March 1, 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



275 



tons, or less than one-third of the total which the United 

 States and Canada together are estimated to receive. 

 Rcdiictio ad nhsiirdiiiii. 



THE PROPOSED TARIFF COMMISSION. 



■ I 'ARIFFS up to this time, with the exception of 

 the Act of 1883, have been the work of the Ways 

 and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, 

 assisted in a greater or less degree by business men. 

 Then going to the Senate, these measures were recast 

 and often greatly changed by its Finance Committee. 

 Finally, a conference committee of the two bodies 

 made additional revisions and compromises so that the 

 bill could receive the approval of Congress. Tlic re- 

 sulting measures have generally been inadequate, un- 

 balanced, and abounding in incongruities that brought 

 justice to neither manufacturer nor consumer. 



During the past few years a strong movement has 

 developed to take the tariff out of politics. Business 

 men and some politicians have concluded that more 

 deliberate and exact knowledge was requisite for the 

 proper enactment of future tariff legislation. The 

 war has brought home the realization that, when peace 

 is again declared, prompt measures will be needed to 

 meet the changed conditions and to properly guard the 

 interests of American producers. 



With the approval of President Wilson, Repre- 

 sentative Rainey of Illinois, the ranking Democratic 

 member of the Ways and Means Committee of the 

 House, has introduced a bill providing for a commis- 

 sion of five members, not more than three of whom 

 shall be of the same political party. This measure, 

 which the best opinion in Washington expect will be- 

 come a law before the end of the present session, gives 

 broad powers for the investigation of customs laws 

 and their effects and on all questions relating to tariffs, 

 with a view to arrangement of schedules. Commercial 

 treaties, statistics, and unfair foreign competition are 

 among other subjects to be looked into. 



The unusual powers of examination and investiga- 

 tion, as proposed in this bill, have rightly met with 

 some criticism, such as, "The right to copy any docu- 

 mentary evidence of any person * * * engaged in 

 the production, importation or distribution of an\- ar- 

 ticle under investigation * * * and to require any 

 person * * * to produce books or papers." The 

 production of documentary evidence and the attend- 

 ance of witnesses under the terms of the bill mav be 



required "from any place in the United States to any 

 designated place of hearing." Penalties are pr(5vided 

 to enforce com|)liance. 



Manufacturers (jf rubber goods, like those in other 

 lines, will not endorse the features of this bill that 

 make attendance at hearings compulsory and that 

 require the opening of their books to the commission 

 whenever demanded. They will, however, be glad to 

 have the next tariff adjustment made on an intelligein 

 and scientific basis. 



The creation of a permanent tariff' commission is a 

 step in the right direction. Some d;i\-, perhaps, its 

 powers will be extended to the fixing of tariff' rates, 

 somewhat in the way that tiie IntL-i.-tate Commerce 

 Commission determines transportation charges. Then 

 the tariff' commission, if judiciously conducted, should 

 prove a power for developing an increased national 

 prosperity and would prevent the unfortunate busi- 

 ness slumps that usualh' accompany tariff revisions. 



THE GOLF BALL. 



I 'HE golf ball as used for centuries was made of 



feathers compressed within a leather case. Then 



for a few decades solid gutta balls were generally used. 



They were good, but better were demanded, and .\merica 



supplied the need. 



The feather ball had a peculiar slow resilience that 

 helped to secure long flight; the gutta had a better slow 

 rebound : but the stretched rubber threads of the "Mas- 

 kell" gave a slow resilience, better than that of its prede- 

 cessors. 



The Haskell patent expires next month and this coun- 

 tr\- is threatened with an invasion of English-made lialls. 

 How seriously this will interfere with the .\inerican 

 [iroduct is a question. 



When the Haskell ball was invented, there was com- 

 paratively little golf played here. Now, Jerome D. 

 Travers, the national open golf champion, estimates there 

 are 1,300 golf clubs in the United States with a combined 

 membership of 3.50,000. He says that the average player 

 spends $20 a year for balls— a total of $7,000,000. 



Assuming that the average golf ball costs 50 cents, 

 14,000,000 balls are required annually to supply .American 

 players alone. And golf is becoming more and more 

 popular every year. 



The amount of tire scrap is increasing — 183,000 tons 

 of casings and tubes are estimated for the United States 

 this vear. 



