Evening star., 1930-06-17
1880 TARIFF BILL
SIGNED BY HOOVER
Final Action Is Taken in
Simple Ceremony at
Presidents Office.
CONTINUED From First Page.)

clapping to greet the completion Of this
tariff chapter. However, there we're ex-
preSsionS of pleasure and satisfaction
upon the faces Of those grouped about
the President and there was no mistak-
ing the existence Of confidence among
this group.
In order to provide mementos of this
! historic occasion. the President used
six pens in signing the bill, and these
he afterward presented to Senator
Smoot and Representative Hawley.
and other conferees. When the So
! called gallery had withdrawn and the
President was again alone he lost no
time getting back to his regular grind.
He gave no outward appearance of
being excited or that he had only a
few moments before affixed his name
to a document which was of vital i'm
portance to every individual in this
country.
Unlike the signing of most other
vitally important measures, the signing
of the tariff bill today was not marked
by any breathless waiting on the part
of the public There was no uncertainty
as to what the President would do. He
had issued pronouncement last Sun
day in which he clearly said he would
sign the bill and in which he gave his
reasons for approving the measure.
Interest today seemed to be centered in
the fact that the ceremony was the
actual dropping of the curtain on the
tariff question, which has occupied the
limelight for so long, in the personnel
of the group in the Presidents Office
during the ceremony.
Bill Read TO Hoover.
An interesting fact in this closing
chapter was that Mr.. Hoover did not
actually read the bill before putting
his pen to the paper. 1t was read for
him by Secretary of the Treasury Mel
lon, Undersecretary of the Treasury
Mills, and a number of others in the
Treasury Department. Every word in
| it, every figure and punctuation mark
was carefully gone over and when the
bill was returned to the White House
| today, 1t contained the Treasury De-
partment'S off1cial approval. The Presi-
dent was assured that the bill was in
| perfect form and that there were no
typographical errors or errors of Eng
liSh, which might later lead to costly
embarrassment and legal difficulties.
The Presidents turning This bill over
| to others to read for him can easily be
appreciated when it is considered that
| the major provisions in it were thor
oughly familiar to him, and more i'm
| portant when it is considered that the
bill is one of the longest passed by Con-
gress in a great many years. 1t con-
| tanned 220 pages, closely typed More
over $500 separate schedules were
treated in the bill. 1t is easy to be seen
that for one man the reading of every
word and punctuation point in that
huge document would be heavy task
and one that would take considerable
| time.
| Soon after the bill was delivered to
the White House from the Capitol yes
| terday afternoon it was forwarded to
the Treasury Department for It's read
ing. This task was completed during
the forenoon today. and the document
was on the. Presidents desk and ready
| for his action at 1890 o'clock. It re-
posed there alongside mass of other
papers. mostly of a routine nature, as
Mr.. Hoover carried on his work, until
the moment arrived for the signing
ceremonial.
Early Benefits Are Hoped.
Those who have discussed the Smoot-
Hawley bill since its passage have rea-
| son to know he is hopeful of its ulti-
mate beneficial effects being felt
throughout the country within a short
time. 1t is known that he realizes that
the bill in It's entirety is not perfect,
but as he expressed himself in his pro-
nouncement last Sunday, no tariff bill
ever written was perfect and he doubted
that there ever would be one.
No comment has been Forthcoming
from the White House about the at
tackS still being made upon this bill.
Nor has anything been said at the
White House regarding the continued
fall in prices in the stock market, which
were expected to be boosted by the
passing of the tariff bill
The White House is known to appre-
ciate the answer made by Senator
Watson OF Indiana, Republican leader
of the Senate, to the challenge of the
Democratic national committee that
this tariff would be "the issue" in the
coming election
| Senator Watson, in response to this
challenge, answered: Let it be an is
sue. We have never lost yet on that
issue. The people are going to profit
under tariff protection"