Life — June 15, 1922 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

* LIFE - Our All-American Duties Sounder Gives Some Inside Facts About Them ASHINGTON, June 12.— I have been deeply grati- fied to find that in the almost unanimous opinion of the press, the Tariff Bill is entirely consistent with our work in handling the taxation, bonus and sundry other problems. Nor Do I Think that the press overstates the case. As Senator McCumber said, in his eloquent ‘plea’ for the defense, this tariff bill is All-American, Judging by some of the duties imposed, he might even have said 100% American. Personally, I feel that this is a very significant triumph for the Republican party. In spite of every temptation to bring in an All-Russian or All-Mexican bill, the committee never wavered. No Tariff Bill has ever offered a wider scope of protection. As a member of the committee, I can truthfully say that we were absolutely tireless in think- ing up things to protect. We even offered a prize of five dollars to the man who could give the longest list of names at meeting. I am sorry to say that this gave rise to certain ques- tionable practices. After Senator Smoot had won the prize six times running, we found that he had been cribbing from a Sears-Roebuck catalogue held under the table. And certain others tried to fatten their records by handing in names that they had made up. Before the fraud was discovered, we had already decided on the rate of duty and put them in the list, and so it seemed scarcely worth the labor of trying to weed them out again. “Zaffer” and “teasels” must belong to that class, and “dried blood” does not sound like a genuine article of commerce; and I should most cer- tainly think twice before going into a store and asking the man for a “fish sound.” “A just and generous bill,” thinks Senator Johnson. “And it won't raise the cost of living—appreci- ably” Mr. Fordney and Senator Sounder are for American valuation till the snow flies However, it doesn’t matter if there are a few of these duds in the list. The fact remains that we have protected everything there was to protect— except perhaps the American con- sumer. Of course, I do not \ to go so far as to say that the bill is absolutely flawless. I for one stand squarely with Mr. Ford- ney for the American as avainst the Foreign Valuation plan. Even if I understood the dif- ference between the two plans, I should not let it influence me. I am patriotic enough, I hope, to know that an American plan must be better. From the Floor of the Senate I shall urge one or two amendments which were defeated in committee. First, I want to put a_protec- tive tariff on distinguished for- eign visitors. These have been so numerous in Washington during the last year or two, that a mere Senator can attract no attention whatever on the street. With medals so preva- lent everywhere, I have tried wearing my old Red Cross and Liberty Loan buttons, but it makes no difference. Likewise, “Impressions of America” by foreign visitors ought to be taken from the free trade list. At present, these are filling our newspapers to such an extent that we statesmen are finding it increasingly difficult to get free publicity. I am therefore preparing a 15th schedule, putting a fairly stiff duty on the fa- vorite impressions, such as the ugliness of our cities, Prohibition, American bad manners, commercialism, lack of taste, stupidity and so on. But the Tariff Bill in its bigger aspects must be admitted a remarkable docu- ment. It would have been easy to write a tariff bill that merely increased the cost of living, or one that knocked our foreign trade on the head, or one that left busi- ness about as uncertain as before, but to have attained all three ends at once is sure- ly an achievement. Sounder. “Senator Smoot had been cribbing from a Sears Roebuck catalogue” comicbooks.com 4 (