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The Commoner.
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 29
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It.
If.
Woolen company, organized and developed un
der tho Dingley law. Managing this great cor
poration, reaping tho advantages which tliat
law gives to worsted mills, what are his present
views as to tho revision of that law? Instead
of a frank statement of reasons for his course,
It Is silence as to his letter of 1897, a moro or
less secret working agreement with William
"Whitman, and this disingenuous statement to
tho puhllc: , w
" 'I ought to say that tho American Woolen
company, for fear of hclng misunderstood, as
It has often boon regarded as a trust, has noth
ing whatever to do in influencing tho present
tariff. Wo havo studiously kept away, and al
though wo havo been Invited to send a repre
sentative, wo declined to do so, being satisfied
to loavo it to tho other woolen manufacturers
of tho country, bolieving that they were com
petent to tako caro of the situation, and what
ever would bo to their advantage would cer
tainly bo to ours.'
"Both sides to tho controversy agree on the
merits of tho question. There can be no dis
agreement. Tho right is clear. Tho difficulty
is in getting the peoplo's representatives to act
In accordance with tho facts."
VETO TUB WOOL TAX
Following is a special dispatch to the Chicago
Record-Herald:
Now York, July 18. Asking him to veto tho
tariff bill unless lower rates be made In the
wool schedule, the National Association of
Clothiers, of which Marcus M. Marks of New
York City Is president, has sent a letter to
Prosident Taft which In part follows:
"Tho National Association of Clothiers have
already filed with you their objections to tho
wool schedules embodied In the tariff bills now
in conference between the houses of congress.
Practically no change from tho Dingley bill has
been embodied in tho new tariff, and wo must
therefore assume that no relief from the present
unfavorable conditions can be had save through
your intervention.
"Eighty million woorers of woolens are pay
ing yearly much more than tho total value oil
tho domestic wool clip to afford excess profit to
a comparatively small number of sheep raisers
and worsted yarn spinners.
"Wo are not opposed to a reasonable protec
tion for tho wool grower and to the domestic
manufacturer, but from our practical experience
we know that the Dingley bill, through the un
just discriminations against tho lower and
cheaper grades of wool, has created a condition
which has decreased the weight and durability
of the clothing worn by the masses of the peo
ple and unduly advanced the price of the de
preciated cloth. Should present tariff condi
tions continue the situation will grow worse
and the burden on all woolen clothing will be
come extremely heavy."
Fourteen thousand merchants throughout the
United States havo been asked to appeal to
their senators and representatives in behalf of
reductions In the wool schedule.
A CHALLENGE TO OPEtf TIIE BOOKS
In a letter to Senator Lodge, W. C. Hunne
man, a manufacturer of carded wool, challenges
tho republican managers to make public the
contributions which the woolen interests made
to the republican congressional campaign fund.
"If you will not make the demand that the list
be published, .why not?" asks Mr. Hunneman
of the senator from Massachusetts.
It was Inevitable that this question would be
raised sooner or later In the tariff fight. Al
though the republican national committee
through the influence of Mr. Taft, made public
its contributions and expenditures, there was
no publicity In regard to the money collected
by tho congressional committee.
Here was the same old opportunity for barter
and trade, the same old secrecy under which the
republican party for years has trafficked in
tariff schedules and other special privileges.
Mr. Hunnoman's suspicions may be ill-founded,
but when a Roosevelt Is found to have dealt
with a Harrlman, when the Standard Oil com
pany contributes $100,000 to elect a Roosevelt
when tho life-insurance companies turn over
?150,0Q0 of their policyholders' money to the
republican campaign fund, secrecy always justi
fies further suspicions.
Now that a crisis has been reached in tariff
revision, with Mr. Taft and the people on one
side and the republican reactionary leaders and
the protected interests on the other, what must
be thought of tho republican congressional com
mittee if it flouts the challenge to open its
books? A New York World Editorial.
THE TARIFF IN CONGRESS
Excessive duties, many of them higher than the Dingley rates and bearing
especially on the clothing of the poor, are to remain in the bill and are not
even a subject of controversy between the two houses or between the con
ferees and the president. Special Dispatch to Philadelphia North American
Tho Washington correspondent for tho Phil
adelphia North American (a republican paper)
wired to his paper under date of July 18, as
follows: "
Tho effort to show that when President Taft
signs tho Aldrich tariff bill it will represent a
satisfactory revision downward in accordance
-with tho pre-election promise of the president
himself, and also with his statement of last
Friday, is now being given full force;
From tho conference committee of the two
houses, dominated by Senator Aldrich, and from
the White House the statement has been sent
forth that President Taft is to obtain what he
wants, and that if necessary the house of rep
resentatives, controlled by that patriot and public-spirited
statesman, Joseph G. Cannon, will
engage the senate in furious combat should the
senate resist the demands of the president.
The intimation is made as strong as it can
be that the president will have won a notable
victory for tariff revision over the high protec
tionists, and that the latter, headed by Senator
Aldrich, will have been forced to humble them
selves in the dust before the triumphant forces
of tho administration led in person by Joseph
Cannon; also that Cannon will be compelled to
exercise great self-restraint if he refrains from
planting his foot firmly upon the neck of tho
prostrate Aldrich.
In the reflected glory of this splendid fore
cast, the net results of what Mr. Taft will get
in the way of revision downward are described
in such glowing terms that the public can not
fail to be impressed and gratified.
He is to get free coal, free iron ore, and free
oil, and hides also will be made free or the duty
of 16 per cent will be cut in two. All the spe
cifications of the fulfillment of the president's
hopes coming either from the room of the con
ference committee or from the White House
end with the enumeration of these four products.
To make them appear important, however,
they are to be made the basis of whatever con
. flict may arise between the president and the
senate.
The statement that the president will get
these concessions is unquestionably true, but
that they will so change the character of the
tariff bill as to make it in accord with all the
public had a right to expect from the promised
revision of the present law, Is palpably absurd.
At the present time the reports going from
Washington describing the situation are, with
few exceptions, colored to deceive and fool the
public as to what is actually going on.
It may be unfair to the president to suggest
that he Is a party to this Intended deception,
but it is true that Mr. Taft is personally re
sponsible for statements that the bill will be
made satisfactory to him, a plain intimation that
if this occurs, then the measure will be in ac
cordance with his latest utterances in favor of
general reductions.
There is everywhere shown a determination
to juggle with the phrase, "revision downward."
Aldrich and Lodge are already upon record as
unalterably opposed to a reduction of duties,
but for political purposes they are now ready
to concede that the party was pledged to. revi
sion downward, and so are engaged in proving
that the manipulation of the schedules by Aid
rich himself has been a fulfilment of that
promise.
It would not require much investigation to
prove that these so-called concessions to be made
to the president are not concessions at all. The
truth Is that the republicans in both houses
are divided with respect to tho question of raw
materials, and a majority of them probably
favor placing them on the free list.
The house without any urging at all from
President Taft made them free. The senate
restored them to the dutiable list, but with the
understanding that this was dono to placate
some of the western- senators like Borah, of
Idaho, and Dixon, of Montana, both of whom
were inclined to rebel against the excessive
rates fixed by Senator Aldrich in the principal
schedules of his measure.
Senator Aldrich has been embarrassed by the
conflict between his promises to western sen
ators and his desiro to aid New England. In
his embarrassment he decided to let the presi
dent determine which way the controversy
should bo settled.
It is probably true that Senator Aldrich knew
full well that President Taft would decide in
favor of free raw materials. It is also probable
that ho wanted him to decide that way. But
in presenting the proposition to the president
he stipulated that Mr. Taft should exert his in
fluence to the utmost to get votes enough to
put the bill 'through the senate.
Apparently the president in agreeing to this
proposition has relieved Aldrich of much trouble.
That the senate will accept tho so-called con
cessions there is apparently little question.
It is now expected that of the ten independent
republicans who voted against the bill on its
final passage, four of them, Beveridge of In
diana; Crawford of South Dakota, and Burkett
and Brown of Nebraska, will vote for the re
port. The western senators who may voto
against it if hides are put on the free list do
not number more than six, to which may bo
added Elkins and Scott, of West Virginia, who
are demanding duties on coal and iron ore.
These, with the independents, would not num
ber enough votes to defeat the measure with
all the democrats opposed also.
Prosident Taft is talking very freely regard
ing his purposes, and he has said that he will
veto the bill unless he gets what he wants. But
when there is any analysis of what the presi
dent expects, it seems, apparently, that he is
determined to be satisfied with very little.
The reductions made yesterday in the wool
schedule, which, the confere.es declare, should
be credited to President Taft, indicate how
little there is in the talk of downward revision
except upon raw material.
A reduction of 5 per cent is made upon
women's and children's dress goods. But when
this is investigated it is found that the duty as
first established by Senator Aldrich was a' frac
tion of one per cent in excess of 104 per cent,
and the reduction leaves the duty still a triflo
in excess of 99 per cent.
The duty on woolen tops, which is .also her
alded as revision downward, after all reductions
have been made, remains between 75 and 100
per cent, accordingly as the value of the tops
may vary.
In the Dingley law the duty on wool tops
was made the same as the duty upon woven
cloth and higher than the yarns which are made
from the tops. It was one of the jokers in the
Dingley law inserted for the benefit of William
Whitman and the makers of wool tops. So it
is with all the other great schedules of the
measure.
Excessive duties, many of them higher than
the Dingley rates and bearing especially on the
clothing of the poor, are to remain in the bill
and are not even a subject of controversy be
tween the two houses or between the conferees
and the president.
A HUGE BLUFF
The following special dispatch appeared in the
St. Louis Republic:
Washington, July 18. Tariff activities In con
gress and at the White House are now resolved
chiefly into a publicity campaign intended to
convey the impression that President Taft is
indeed procuring a revision down in conference.
Messrs. Aldrich, Payne and Cannon are busily
granting it, and assert their complete harmony
with the president and their intentions to meet
his wishes.
The method of this policy, of course, is found
in the obvious motive to still the outcry in the
country against the pending measure.
The purpose is to create the impression that
the whole tariff issue the question of the cost
of living, the rock-bottom fact of the tariff
drain on the pocketbook lies in the contention
remaining over free coal, free hides, free, oil
and free ore.
Mr. Taft is to get some reductions upon each
of these items, possibly one or two will be put
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