has been in close con-
tact with the situation. speaking In
rough outline. says that as to about
so per cent of the existing tarf there
is practically no insistence upon change
by the beneficiaries. AS to about Is
per cent more the changes urged are
merely In isolated spots of the SEIZED
ules. AS to roughly IS per cent Of the
tariff as a whole 1t is expected that
there will be thoroughgoing revision.
In the tariff revision who will be the
parties in interest? How will they ex-
press themselves? What will they want?
The most important group, 1t is fair to
say, are the manufacturers and other
| interests that want revision upward
They are organized. they have spokes-
men and propagandists and they are, SO
to speak, In tune with the Republican
party. They, 1t is fair to assume, will
have the heaviest weight In the final de-
termination of rates.
Not All for Revision.
Not all business men want revision
upward, or revision at ali. There are
classes of bushes men who have no
particular zest for protection. One such
group, obviously, is the importers.
There are yet other groups of business
men who vigorously. oppose revision up
ward. These are manufacturers who
import some of their raw materials.
There are groups of business men will
ing to let the tariff stand as 1t is. but
earnest in demanding a higher tariff
for themselves If there is to be higher
tariff for materials that enter into what
they make. CThis leads to the phrase
compromising tariff")
The business men who are Indifferent
or latently opposed to tariff revision
upward are, as rule, almost as closely
identified with the Republican party as
the protected manufacturers. This
group, however, is by no means so vocal.
nor so well organized, nor so insistent, as
the beneflciaries of protection.
There Is one large group, the farmers,
WHO have special interest In the revi-
sion, though by no means all the farm
ers, nor even the farm leaders, are sure
OF just what they want out Of the re-
vision. The underlying theory is that
the primary consideration In the writ
ing of the tariff bill shall be to give
adequate protection to every farm prod
uct, to put protective tariff on such
farm crops az do not now enjoy 1t and
to raise the protective tariff on farm
crops as to which the present rates are
not sufficiently prohibitive. So far the
bulk OF the farmers are agreed. (Though
there are individuals among the farm
leaders who doubt whether, in the long
run, it is wise to have high tariff on
each and every farm CROP
Assuming that the farmers get pro-
lection on their crops, what, then.
would be their attitude about revision
upward on manufactured goods? One
Western Senator, representing State
that has farming as its main industry,
says he Is going to vote for revision
upward on all farm cropS--and then
stop. If the Senators and Representa-
tives representing farm communities
should tend to take that course gen.
orally what would the Representatives
of the manufacturing East do? Would
the manufacturing East say, in effect,
Unless you vote for our tariff on our
manufactured products, you can't have
your tariff on your farm crops"
1t is often said that the consumer Is
never represented in any tariff revision.
is never heard in the debates, and never
gets into the hearings. In technical
sense this is true.
There lies on the desk Of the writer
OF this article pile of paper books Is
inches high. The total Of pages in the
pile Is 9,632-which is about 5000 900
words or the equivalent of nearly 20
fair-sized books. These millions Of
words are the stenographic records of
the hearings before the ways and means
committee, together with tables about
costs and prices. In all those hearings,
one may safely guess, there is no wit
ness w-.o began by saying Il represent
the consumer"
To put it this way is forceful and
poppy" but yet, in sense, fallacious
There is hardly any one who is q con-
sumner and consumer only; nearly
every consumer Is also a worker who
derives wages from some industry or
other. And as respects the protective
tariff, most of the workers are content
to let their employers speak for them:
they indorse the employers point of
view about protection and, whether
wisely or not, accept that policy as
good for them. OF the witnesses who
appeared before the ways and means
committee none were more forceful in
asking for protection than certain lead
ers Of labor unions.
Democrats Not Unified.
What will the Democrats do? They
have as yet no unified attitude. They
say they are going to get together, agree
upon policy and stage the tariff debate
as a battle between parties. Possibly
they may. There are, however, defects
In their equipment
Nearly every Democratic Senator or
member of Congress has among his
constituency one or more manufactur-
fYo F1iAf1ta n.y. nj IAf
wants protection. II a Democratic
member as an individual is subject to
pressure from some powerful constit-
uents for protection on one item, he is
seriously handicapped for taking par
ty position against the Republican doc
trine. The two Democratic Senator's
from Louisiana, in tariff revision after
tariff revision, have voted with the Re-
publicans on the tariff as q whole in
exchange for getting q tariff on one
commodity, sugar. In Florida, Texas
and elsewhere has arisen lately an
industry Of raising early vegetables
which wants protection against early
vegetables from Bermuda, the West In
dies or Mexico In at least two South
ern States, normally Democratic, the
textile industry has grown to be almost
as important as it Is In New England
There Is hnal element that Is maxi
inc itself heard 1t consists of the
aggregate of foreign countries Canada
threatens that If We increase the tariff
on her products she will take retalia-
tory steps. Canada's defensive measures
could include not only retalia-
tory measures on the tariff specifically,
but also refusal to cooperate on some
matters as, to which we ardently wish
her cooperation.
Argentina says that IL we make our
tariff prohibitive against her corn and
fiaxseed, she will find way to buy
her automobiles from Europe. (Argen-
tina at present buys s5 per cent Of her
automobiles from us)
There are similar voices of protest
from Cuba and many other countries.
The aggregate of them may be enough
to cause Congress TO give foreign coun-
tries some consideration.