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Show 1 CAN'T iE ADVICE Tariff Board Will Tell Only Facts and Conditions. REPORT IS EAGERLY AWAITED Presidential Candidates In Congrats Display Modesty in Their Biographies Biog-raphies Secretary Fleher Hopea to End Alaska Muddle. By GEORGE CLINTON. Washington. In I'resldent'a Taft'i message suggesting changes In the I'ayne-Aldrlch bill the report of the tariff board will loom large, Tbe members of tbe tariff board hare been working with less trumpeting than bas sounded above the deliberation! delibera-tion! of any other government commission com-mission In history. At the outset tbe members either Impressed themselvea or bad It Impressed on them that the tariff was a ticklish thing and that anything they might aay concerning their work would be construed by Democrat! or by Republican! aa being partisan or aa showing a leaning toward to-ward high rate! or toward low rates. Tbe business of the tariff board has been to find out condition!, tbe difference differ-ence In cost of production at home and abroad and the coat of manufactures. manu-factures. It seems to have been the general Impression that the report which soon will be sent to congress will contain recommendation! concerning con-cerning the lowering or tbe raising of some of the dutlei. It will contain nothing of the aort, for apeclflcally the board Is inhibited from recommending recom-mending anything to congress. All It can do and all It bas done Is to put forth facta aa It haa found them, leaving leav-ing congress and the country to draw their own conclusions as to whether duties on the article! are too blgh or too low. James Q. nialne used to say that most young men leave college fr tradera and then In the course of time become protectionists. Mr. Illolne'i word has been disproved In a good many cases, but probably If he were here to say It he would declare that the eieeptlons prove the rulu. Chairman Emery'a Vlewa. In a few daya Henry Crosby Emery. Em-ery. Alvln H. Sanders, James U. Reynolds. Rey-nolds. William II. Howard and Thomas W. Page will be center! of public attention. Tbey constitute the tariff board, of which Thomas W. Urabany Is the executive secretary. It la generally agreed In Washington Washing-ton that Mr. nialne'! word about young men leaving college free tradi era and becoming protectionists afterward aft-erward goes astray In any Intended reference to Henry C. Emery. Borne of the blgh protectionists In congress, men like Boise Penrose and Red Smoot of tbe senate and Joseph O. Cannon and John Dalsell of tbe bouse, look on Mr. Emery, who la the tariff board'! chairman, as being very much of a free trader. The chairman'! Intimate! In-timate! aay that his vlewa on the tariff tar-iff are neither low nor In the middle of the acale except ai facta concerning concern-ing schedule! make him look up, down or straight ahead. In other words, he may be a free trader on eome things, a high protectionist on others and a medium rate man on others. Reynolds Held a Protectionist. James B. Reynolds, tbe second member of the tariff board. Is held generally to be a high protectionist Formerly he was assistant secretary of the treasury under the Roosevelt ministration. Alvan H. Sanders, tbe third member mem-ber of the tariff board. Is another newspaper man, having been for yeara publisher ind editor of the Breeders' Gsrette. lie is Intensely Interested In-terested In the relation of agriculture to the tariff, and generally he la considered con-sidered a sort of a middle of tbe way protectionist William H. Howard, a Democratic member of the board, was a former member of congress from the Eighth Georgia district. At one time be waa solicitor general In tbe northern circuit of Georgia Thomas W. Page Is another Democratic Demo-cratic member of tbe board. He baa been a teacher of economics In a Virginia Vir-ginia university. Great Men Are Modest. In congress this year there are four real presidential possibilities and several who are posHibllities, but who as yet cannot have the adjective "rear attached. In the house are Speaker Champ Clark and Chairman Oscar W. Underwood of the waya and mans committee, who also is the Democratic house leader. In the aenate are Robert M. La Toilette Toi-lette of Wlaeonsiu and Albert U. Cummins Cum-mins of Iowa. This mention of the well known fact thst four members of congress either have presidential nomination ambitions ambi-tions or are In a receptive mood Is made only for use In what may be possibly a curious connection. The four men now In public prominence and considered by "many people a! sound presidential timber seem to have modesty well developed, and the question Is, does modesty always go with greatness? In the Congressional Directory there appear the blographlee of all the members of congresa Reading Read-ing It through. It aeema to be a fact that the less well known a man Is tbe longer la his biography. It may be letting let-ting a secret out of tbe bag. but these biographies are written by tbe member mem-ber themselves. Ia short, they are autobiographies. Oecar W. Underwood supplied tor uho In ihu Congreshlonal Directory ! four and a half linos of material. He said absolutely uothlug about his rise to leadership In the boune of representative repre-sentative mid absolutely nothing about wliut liy bud accomplished lu life. He tells wlier be wus boru. the collego he urudiialed from Htul adds that bo bus been a member of the house feluco tliu Fifty fourth congress wan electeuV That Is all. Champ Clark ru'na tls IVmocrat-Ic IVmocrat-Ic brother a close race In modes'. His biography Is a little bit loupcr thnn that of Mr. Underwood, but it concerns con-cerns Itself tluiply with the statemeul of different positions which be bas held, a record which It is considered necessary to put into tbe Congressional Congression-al Directory as an luformallou book. Tbe speaker takes pride In bis family, fam-ily, and ao be speaka f his wife and his chlldreu, givtug each of them by name. Deyond this there Is nothing Senator La Fullette's biography In form la exactly like that of Oscar W. Underwood, except that he mentions naturally the state offices which he held. It ta probable Mr. Underwood would have Included such Information In his biography If be had held office of this kind. Mr. Cummins of Iowa also show! shyness In what he has to say about himself In setting forth bli services Eight or nine lines of print Is enough to carry the whole of his career aa be wishes to have It carried. There are other big men In both partlea In congreas and a reference to what they have written about themselves In tbe Congressional Directory shows that In almost every case the lines are confined con-fined to Information concerning the offices of-fices tbey have held. Some of the representatives In congress con-gress who are not known by name perhaps per-haps outside of their districts, have half a page of printed matter to set forth their virtues and their deeds A great many of the members are lawyers, law-yers, and some of them In what they have written of their lives dwell with considerable length on law cases Id which they have been successful. They say nothing about the cases which they have lost. Hopes to End Sad Muddle. There are two members of the president's cabinet who are vitally vi-tally Interested today In the reception re-ception which the parts of president's message! touching their departments will be given by congress. Tbe two are Henry L. Btlmson. head of tho war department, and Walter I Fisher, Fish-er, bend of the Interior department. Both of these secretaries have taken office since President Tart sent his last annual message to the law-mak-era. The Interior department, like the tariff board, has been In the center cen-ter of something much like a storm of conflicting public !entlineftt and opinion. Mr. Fisher succeeded Mr Balllnger and thla perhaps Is enough to let It be known that he aucceeded to trouble aa well aa to honor. The Alaskan question will come before congress and Mr. Flsber'i recommendations aa to the best way, to settle Alaskan matter! between the government, which owns much of the land, and the Individuals and the corporations who wish to exploit It, will be put to the test President Taft hopes that Alaska finally will cease to be what the people have called call-ed It, "a land of suspicion," and that It will be removed hereafter from the boiling pot of controversey, of criminations crimi-nations and recriminations. Mr Fisher, of cnurso. hopes that hi! efforts ef-forts will result In pulling Alaska out of the pot. The secretary of the Interior's report re-port on the northwestern territory li known In detail. Mr. Fluher made a speech on the subject prior to the submittal of his findings and he outlined out-lined the result of his Investigating labors In Alaska last summer. It la said the cabinet ofTlrer while In Alaska went through hardships which would come near deterring even a gold seeker. He was nearly drowned on one occnulon and several sev-eral times, when In the Interior of the country, the food supply gave out and th serretary knew what It was to tighten t'je belt and to grin and bear tbe pangs of hunger. The assistant secretary of the Interior, In-terior, Samuel Adams. Is a man of old Massschusetts stock He hss been known for years as a progressive Without paying much attention to party ties. hj Is said to hsve worked with bis chief In trying to straighten out tbe Alaskan tangles Henry L. Btlmson. secretary of war. has not been long In office. He tskes readily enough to the Washington life and It is isld that be picked up the thread! of his work in the department depart-ment quickly enough to surprise hla aoldler subordinates Mr Stlmson waa defeated for governor of New York last year by John A. Dlx Former For-mer President Roosevelt supported Stlmson'i cindldary with vigor and when President Taft put the defeated man Into hla cabinet It was thought that It might go some wsy towards healing the bresrh between the present pres-ent president snd his predecessor Wants Smaller Posts Abandoned. Secretary Stlmson has recommended recommend-ed that a gixid many of tbe email army posts be abandoned and that most of the regiment! be gathered together In big posts In order to mth cure economy of service and strategic advantage. Congressmen who have small posts In their districts do not like tbe Idea and there la likely to be a fight on In congresa over tbe subject sub-ject It Is also Secretary Stlmson'! wish that tbe national guard shall be made more nearly a real reserve for the regular forcea. and this may be accomplished. The secretary of war and tho secretary of the Interior, oa-llke oa-llke other secretaries, for the first time thli wlntor wttl try conclusions wttb congress ss to the excellence t their recommendations. |
