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Show News fjx ,Behind By PaulMallon Js Released by Western Newspaper Union. IVRIFF REDUCTION BILL CALLED BLOW AT INDUSTRY WASHINGTON. "Twas said upon the airwaves and in print, Mr. Truman Tru-man won his greatest victory over congress on the tariff cutting program. pro-gram. It seems to me someone should have smelled something, if not a mouse, when 15 sen- lb 2t is i S S 1 5 J ate Republicans voted for the Democratic Dem-ocratic Tariff bill. Unity has not yet developed in this world to the heavenly heav-enly point that a Republican accepts a Democratic theory the-ory on this issue where their fore fathers fought, bled Pres. Truman and collected. Men have won the President's chair (and lost it also) tor their stand upon this one question ques-tion alone. Nothing, including the civil war (which was a phase of the tariff dispute between the foreign I free-trading cotton growers and the New England textile manufacturers desirous of protection) has so deeply deep-ly torn the political hearts of Americans. Ameri-cans. But this time congress, with Republican votes, authorized a further slashing of 25 per cent by the President singlehanded (making 75 per cent in all from the old high tariff rates) without with-out advice or consent of congress con-gress or the Republican National Na-tional committee. Yet, even Republican Senator Smith of industrial New Jersey voted for it, changing his mind in the last few days from his previously previous-ly announced repugnance to such a threat to American industrialist, farmer and laborer from cheap foreign for-eign competition. Victory For nigmatism. Indeed, the senate did not change the bill one whit from the. house version, which caused revival of all the partisan fighting of ages, but it just said "Yea" in a loud voice and sent it on to the President's desk, where he could victoriously find it upon his return from San Francisco. The hint of these strange doings should have been sufficient warning warn-ing that something was wrong, but If anyone reported it, I have not seen the report. Any analyst, however, will be forced to conclude the victory was for enigmatism, more than for Truman. Just be fore the slashing authority passed the house (and in order to get it through), Mr. Truman sent a billet to his friend Speaker Sam Ray-burn Ray-burn saying: "I have had drawn to my attention statements to the enect that this increased in-creased authority Cordell Hull might be used in such a way as to endanger or 'trade out' segments of American Industry, American agriculture, or American labor. No such action was taken under President Roosevelt and Cordell Hull and no such action will take place under my presidency." presi-dency." The only reason for a tariff rate, of course, is to protect some American industry, farm or worker from el'eap production produc-tion costs coming in competition competi-tion from abroad. There are no tariffs on non-competitive products, prod-ucts, no reason for any. If there is to be no "danger" to domestic interests from tariff tar-iff cutting, how can there be any tariff cutting in fact, why was the subject ever mentioned, men-tioned, or the law passed? To this question, no senator I have found has even a private answer. an-swer. The only suggestion approaching approach-ing an explanation is that Mr. Truman Tru-man expects to horn in someway on the German and Jap trade by some magic yet undisclosed, and it will have to be big magic because the Nazi and Jap cost of production was what made this trade possible (including (in-cluding electric light bulbs in our 10 cent stores for half our cost of production). Why would not a Republican vote for a Democratic tariff proposition like that? Indeed, the administration went compromisingly further and announced an-nounced firmly that an escapo clause would be adopted to its future fu-ture tariff-cutting treaties, one like the provision of the Mexican treaty. But we have been told by the administration ad-ministration the leftwingers and even Republicans that quotas art horrible; in fact, were the cause of the war. And Mr. Truman's peopk-have peopk-have advertised his new tariff slashing powers as a beautiful bo..anza of the bountiful postwai world, the one "indispensable leg" of the Roosevelt postwar program, including also the Bretton Woods bank and exchange matter and the San Francisco agreement. The indispensable leg apparent has rheumatic quotas and non-competitive arthritis. |