TARIFF REVISION 463 



TARIFF EEVISION FROM THE CONSUMER'S STANDPOINT 



By JESSE F. ORTON 



REFORM CLUB, NEW YORK CITY 



EX-REPRESENTATIVE Charles H. Grosvenor, of Ohio, while 

 addressing the Ways and Means Committee, December 2, on 

 tariff revision, used this language : " It is an unfortunate reference that 

 is constantly being made to the wants and anxieties of the consumer. 

 . . . The prosperity of the consumer goes hand-in-hand with the 

 prosperity of the manufacturer/' We have long been accustomed to 

 the view that the consumer's interest is a subordinate one; but now 

 mere reference to it is " unfortunate " ; perhaps it will soon be criminal, 

 or at least an act calling for social ostracism. 



The majority members of the ways and means committee did not 

 in terms echo General Grosvenor's sentiment, that the " wants and 

 anxieties of the consumer " should be tabooed, but most of them showed 

 their sympathy by action throughout the hearings. Representative 

 Boutell, of Illinois, from the very first, set out to ascertain from wit- 

 nesses what effect the lowering of duties would have on what he termed 

 "the ultimate consumer"; and this phrase soon became a standing 

 joke with the committee. One would have thought that surely there 

 could not be, among the constituents of these congressmen, a single 

 person so insignificant and vulgar as this same " consumer " must be. 

 As most of the witnesses were protected manufacturers, they easily 

 agreed that the consumer would not be helped by any reduction of 

 duties, that the wicked importers would take all the benefits. When 

 witnesses thought duties should be increased, as they frequently did, 

 they were sure that consumers would not feel the "infinitesimal" burden 

 that would be added, if indeed any were added. There seemed to be 

 a sort of division of labor among the committee members, and it was 

 Mr. Boutell's task to show that the misguided consumers of the country 

 had no need for " anxiety," that they could not be helped by removing 

 taxes or harmed by putting taxes on. Unfortunately, a few tax-paying 

 goats were mingled among the tax-eating sheep that appeared before 

 the committee, and their answers were not satisfactory to Mr. Boutell; 

 they were very sure that the consumer was hurt by taxing the things 

 he must buy and would be relieved by reducing the taxes ; but the good 

 representative from Illinois quickly forgot the discordant notes and 

 went on calmly stating, day after day, that the unanimous opinion of 

 witnesses was that the consumer would not benefit, etc., and expressing 

 a hope that, before the hearings closed, the committee might discover 



