Evening star., 1929-07-03

Limited Revision, After All.

Limited Revision, After All.
There are more and more signs that
the tariff bill Is to be revised down.
ward from the House rates by the
Senate. Indeed. the Senate finance
committee, reputed to be made up of
'.hard- boiled" high protectionists. is now
reported to be ready to redraft the bill
with many reductions from the rates
levied In the House bill. This is well
come news. President Hoover is
gtanch believer In the theory of the
protective tariff, but when he called the
Congress into special session it was
with Recommendation that the pro-
posed revision Of the tariff be Limited"
TO those industries which needed and
warranted further protection. The
House, however, made q general revi-
tsfon Of the tariff, with great number
Of increases, some of which have ap-
peared unjustified. There has been an
uproar over the proposed increase in
the sugar duties. The duties placed on
building materials, particularly lumber,
shingles, brick and cement, brought a
howl from the agricultural States.
The Senate finance committee Is
still engaged in holding hearings on
the tariff bill, but within two weeks
these hearings viii be closed and the
committee VIII begin the work Of writ
ing up the. bill. Chairman Smoot Of
the committee, high tariff man, has
been quoted as saying that many Of the
duties imposed in the House bill, In his
opinion, can be reduced. With Chair
man Emoot taking such q position, 1t
Is not dif1cnlt to predict what is likely
10 happen when 1t comes to framing
the bill for report to the Senate. 1t
looks now as though the duty on sugar
would be lowered, and Is though the
duty. on lumber win be stricken out of
the bill, leaving lumber again on the
free list, and that the duties imposed
on cement and bricks win 60 the same
route. The House bill places duty on
hides. taking them from the free list,
and also . duty. on shoes. The Senators
from farm States are not united re-
garding the wisdom Of such q plan, and
1t ID likely that q change in this ar
xangement Of the bill win be made, too.
When the tariff bill comes out into
the Senate the. chances are for further
reductions even than those which may
be written by the committee. II the
members OF the finance committee had
other ideas In the past, the vote in the
senate on the proposal Of Senator
Borah that the changes In the tariff be
confined to the agricultural schedule
and related products must have been q
warning. The Borah resolution lost by
. single vote. The progressive Repub-
licans, In combination with some CT the
regulars and many Of the Democrats,
WIN not stand for great array Of In
creased tariff duties.
President Hoover, 1t now appears, will
have the Senate with him In his de-
mand for more limited tariff revision
than that provided in the House BILL
The Senate and the President In COM
bination are likely to prevail IN the end
against the House In this instance, just
as the House and the President pre-
vailed against the Senate In the final
writing Of the farm relief law. The
Chief Executive has the final word to
say on the tarif1 bill, as on all other
legislation requiring his approval. It
fa ns,ife. earfaiy, that fb,a torify hill no.,Id
not be put through over his veto should
Mr.. Hoover disapproye the measure in
Its nnal form.
Here il no case Of writing q new
tariff law along the lines of the Repuh-
lican protective tariff theory and aban-
doning the Democratic tariff for revenue
with incidental protection theory. A
Republican tarin law stands on the
books today as the law. As the Presi-
dent has properly said, changes in the
law should be made only in limited
degree and for the purpose of caring
for industries which are actually suf-
fering from foreign competition and
mass imports. The country has pros
pered under the existing law, although
there are admittedly q few industries
that need further degrees of protection.
But for Congress to engage In an orgy
Of tariR increases would be the height
Of unwisdom from the viewpoint Of the
consuming public, and hence exceed
ingiy bad politics.