The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1913. STRIKING THE SHACKLES FROM TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1748, 13 May 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1913. STRIKING THE SHACKLES FROM TRADE.

The Tariff Revision Bill has been passed by tho United States House of Representatives. The Democrats defeated various amendments proposed by the Republicans, tho voting at the iinal division ■ being 281 for the Bill and KSJ against, showing the very substantial majority of 150 in favour of the, proposed changes. The guiding principle of the new tariff is to rcduca the tost of living by lessening or removing the duties on wool, sugar, and many other necessary commodities, and by increasing the duties on luxuries. In his message to Congress on April 8, Puesidekt Wilson' pointed out that it had become necessary to alter the tariff duties to meet the radical alterations in the conditions of the economic life of the country which had taken place within the last generation. The sooner this was done the sooner Anient:,'in men of business "will be free to thrive by the law qf nature (the nature of free business), instead of bv (lie law of legislation and artificial arrangement." The President further declared that the tariff had long ago passed beyond the modest notion of protecting the industries of the country, and bad been utilised In give effect Io llie idea. Hint .these industries ''were en titled lo I lie direct patronage of Ibe (loveniiiieul." Tim time had arriv"d, he said, for the application o£ new

.principles which are laid down in the following words: — Wo must abolish everything that bears even the semblance of privilege or of any ki:ul of artificial advantage, and put our business men and producers muter the >timulatiun. of a constant necessity \3 bo ellicient, economical, and cnterpiMng, masters cf eoinpotilivc supremacy, better worker- and merchants tlwn any in the world. Aside from the duties .laid upon articles which we do not, and probably cannot, produce, therefore, and the duties laid upo'u luxuries and merely for the sake nl the revenues they yield, the object of the tariff duties henceforth laid niu>l; be clVective competition, the whetting of American wits by contest with the wils of tho rest of the world. "When we come to consider the probable effect of the new tariff on the trade of New Zealand, there can be little doubt that the placing of wool on the free list will harden the price of that article owing to the increased competition that will result. The free wool proposal, of course, meets with (ha strong approval of the American wooilcn manufacturers and clothing dealers, who are of opinion that it will result in an improvement in the quality of the manufactured artielo in response to the reduction of the price of the raw material. Then, again, the fact that the duty will bo removed from peat., if the Bill should become law in its present form, opens up possibilities for new markets for our frozen meat. The old tariff has _ proved most vexatious to the American consumer, for, as the New York Postpoints out, "with '' prices of meat rising to almost a prohibitive point for thousands of families, they have not been allowed to draw, as lingland does, from Australia or the Argentine"—and, we may add, from New Zealand also. A leading American merchant has pointed out that one of the greatest changes the proposed tariff would bring about is "a shifting of the source of food supplies.''' He states that "butter, the best butter in the world, would be enabled to come in from Denmark with a reduction in duty from six to three cents a pound." If New Zealand butter can compete ,successfully with Danish in the English market, it ought to be able to do so even more successfully in America, as the distance from the source of supply would be lessened in our case and increased in the case of Denmark. Another feature of the Bill which is well worth attention in this part of the world is the provision for reciprocity, the President being empowered to negotiate trade agreements with foreign nations "wherein mutual concessions are made looking towards freer trade relations and further reciprocal expansion of .trade and commerce." i Though the new Tariff Bill has now been passed by the House of Representatives by a large majority, it is almost certain that a stormy passage awaits it in the Senate, where the Democratic majority in its favour is estimated not to exceed four, so a recent cablegram informs us. If this is the case, it can hardly be expected that the Bill will get through without amendment, and the question arises as to how far the President will allow the alterations to go. It is stated that lie is determined that its vital principles must not be eliminated. The J.'ost tells us that he "will proceed as if it were to be taken for granted that the Senate was as anxious as himself to give the people honest tariff revision ; but that the moment the issue becomes clear, and it appears that the Bill_is not going to be passed in good faith, he will carry his appeal to the country." The general opinion seems to be that the President, will veto the Bill if it is so amended as to thwart the desire of the country for substantial reduction of the present duties. He has a big fight in front of him, but lie is determined to see the matter through, and the fate of the Bill in the Senate will be watched with great interest in New Zealand, for, viewing the proposed tariff changes in conjunction with the opening of the Panama Canal, ■\ve have reasonable grounds for expecting considerable benefit from the new avenues of trade which will probably be opened up for our producers.