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jft-.-V'-- TOiitlii i$ i' l* fe$ I {•'I Tl-£ I 'v I 'ST- '3 If fi PAGE TWO ti I 2 •V r'i ("il j:| i, ii I tfe if ft- •d -I $ -v The Denison Review Review Publishing Company (Incorporated) R. P. CONNER, Manager Published every son, Iowa. Wednesday at Deni- Telephone—23. ——i Entered at Denison postoffiee as sec ond-class matter. Advertising rates furnished on re quest. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. One year $1.50 Six months "5 Paper sent to foreign country... 2.00 CORRESPONDENCE. Communications relating to news and editorial matter should be ad dressed Denison Review, care Editor ial Department. REMITTANCES. Remit by draft, express or postal order payable to the Review Publish ing Company. Only two-cent stamps received in payment of mail accounts. THE WOOL VETO. Ringing Weto Message in Which the President Expresses His Disap proval of the Wool Measure. In his message President Taft said: I return without my approval house bill No. 11019, with a statement of my reasons for so doing. The bill is an amendment of the ex isting tariff law and readjusts the cus toms duties in what is known as schedule K, embracing wool and the manufactures of wool. I was elected to the presidency as the candidate of a party which in its platform declared its aim and purpose to be to piaintain a protective tariff by the imposition of such duties as will equal the difference between the cost of production at home and abroad together with a reasonable profit to American industries. I have always regarded this language as fixing the proper measure of protection at the ascertained difference between the cost of production at home and that abroad, and have construed the refer ence intended not to add a new ele ment to the measure stated or to ex clude from the cost of production abroad the element of a manufactur er's or producer's profit, but only to emphasize the importance of including in American cost a manufacturer's profit, reasonable according to the American standard. In accordance with a promise made in the same platform, I called an extra .session of the Sixty-first congress at which a general revision of the tariff was made and adopted in the Payne bill. It was contended by those who op posed- the Payne bill that the existing rates of the Dingley bill were excess ive and that the rates adopted in the revising statute were not sufficiently reduced to conform to the promised measure. Named Tariff Commission. A popular demand arose for the formal creation of a law of a perma nent non-partisan tariff commission. Commercial bodies all over the coun try united in a movement to secure adequate legislation for the purpose and an association with a nation-wide constituency was organized to pro mote the cause. The public opinion in favor of such a commission was evidenced by resolutions adopted in 1909 and 1910 by republican state con ventions in at least twenty-eight states. The business of the country rests on a protective tariff basis. The public keenly realized that a disturbance of business by a change in that tariu and a threat of injury to the industries ot the country ought to be avoided, and that nothing could help so much to minimize the fear of destructive changes as the known existence of a reliable source of information for leg islative action. The deep interest in the matter of an impartian ascertain ment of the facts before any new re vision, was evidenced by an effort to pass a tariff commission bill in the short session of the Sixty-first con gress in which many of the parties united. Such a bill passed both houses, it provided a commission of five members to be appointed by the president, not more than three of whom were to belong to the same party, and gave them the power and made it their duty to investigate the operation of the tariff, the compara tive cost of production at home and abroad, and like matiers of importance in fixing the terms of a revenue meas ure, and required them to report to the executive and to congress when directed. Several not vital amend ments were made in the senate, which necessitated a return of the bill to the house, where, because of the lim ited duration of. the session, a com paratively small minority were able to prevent its becoming a law. About Schedule K. I have thus reviewed the history (he movement for the establishment Jtf ot a tariff commission or board in or der to show that the real advance and reform in tariff making are to be found in the acquiring of accurate and impartial information as to the effect of the proposed tariff changes under each schedule before they are adopted, and further to show that if delay in the passage of a bill to amend schedule can be had until Decem ber, congress wjll then be in posses sion of a full and satisiactory repoit upon the whole schedule. This brings me to the consideration of the terms of the bill presented for my approval. Scnedule is the most complicated schedule in the tariff. It classifies "raw wool with different rates lor different classes, it affords the manufacturer what is called a compensatory duty to make up for the increased price of the raw material he has to use due to the rate on raw wool, and for the shrinkage that takes place in scouring the wool for manu facture, and it gives him, in addition, an ad valorem duty to protect him against foreign competition against cheap labor. The usages which pre vail in scouring wool, in making the yarn and in the manufacture of cloth present a complication of technical detail that prevents anyone, not es pecially informed concerning wool growing and manufacturing, from un derstanding the schedule and the ef lect of changes in the various rates and percentages. Investigate Schedule. If there ever was a schedule that needed consideration and investigation and ei&borate explanation by experts before its amendment, it is schedule K. There is a widespread belie': that many rates in the present schedule are too high and are in excess of any needed protection for the wool grow er or manufacturer. I share this be lief, and have so stated in several pub lic addresses. But I have not suffi cient data upon which I can judge how schedule ought to be amended or how its rates ought to be reduced in order that the new bill shall fur nish the proper measure of protec tion and no more. Nor have I sources of information which satisfy me that the bill presented to me for signa ture will accomplish this result. The parliamentary history of the bill is not reassuriug upon this point. It was introduced and passed in the house as providing a tariff for revenue only, and with the avowed purpose of departing from a protective tariff policy. The rate of duty on raw wool of all classes was changed from a spe cific duty of 11 cents a pound to 20 per cent ad valorem. On the average of the importations for the last two years this is a reduction from 47.2^ per cent to 20 per cent. What It Provides. Rates on cloths were reduced in the bill from the present average duty ot 97.27 per cent to 40 per cent, and on wearing apparel from 81.31 per cent to 45 per cent. The bill was de feated in the senate, and so was a substitute introduced as a protection measure. The proposed substitute fixed the duty on raw wool, first class, at 40 per cent and on second class of carpet wools at 10 per cent, and on cloths at 60 per cent, and on wearing apparel at the same rate. On recon sideration by the senate, which was a compromise between the house bill and the senate substitute bill, and in which the rate on first class wool was fixed at 35 per cent, on carpet wools 10 per cent and on cloths and wear ing apparel 55 per cent. In confer ence between the two houses the rate on all classes of raw wool was fixed at 29 per cent, this being an increase on carpet wools of 9 per cent, as fixed in the house bill, and of 19 per cent as fixed in the senate bill. The confer ence rates on cloths and wearing ap parels was fixed at 49 per cent. I do not mention these facts to criti cise the method of preparation of the bill, but I must needs refer to theni to show that the congressional pro ceedings make available for me no ac curate or scientifically acquired in formation which enables me to de termine that the bill supplies the meas ure of protection promised in the plat form on which I was elected. Effect Uncertain. Without any investigation of which the details are available an avowed tariff for revenue and anti-protection bill is by compromise blended with professed protection bill. Rates be tween those of the two bills are adopt ed and passed, except that, in some important instances, rates are fixed in the compromise at a figure higher, and in others at a figure lower, than were originally fixed in either house. The principle followed in adjusting the amendments of existing laws is, therefore, not clear, and the effect of the bill is most uncertain. The Wilson tariff act of 1894, while giving the manufacturer free wool, provided as high duties on leading manufactures of wool as does the pres ent bill, which at the same time taxes the manufacturers' raw material at 29 per cent. Thus the protection af forded to manufacturers under the Wilson bill was very considerably higher than under the present bill. Will Recommend Reduction. When I have the accurate informa which justifies such action, I shall r, THE DENISON REVIEW, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 191. recommend to congress as great...%,jpe duction in schedule as the measure oi protection already stated will per mit. The failure of the present bit! should not be regarded, therefore, as taking away tue only chance for re duction by this congress. More than a million of our country men are engaged in the production of wool and the manufacture of woolens, more than a billion of the country's capital is invested in the industry. Cer tainly we should proceed prudently in dealing with them upon the basis of ascertained facts rather than hastilv and without knowledge to make a re duction of the tariff to satisfy it popu lar desire, which 1 fully recognize, for reduction of duties believed to be ex cessive. I have no doubt that if I were to sign this bill I would receive the ap proval of very many persons who favor a reduction of duties in order to reduce the cost of living, whatever the effect on our protected industries, and who fail to realize the disaster to business generally and to the peo ple at large which may come from a radical disturbance of that part of business dependent for life on the con tinuance of a protective tariff. If I fail to guard as far as I can the in dustries of the country to the extent of giving them the benefits of a liv ing measure of protection, and busi ness disaster ensues, 1 snail not be dis charging my duty. There is no public exigency requir ing the revision of schedule in August without adequate information rather than in December next with such information. December was the time fixed by both parties in the last congress for the submission of ade quate information upon schedule with a view to its amendment. Cer tainly the public weal is better pre served by delaying ntnery davs in or der to do justice, and make such reduction as shall be proper than now Vilindlv to ei.act a law vhich may seri ously injure the industries involved and the business ot the country in general. POTATOES AND POVERTY. It is contended by some historians and economists that the wealth or poverty of a people may be estimated by the food upon which falls the prin cipal consumption. Given a race or nation who subsist mainly on articles that are plentiful and therefore cheap, it may be inferred that such a race or people are to be classed amoug the poor but if races are found to con sume to a large extent what may be deemed to be luxuries, it may be taken as indicating that such people have overcome conditions of poverty and have risen to those of comparative wealth and ease. Statistics of the German Empire, taken in 1895 and published in 189 revealed not only many interesting facts relative to the movements of population, but also as to food con sumption and inferences are drawn therefrom concerning the character of foods as indicating the financial condition of the nations of the earth. A paragraph or two from a recent historian sets the matter in the fol lowing light: "The statistics of the means of sub sistence were likewise significant. One of the astonishing things in the tables was the footing which showed that the consumption of potatoes had reached almost 4 pounds daily for ev ery inhabitant. It has generally been supposed that the potato is relatively a more important article of food in Ireland than in any other country but the consumption in that country is not nearly as great as that in Ger many. The statistics also showed a great reduction in the quantities of native meats consumed by the Ger mans, and the consequent necessity of foreign importations—a matter of much importance in relation with the meat production in the United States. "The fact was also significant as tending to show the gradual decline in the ability of the common people, even the most powerful nations, to supply themselves with meat food. In the list of human supplies, fine meats stand at one end or the scale and rice at the. other end. Just above rice in expensiveness is the potato. The gravitation of the masses of mankind toward the potato and the rich level is the sure index, wherever such a symptom is discovered, that the purchasing power of the people has been weakened and their resources consumed in the wastefulness of bad government and the horrid luxury of war. The boast that the German Kaiser is the war lord of Europe is another way of saying that his sub jects will eat potatoes instead of beef!" On reading the above the query naturally arises whether the potato test would apply to the United States as a general fact: at least, so far in* the history of our country. Is it not a fact that the potato is here a general article of consumption, and by the wealthy as lavishly as by the poor? And if this be true would the con sumption of the potato be any gauge of the wealth or poverty of our people? Put if it be true that potatoes can be more plentifully and cheaply pro- duced in our soil than any other ar ticle of food and if great military ar maments and displays, together with "the horrid luxury of war-," may so absorb our financial resources as to force our population to the lowest scale of living—may not the millions on millions devoted to the battleships, costly cannons and .other missies of destruction, the maintenance and movements of troops so consume our resources in time as to force us to be come as Ireland and Germany, a na tion of potato eaters—the more costly foods being sold abroad to fill the hor rid maw of the war-friend? A traveler in Ireland some years ago reported that in many of the peasant families was kept a single pig and-he was allowed to occupy the same hut with the family and when the head of the house was asked why this was allowed, the ready answer was, "he pays the rint!" And if wan ton, lavish and heedless military ex penditures are indulged—mere exped ients for murder wholesale and bru tal—the time may not be far distant when our pigs and cattle, too, must be sold to "pay the rint," while we sit down to our accustomed meal of taters.—Geo. C. Hicks, L. L. D. BEAUTIFUL LEAVES. A leaf is one of the most beautifl -things in nature, and it is very won derful to think that it owes its lovely color to minute little living bodies or cells of chlorophyll. This word comes from two Greek ones, chloros,'green, and phullon, a leaf, and is used to describe the ordinary coloring matter of vegetation. The chlorophyll cells of granules absorb the light and heat of the sun's which only scientists can understand manufacture the sugar which is neces sary for the life of the tree itself by combining the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere with the water drawn in by its roots. These tiny cells are so very small that as many as 400,000 have been counted in a square milli meter of the leaf of a castor oil plant, and in order that they may come in contact with as much sunlight as pos sible the leaf turns slightly on its stalk toward the sun. If you notice the arrangement of the leaves on a bough you will see that nature has placed them so that they form an almost perfect "light screen" and catch all the sunshine that there is. If it were not for the constant work of these little chlorophyll cells the splendid trees in our forest would wither and die and there would be no green things left in the world.—Lon don Home Notes. N **5 0nly[]8 More Days of the Kemming Clothing Company*s big Removal Kemming If you havenValready been in don't miss this opportunity of laying in a supply. Remember everything goes nothing reserved. Come. Pabst Is The Best •I You can always get the test beer brewed, if you order Pabst BlueRibbon It appeals to men and women wko demand a drink they know is clean, wholesome and appetizing. Order a case today. Carroll Bounty Fair "and Drii/ ing Park Association Carroll, Iowa, Sept. 5, 6, 7, 8 Four Big Days of Amusement and Agricultural education. Races that will please all. Exhibits to delight most skeptical. If you can not attend each day, come when you can. Your time will be well spent. See small bills. G. M. RUSSELL, Secretary In the corner of this ad. appears a letter. In each succeeding issue of the Review will be published a different letter, either at the head or in the corner of our advertisement. When the entire series of letters are published, the letters taken from these ads will form a sentence. Cut the ads out as they appear they will be valuable. I shall offer premiums of worth for the entire series when published. Read my ads and profit. Clothing Co. »iyff||liNP John S*M*U 117 W. Braadway T*).148 0