Evening star., 1936-04-10
TARIFF PLANK
ST|RSG c. 0.P. ROW
0'Brien Plan Pledges Con-
tinuanCe of Reciprocal
Trade Agreement Act.
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

| A tariff plank for the Republican
national platform, pledging the G. o.
P. to continuance of the reciprocal
trade agreement act with perfecting
amendments, has been prepared by
Robert Lincoln O'Brien, chairman of
the United States Tariff Commission
and Massachusetts, Republican. AL
ready his proposal has stirred up a
hornets nest.
Chairman O'Brien said today he
planned to go to the Republican Ma
tional Convention in Cleveland and
make a fight for the inclusion Of his
tariff plank in the party platform.
O'Brien sent copies to the Republic
an members of the House Ways and
Means Committee and of the Senate
Finance Committee, which handle
tariff legislation.
Representative Treadway of Massa-
chusetts. ranking Republican member
of the House Ways and Means Com
mittee. came back with sizzling reply
that If he we're a member of the COM
mittee on resolutions at the national
convention he would never permit
Chairman O'Brien to be heard on such
a proposition.
Take 1t to Democrats.
Representative Harold Knutson Of
Minnesota, another Republican men,
ber of the Ways and Means Commit
tee. said in reply to O'Brien:
Take your plank to the Democratic
National Convention. That's where it
belongs"
Senator Capper of Kansas, Repub-
lican member Of the Senate Finance
Committee, said:
Il do not believe any such plank
would be accepted by the Republican
National Convention in Cleveland. Out
in my part of the country the farmers
don't like the way the reciprocal trade
agreements entered into by the Roose-
welt administration are working They
allow the entry into this country Of
more foreign farm products"
Capper was one of those who voted
for the reciprocal trade agreement
law, giving the President the right to
make these trade agreements, but he
does not like the way some of these
agreements have worked out.
Another Republican member of the
Finance Committee declared that
Chairman O'Brien was merely in
the name Of Republicans offering
something favored by the Democratic
administration" This member, al
though he did not wish to be quoted,
declared himself fatty against the
proposal.
Sees Hard Shedding.
Chairman O'Brien admitted today
that his tariff plank probably would
have hard shedding at the national
convention. He said he planned to
tight for it, however, and predicted
that he would have some Republican
support for it.
This question of tariffs and tariff
policy is of vital importance to the
people of the United States" said
OBrien. II want to see the Republic
an party, of which I am a member,
adopt a sound tariff plank. What
does the party want to do? Go back
to the old Republican tariff plan?"
In the draft of his tariff plank
o'Brien said, in part:
Experience has shown that to frame
an old-fashioned tariff bill and let the
rest Of the world take it or leave it, is
no longer an adequate answer. Such
tariff making wrecked the administra-
tions of two recent Republican Presi-
dents, Hoover and Taft, besides sub
Jecting the business of the country to
interminable delays and uncertainties,
all of which reacted on the party in
power. A repetition of this experience
We ought not now to invite, as we
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