voluntarily pays them, whereas a man with ordinary income finds to-day that the Government takes so large a slice of it as seriously to impair his living. Taxes upon moderate incomes in this country are outrageously high.

There ought to be an effort to reduce those taxes, taxes that are forced from people, taxes that largely fall upon the actual earnings of men, not upon their invested capital, but upon their earnings as they go through life.

As far as I am concerned, I am opposed to a 10 per cent tax upon clubs. The 10 per cent upon the club is just the difference between an extortionate rate and bankruptcy. It is said the individual pays the tax. In the long run, it is just the same whether the individual pays it or the club pays it.

Mr. BARKLEY. Mr. President, I desire to discuss very briefly the amendment pending, because what I might say in behalf of the amendment which I expect to offer later would be as applicable to this amendment as it would be to that. There are some 5,000 of these country clubs located throughout the United States. There has grown up in the last 5 or 10 years a disposition among the smaller communities throughout the country, county seats of 1,500 and 2,000, 2,500, and 3,000 population, to establish some community centers where the members of these clubs, and where the people in the towns generally, might have a place of recreation.

If anybody has any prejudice against these clubs because men play golf on the grounds, I would suggest that a very small portion of the people who attend them engage in golf playing. In the average small county seat there is no public park where children may play or men and women may congregate for any purpose of pleasure or recreation. So by reason of the lack of these public facilities for recreation they have undertaken throughout the country to establish country clubs; there are now nearly 5,000 of these small clubs which have sprung up throughout the country in smaller towns, and many of them have a very difficult time in meeting their expenses and maintaining themselves.

I have in my office letters from officers of some of these small clubs which state that it is a continual fight throughout the entire year to maintain them, and that it is a very serious handicap to be required to pay this 10 per cent tax upon the dues that are charged.

The men and women who are members of these clubs take their children out in the afternoon; they take their lunches out in the daytime; they take their dinners at the club at night; and until bedtime these clubs afford a place for children to play and for men and women to congregate on the porches and engage in conversation.

Mr. COPELAND. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. BARKLEY. I yield.

Mr. COPELAND. Many of these clubs are devoted to the improvement of health, where people go to exercise and to acquire health. So they render a public service in improving the public health.

Mr. BARKLEY. They are all devoted to health, in a general way. Some of them are especially devoted to the improvement of health.

It has been a very fine thing, in other words, to find in the smaller communities of the country men and women who are willing to get behind these local organizations, because their children, as a rule, have no place around the cities to play except in the back alley or out on the street, where they are liable to be run over by a passing automobile and injured or killed.

The amount raised by this tax is $10,000,000 a year. Certainly, in the interest of health and recreation, the Government of the United States can undergo a loss of $10,000,000 a year that is now collected upon these dues under the present law.

Mr. SMOOT. Mr. President, I want to call the Senator's attention to the fact that the very people about whom he has been talking do not pay the $10 dues. This exempts everybody paying up to and including $10.

Mr. BARKLEY. I am not talking about $10; I am talking about 10 per cent.

Mr. SMOOT. If the dues do not exceed $10, the member does not pay anything.

Mr. BARKLEY. There is not one club out of a thousand where the dues are not more than $10 a year.

Mr. SMOOT. They are not $10 a year in the class of clubs to which the Senator has been referring.

Mr. BARKLEY. They are more than $10 a year in the clubs I have reference to. There are some clubs where the dues are less than $10 a year, but it is inconceivable that any club of any importance or any size can maintain itself on an initiation fee or dues of $10 a year.

Mr. SMOOT. The important clubs charge sometimes as high as a thousand dollars.

Mr. BARKLEY. The exemption of $10 really brings no benefit to any great number of clubs.

I think that of all the nuisance taxes which are now levied, this is one which ought to be removed. It ought to be removed in the interest of health and recreation; it ought to be removed in the interest of the creation of a community spirit which is fostered and maintained around these small country clubs in various sections of the country and in the small county seats, where the people have no other center where they can meet for social or athletic or recreative purposes.

I not only hope that if any tax is to be imposed the Senate will agree to the House provision of 5 per cent-if there is to be any tax at all it ought not to be more than 5 per cent-but I sincerely hope we may be able to strike this tax out entirely, because there is no justification for its continuance any longer. Mr. WALSII of Montana. Mr. President, the exemption of $10 would not take care of a country baseball club, would it? Mr. BARKLEY. No; the exemption of $10 is practically of no benefit whatever. There is not a club among the nearly 5,000 to which I have referred that could maintain itself on a charge of $10 a year as dues. Many of the clubs charge $10 a month; many of them charge over $100 a year; and to a small county seat, a town in a rural section, where the people are undertaking to maintain a community center for the benefit of the community and for the creation of a spirit of neighborliness among the people, as well as health and recreation, this 10 per cent tax is quite an important item, and keeps many men | from joining these clubs.

Mr. FRAZIER. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
Mr. BARKLEY. I yield.

Mr. FRAZIER. I would like to ask the Senator from Kentucky if he does not think it might be better, if we are going to tax the wealthy clubs-and I do not know that there is any serious objection to that-in the next paragraph to raise the exemption, which is now $10, to at least $25? That would exempt the ordinary little town or country club.

Mr. BARKLEY. It might help some, but even that $25 limit would not touch the great bulk of these clubs. The Senator can very well understand that in a town of 2,500 or 3,000 or even 5,000 people, in order to maintain a club of any value, the annual dues must be more than $25 a year.

Mr. FRAZIER. Then raise the exemption to $50.

Mr. BARKLEY. I think the whole thing ought to be eliminated.

The number of large, rich clubs in this country as compared with those which have sprung up in all sections of America for the benefit of the people who have no other lines of recreation, is insignificant. I think a proper raising of the exemption would help many of these clubs, but I think the tax ought to be eliminated entirely.

Mr. FRAZIER. It seems to me the raising of the exemption would meet the situation, at least as I see it in my State, and I think perhaps it would reach it in a great many other States.

Mr. WALSH of Massachusetts. Mr. President, I am opposed to any tax being levied upon club dues, for the same reason that I was opposed to the tax levied upon admissions. Those taxes were only thought of for the purpose of creating revenue during the war. They were war-nuisance taxes.

war.

We have removed these taxes on from 40 to 50 different articles upon which nuisance taxes were levied during the The whole tendency, in every tax revision bill, has been to eliminate the nuisance taxes. They are taxes levied upon a particular class. I do not care how rich people are or how poor they are, it is class taxation, and is not based upon any sound principle of tax policy.

The theory of ability to pay is not applicable here, and I hope that the Senate will get rid of all these nuisance taxes and get down to a simple taxation system of levying the tax burdens upon the theory of ability to pay.

So, Mr. President, I shall vote not only against this tax and the admission tax but every other war-nuisance tax in order that we may get back to a peace-time system of taxation. The VICE PRESIDENT. The question is on agreeing to the committee amendment.

Mr. MCKELLAR. Mr. President, may not the amendment be stated? I do not know exactly what we are to vote upon. Mr. SMOOT. We are voting upon the committee amendment, as I understand it.

The yeas and nays were ordered, and the Chief Clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. BRATTON (when his name was called). Repeating the announcement of my pair made on the last preceding vote, I withhold my vote. If permitted to vote, I should vote "yea." Mr. CURTIS (when his name was called). Making the same announcement as to my pair and its transfer as on the previous vote, I vote "yea."

Mr. JOHNSON (when his name was called). Upon this vote I am paired with the junior Senator from Utah [Mr. KING]. I am unable to vote, the Senator and I being paired, he being of one thought and myself of another.

Mr. HARRIS (when the name of Mr. OVERMAN was called). The junior Senator from North Carolina [Mr. OVERMAN] is absent on official business. He is paired with the senior Senator from Wyoming [Mr. WARREN].

Mr. REED of Pennsylvania (when his name was called). Making the same announcement as on the last vote, 1 vote "yea."

The roll call was concluded.

Mr. GLASS. I desire to announce that my colleague the senior Senator from Virginia [Mr. SWANSON] was called from the Chamber on official business. He is paired with the senior Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. GILLETT]. Were he present, my colleague would vote "nay."

Mr. BRATTON. I transfer my pair with the junior Senator from Indiana [Mr. ROBINSON] to the junior Senator from South Carolina [Mr. BLEASE] and vote “ nay.”

Mr. JONES. I desire to announce the following general pairs:

The Senator from Delaware [Mr. DU PONT] with the Senator from Florida [Mr. TRAMMELL];

The Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. PINE] with the Senator from Ohio [Mr. LOCHER]; and

The Senator from Wyoming [Mr. WARREN] with the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. ÖVERMAN].

The result was announced-yeas 38, nays 35, as follows:

among the students of a college or university. In the case of life memberships a life member shall pay annually, at the time for the payment of dues by active resident annual members, a tax equivalent to the tax upon the amount paid by such a member for dues or membership fees other than assessments, but shall pay no tax upon the amount paid for life membership.

"(d) As used in this section, the term 'dues' includes any assessment irrespective of the purpose for which made; and the term 'initiation fees' includes any payment, contribution, or loan required as a condition precedent to membership, whether or not any such payment, contribution, or loan is evidenced by a certificate of interest or indebtedness or share of stock, and irrespective of the person or organization to whom paid, contributed, or loaned."

(b) Subsection (a) of this section shall take effect on the expiration of 30 days after the enactment of this act.

Mr. SMOOT. I ask for the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered, and the Chief Clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. BRATTON (when his name was called). Repeating the announcement of my pair with the junior Senator from Indiana [Mr. ROBINSON], I withhold my vote.

Mr. CURTIS (when his name was called). Making the same announcement as on the previous vote, I vote "nay."

Mr. REED of Pennsylvania (when his name was called). Making the same announcement as before, I vote "nay." The roll call was concluded.

Mr. BRATTON. I transfer my pair with the junior Senator from Indiana [Mr. ROBINSON] to the senior Senator from North Carolina [Mr. SIMMONS], and vote "yea."

Mr. HARRIS. I desire to announce that the junior Senator from North Carolina [Mr. OVERMAN] was called from the Chamber on official business. He has a pair with the Senator from Wyoming [Mr. WARREN].

Mr. JONES. I desire to announce the following general pairs:

The Senator from Delaware [Mr. DU PONT] with the Senator from Florida [Mr. TRAMMELL];

The Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. PINE] with the Senator from Ohio [Mr. LOCHER]; and

The Senator from Wyoming [Mr. WARREN] with the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. OVERMAN].

The result was announced-yeas 33, nays 40, as follows:

YEAS-38

Bingham

Blaine

Edge Fess

McLean

McMaster

Borah

Frazier

McNary

Brookhart

Goff

Metcalf

Shipstead

Bruce

Gould

Moses

Shortridge

Capper

Greene

Norbeck

Smoot

Couzens

Deneen

La Follette

Black

So the amendment of the committee was agreed to. Mr. BARKLEY. Mr. President, I desire to offer an amendment at this point. I move to amend the bill by striking out, on page 196, under the title "Sec. 412. Club dues tax," lines 1 to 26, inclusive, and on page 197, lines 1 to 10, inclusive. This would eliminate altogether the nuisance taxes.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The amendment will be stated. The CHIEF CLERK. The Senator from Kentucky moves, on page 196, to strike out lines 1 to 26, inclusive, and on page 197, lines 1 to 10, inclusive, in the following words:

SEC. 412. CLUB DUES TAX.

(a) Section 501 of the revenue act of 1926 is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 501. (a) There shall be levied, assessed, collected, and paid a tax equivalent to 10 per cent of any amount paid

"(1) As dues or membership fees to any social, athletic, or sporting club or organization, if the dues or fees of an active resident annual member are in excess of $10 per year; or

"(2) As initiation fees to such a club or organization, if such fees amount to more than $10, or if the dues or membership fees, not including initiation fees, of an active resident annual member are in excess of $10 per year.

"(b) Such taxes shall be paid by the person paying such dues or fees. "(c) There shall be exempted from the provisions of this section all amounts paid as dues or fees to a fraternal society, order, or association,

Curtis

Ashurst

Bayard Caraway

Dale

du Pont Edwards

Overman Pine

So Mr. BARKLEY'S amendment was rejected.

Mr. BARKLEY. Mr. President, I understand under the unanimous-consent agreement entered into that we are not to take up other amendments until all committee amendments are disposed of. Therefore I shall offer no further amendment at this time, but at a later time I shall offer amendments increasing the exemption of $10 to a higher figure.

Mr. SMOOT. Mr. President, we have had all the votes that I shall ask the Senate to take to-night, and I am ready to have the Senate take a recess under the unanimous-consent agreement.

FLOOD CONTROL-CONFERENCE REPORT

Mr. JONES. Mr. President, I desire to state that as early ' as possible after the Senate convenes to-morrow I desire to call up the conference report on the flood control bill, which has already been adopted by the House.

GOLD MEDALS FOR "NC-4" AVIATORS

Mr. BINGHAM. Mr. President, in accordance with the notice which I gave a few days ago and in order to properly commemorate the fact that it was nine years ago to-day that the first airplane crossed the Atlantic Ocean, the NC-4 starting from Long Island on that journey which made her and her crew so famous, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration of Calendar 1088, Senate bill 4338, providing for gold medals for that crew. The bill was reported yesterday unanimously by the Committee on Naval Affairs.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there objection to the request of the Senator from Connecticut?

There being no objection, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the bill (S. 4338) to authorize the President to award in the name of Congress gold medals of appropriate design to Albert C. Read, Elmer F. Stone, Walter Hinton, H. C. Rodd, J. L. Breese, and Eugene Rhodes, which was read, as follows:

Be it enacted, etc., That the President be, and is hereby, authorized to award, in the name of Congress, gold medals of appropriate design to Lieut. Commander Albert C. Read, United States Navy, commanding officer; to Lieut. Elmer F. Stone, United States Coast Guard, pilot; to former Lieut. Walter Hinton, United States Navy, pilot; to Lieut. II. C. Rodd, United States Navy, radio operator; to former Lieut. J. L. Breese, United States Naval Reserve Force, engineer; and to former Machinist's Mate Eugene Rhodes, United States Navy, engineer, for their extraordinary achievement in making the first successful transAtlantic flight, in the U. S. naval flying boat NC-4, in May, 1919.

The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE-ENROLLED BILLS SIGNED

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Haltigan, one of its clerks, announced that the Speaker had affixed his signature to the following enrolled bills, and they were signed by the Vice President:

S. 805. An act donating Revolutionary cannon to the New York State Conservation Department;

S. 1456. An act to authorize an appropriation for a road on the Zuni Indian Reservation, N. Mex.;

S. 3791. An act to aid the Grand Army of the Republic in its Memorial Day services, May 30, 1928;

S. 3947. An act to provide for the times and places for holding court for the eastern district of North Carolina;

H. R. 9481. An act making appropriations for the Executive Office and sundry independent executive bureaus, boards, commissions, and offices for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929, and for other purposes; and

H. R. 10141. An act granting pensions and increase of pensions to certain soldiers and sailors of the Regular Army and Navy, etc., and certain soldiers and sailors of wars other than the Civil War, and to widows of such soldiers and sailors.

HOUSE BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION REFERRED

The following bills and joint resolution were severally read twice by their titles and referred as indicated below:

H. R. 6518. An act to amend the salary rates contained in the compensation schedules of the act of March 4, 1923, entitled "An act to provide for the classification of civilian positions within the District of Columbia and in the field services"; to the Committee on Civil Service,

rent compartments of such boxes to patrons of rural delivery; to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads.

H. R. 6854. An act to add certain lands to the Montezuma National Forest, Colo., and for other purposes;

H. R. 11852. An act providing for the confirmation of grant of lands formerly the United States barracks at Baton Rouge, La., to the board of supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College; and

H. R. 12192. An act authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to accept a deed to certain land and issue patent therefor to the city of Buhl, Twin Falls County, Idaho; to the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys.

H. R. 9194. An act authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to acquire land and erect a monument on the site of the battle between the Sioux and Pawnee Indian Tribes in Hitchcock County, Nebr., fought in the year 1873;

H. R. 9355. An act to provide for the acquisition of certain property in the District of Columbia for the Library of Congress, and for other purposes; and

H. R. 9965. An act to erect a tablet or marker to mark the site of the Battle of Kettle Creek, in Wilkes County, Ga., where, on February 14, 1779, Elijah Clarke, of Georgia, and Colonel Pickens, of South Carolina, overtook the Tories under Colonel Boyd, killing him and many of his followers, thus ending British dominion in Georgia; to the Committee on the Library.

H. R. 5548. An act to authorize payment of six months' death gratuity to dependent relatives of officers, enlisted men, or nurses whose death results from wounds or disease not resulting from their own misconduct;

H. R. 5644. An act to enable an enlisted man in the naval service to make good time lost in excess of one day under certain conditions;

H. R. 5718. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to readjust the pay and allowances of the commissioned and enlisted personnel of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Public Health Service"; and

H. R. 11621. An act to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to advance public funds to naval personnel under certain conditions; to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

H. R. 43. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to standardize lime barrels," approved August 23, 1916;

H. R. 5475. An act authorizing the New Cumberland Bridge Co., its successors and assigns, to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge across the Ohio River at or near New Cumberland, W. Va.;

H. R. 10786. An act authorizing surveys and investigations to determine the best methods and means of utilizing the waters of the Gila River and its tributaries above the San Carlos Reservoir in New Mexico and Arizona;

county of Cook, State of Illinois, to widen, maintain, and operH. R. 11917. An act granting the consent of Congress to the ate the existing bridge across the Little Calumet River in Cook County, State of Illinois;

H. R. 11950. An act to legalize a pier and wharf in Deer Island thoroughfare on the northerly side at the southeast end of Buckmaster Neck at the town of Stonington, Me.;

H. R. 11980. An act granting the consent of Congress to the Fisher Lumber Corporation to construct, maintain, and operate a railroad bridge across the Tensas River in Louisiana; H. R. 12379. An act granting the consent of Congress to Howard Seabury to construct, maintain, and operate a dam to retain from Cases Inlet into section 28, township 21 north, range 1 west, Willamette meridian, in Pierce County, State of Washington;

H. R. 167. An act to amend the act of February 12, 1925 (Public, No. 402, 68th Cong.), so as to permit the Cowlitz Tribe of Indians to file suit in the Court of Claims under said act;

H. R. 491. An act authorizing the attorney general of the State of California to bring suit in the Court of Claims on behalf of the Indians of California; and

H. R. 9046. An act to continue the allowance of Sioux benefits; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

H. R. 7354. An act to allow the Postmaster General to promote mechanics' helpers to the first grade of special mechanics; H. R. 8728. An act to authorize the Postmaster General to give motor-vehicle service employees credit for actual time served on a basis of one year for each 306 days of eight hours served as substitute; and

H. R. 12605. An act to enable the Postmaster General to purchase and erect community mail boxes on rural routes and to

H. R. 12386. An act authorizing the State of Texas and the State of Louisiana to construct, maintain, and operate a free highway bridge across the Sabine River at or near Pendleton's Ferry;

H. R. 12676. An act to amend section 2 of an act approved February 14, 1926, granting consent of Congress for the construction of a bridge across Red River at or near Fulton, Ark.; and

H. R. 12677. An act to amend section 2 of an act approved March 12, 1928, granting consent of Congress for the construction of a bridge across the Ouachita River at or near Calion, Ark.; to the Committee on Commerce.

H. R. 11758. An act authorizing the Secretary of War to grant a right of way for a levee through the Chalmette National Cemetery;

H. R. 11804. An act authorizing and directing the Secretary of War to lend to the town of Appalachia, Va., 500 canvas cots, 500 blankets, 1,000 bed sheets, 500 pillows, 500 pillowcases, and 500 mattresses or bed sacks, to be used at the convention of the

American Legion, Department of Virginia, to be held at Appalachia, Va., on August 13, 14, and 15, 1928;

H. R. 11953. An act to authorize the sale under the provisions of the act of March 12, 1926 (Public, No. 45, 69th Cong.), of surplus War Department real property;

H. R. 12814. An act to increase the efficiency of the Air Corps; and

II. J. Res. 236. Joint resolution authorizing the Secretary of War to lend tents and camp equipment for the use of the housing committee for the convention of the American Legion for the Department of Washington, to be held at Centralia, Wash., in the month of August, 1928; to the Committee on Military Affairs.

COST OF PRODUCING FERTILIZER UREA

Mr. KING submitted the following resolution (S. Res. 228), which was ordered to lie on the table:

Senate Resolution 228, Seventieth Congress, first session Whereas it was the intention of the tariff act of 1922 to permit the importation, free of duty, of fertilizers and fertilizer materials for the benefit of the agriculture of the United States; and

Whereas paragraph 26 of said tariff act laid a duty of 35 per cent ad valorem upon importations of urea; and

Whereas at the date of said act importations of urea were of negligible quantity and were restricted to medicinal uses; and

Whereas since the date of said tariff act there has been a wide expansion in the production of synthetic urea and an expanding market for such urea in the United States as a fertilizer, a use which was unknown when said tariff act was passed; and

Whereas there is no production of fertilizer urea in the United States, and the production of medicinal urea with which said fertilizer urea does not compete is limited to a few hundred tons per annum; and

Whereas, because of the demand of American agriculture for an improved and effective nitrogenous fertilizer which leaves no inert residue in the soil, the imports of fertilizer urea have arisen to approximately 1,000,000 pounds per annum; and

Whereas the cost of said fertilizer urea to the American farmer is increased 35 per cent by virtue of the existing tariff which represents an arbitrary imposition upon agriculture without corresponding benefit to any American industry: Now, therefore be it

Resolved, That the United States Tariff Commission is requested, under provisions of section 315 of the tariff act of 1922, to investigate the cost of the production of fertilizer urea in the country from which the principal exports of fertilizer urea are made to the United States, and the facts with respect to the quantities of fertilizer urea being imported and used in the United States, and to report its findings to the President of the United States.

COSTS OF PRODUCING AMMONIUM SULPHATE AND AMMONIUM

PHOSPHATE

Mr. KING submitted the following resolution (S. Res. 229), which was ordered to lie on the table:

Senate Resolution 229, Seventieth Congress, first session Whereas the tariff act of 1922 laid a duty of $5 per ton upon imported ammonium sulphate and a duty of $30 per ton upon imported ammonium phosphate; and

Whereas by the tariff acts of 1909 and of 1913 ammonium sulphate was importable free of duty; and

Whereas in 1926 the exports of ammonium sulphate were 181,125 tons and the imports were 8,368 tons, giving a balance of exports over imports of 172,757 tons, which balance is more than twenty times the total imports for that year; and

Whereas since the date of said tariff act of 1922 the exports of ammonium sulphate as a fertilizer have more than trebled in quantity; and

Whereas ammonium sulphate produced in the United States is sold abroad for the service of foreign agriculture at a lesser price than the same is available in the United States for the service of American agriculture; and

Whereas over 95 per cent of the ammonium sulphate sold in the United States for domestic consumption and for export is under the control of a single monopolistic corporation; and

Whereas said monopolistic corporation by increasing its exports has created an artificial shortage of ammonium sulphate available for the service of American agriculture, which has caused the domestic price to be bid up from $43 to $48 per ton in the last few months, which artificial increase equals the entire duty on ammonium sulphate laid by the tariff act of 1922; and

Whereas ammonium phosphate is becoming available for use as a fertilizer material because of new processes which permit large-scale production; and

Whereas the duty of $30 per ton on ammonium phosphate laid by the tariff act of 1922 is prohibitive and prevents the importation and use of ammonium phosphate as a fertilizer for the service of American agriculture; and

Whereas the rates of duty laid by the tariff act of 1922 upon ammonium sulphate and ammonium phosphate effectively restrict the use of such materials as fertilizers for the service of American agriculture and lay an undue burden upon the farmers of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the United States Tariff Commission is requested, under the provisions of section 315 of the tariff act of 1922, to investi gate the costs of production of ammonium sulphate and of ammonium phosphate in the United States and the principal competing country, and to report its findings to the President of the United States.

COSTS OF PRODUCING SYNTHETIC METHANOL

Mr. KING submitted the following resolution (S. Res. 230), which was ordered to lie on the table:

Senate Resolution 230, Seventieth Congress, first session Whereas the tariff act of 1922 laid a duty upon importations of methanol at the rate of 12 cents per gallon; and

Whereas the President, by proclamation of November 27, 1926, under the authority of section 315 of said tariff act, increased the duty on imported methanol from 12 cents to 18 cents per gallon, which was the maximum increase permitted by such act; and

Whereas at the date of said proclamation the domestic price of methanol was 65 cents per gallon; and

Whereas since said proclamation there has been a great expansion in the production of synthetic methanol in the United States by virtue of which the domestic price has fallen to 45 cents per gallon, which indicates a presumptive reduction in the cost of production in the United States of 20 cents per gallon, which is more than three times the increase of 6 cents per gallon in the duty made by the presidential proclamation aforesaid; and

Whereas the facts above recited warrant that the President, in the exercise of his powers under section 315 of said tariff act at this time, reduce the duty imposed by said act upon imported methanol from 12 to 6 cents per gallon, which will absorb but 12 cents of the presumptive reduction of 20 cents per gallon in the cost of producing synthetic methanol in the United States; and

Whereas methanol is of extensive and expanding use as a raw material in important industries in the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the United States Tariff Commission is requested, under provisions of section 315 of the tariff act of 1922, to investigate the costs of the production of synthetic methanol in the United States and the principal competing country and to report its findings to the President of the United States.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS, CARTELS, AND THE TARIFF

Mr. METCALF. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD a very interesting article on "The League of Nations, cartels, and the tariff," by A. Cressy Morrison.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered. The matter referred to is here printed, as follows:

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS, CARTELS, AND THE TARIFF 1 (From the viewpoint of an unofficial observer at the Geneva Economic Conference. Mr. Morrison presents some interesting facts on the international situation.-The editors.)

In May of 1927 I had the good fortune to be an unofficial observer at the Geneva Economic Conference. The League of Nations had devoted a year and a half preparing for the conference, and had invited a selected list of distinguished thinkers and writers in different parts of the world to compile data for the gathering of economists and other representatives from all nations. The conference was called to discuss questions of commerce, industry, trade barriers, international cartels, and agriculture in its relation to industry. One idea developed at the conference was termed the "rationalization of industry."

President Coolidge, upon request, sent five American representatives; like members were also sent from other countries. The league reserved the right to select additional delegates from the different countries representing various organizations. Fifty nations were represented by about 400 delegates and experts.

As soon as the conference organized, it divided into many committees upon which each nation might have a representative if so desired. Not being a member of the League of Nations, the United States did not desire representatives upon some of the committees.

You will be interested to know that the international sessions at Geneva are not nearly as orderly as meetings of the majority of commercial bodies in the United States. There are so many races, people, and languages involved. Those who do not understand the speaker immediately begin talking loudly, and no one is able to comprehend what is being said. It was my idea that the league would be a very dignified body where diplomats in uniform or formal dress would rise and address the assembly, which would listen in rapt silence.

1 First published under the title "International centralization as suggested by the Geneva Economic Conference."

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The official languages of the league are English and French. A Frenchman makes a vigorous speech with all the emphasis of his nature and with that eloquence which is proverbial among the French. meets with tremendous applause from those who understand French. Immediately after him a translator rises, who says: 'Monsieur So-andSo has spoken as follows-"; and then, to the utter amazement of those who are unfamiliar with the real brilliancy of these translators, he will repeat the speech that occupied 30 or 40 minutes and not miss a point. If he is speaking in English, translating it from the French, all those who understand French begin to talk at once, and the poor English listener is hardly aware of what is being said by the translator, and I may well say vice versa. These meetings, therefore, are not the dignified and wonderful things which one would expect.

I emphasize this particular characteristic of the League of Nations meetings because I want to illustrate the point-that it is not a body of supermen. The delegates are ordinary human beings. They have the same frailties, the same standards, the same selfishness, and the same schemes, and indeed the same generosity and general decency which humanity in general possesses. It is a composite of humanity. As a nation is a composite of its citizens, so when a nation sends delegates to the league they are more or less a cross section of its average intelligence. So the League of Nations is the average of the intelligence of the nations which compose it.

Now, that disposes of a prevalent idea that a gathering of the League of Nations is necessarily always right or always wrong. It is human, and the human equation is just as apparent there as anywhere-vindictive responses, lacking entirely in diplomacy, and earnest, sincere men advocating theories they believe to be new but which have been accepted in other countries for years. It is a most interesting study.

As it seems to be a universal opinion in Europe and other countries that the United States is unduly prosperous, so is there a united sentiment that anything which can be done to distribute our prosperity throughout the world, and advance other nations by tapping our sources of income, is a perfectly normal and proper thing to do.

The organization of the League of Nations is very complete and, as in many great bodies where there is wide divergence of opinion, the steam roller is also present. I want to emphasize this steam roller without questioning or criticizing it, except as it applies to the United States. All the documentary preparation for the economic conference was necessarily in the hands of the officials of the league. Their point of view being international, then the documents prepared are likely to be international, because they select sympathetic writers for the preparation and ᏚᎾ the documentation of the economic conference, amounting to about 120 volumes, all prepared in advance and costing approximately $100,000 of the league's money, had a strong international tendency. There were long and emphatic statements about universal brotherhood, the love of your fellow man, mutual dependency of nations, and so on, all highly altruistic. This was a part of the steam roller designed to color the thought of the delegates.

The chairmen of the committees, I am perfectly sure, were designated before the conference convened; and were more or less in sympathy with the purposes of internationalism which the league had in view. am not criticizing that.

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The resolutions were prepared in advance and submitted to the committees for consideration. Of course, they were considered, but human experience develops the fact that there is almost always a majority affirmatively inclined toward a well-written resolution. Mental laziness prevents many from rising and criticizing the verbiage of a resolution which has already been prepared, especially since men have confidence in their committees. The fundamental basis of the resolutions, the thing on which the outcome depended, was evidently prepared in advance. In the end, those delegates who wished to oppose a resolution were almost always in the minority. As a result, the fruit of the conferences and the outcome was largely the result of the determination of the League of Nations to bring about in the conference an international point of view; to destroy nationalism and to substitute a universal brotherhood of nations may be ideal, but the millennium is not yet here. The New Testament teaches brotherhood," but we still have policemen.

Every one of our own delegates at the conference was sound in his Americanism. On many things they did not vote, especially where it involved an investigation or an expenditure of money by the league; and the American position was very sound, for they could not well vote on a subject that involved expenditures from a fund to which we do not contribute.

Our delegation found many things in the resolutions, evidently inserted with direct reference to us or for the purpose of propaganda in the United States. Many were eliminated. In one case an American delegate, who was a minority of 1 against 52 opposing a clause in a resolution, had the courage to say: "If you press this matter, which is contrary to the interest of the United States as I see it, I shall be obliged to bring in a minority report and precipitate a debate on the question before the conference." That seemed certainly effective, and the wording after long debate was apparently eliminated; but when the report of the committee was printed the next morning, by some inadvertence the objectionable clause was still in the resolution;

and it required still more courage for that American delegate to go to the chairman and say to him: "I have discovered a typographical error in the report, and unless it is taken out before it is presented I will renew my objection by making a minority report and will bring the error into public discussion."

So you will see how difficult it is for any nation, and more especially the United States, to meet the majority opinion and be courteous and friendly without yielding something to his international idea when in our hearts we feel we should not yield.

I have given this picture of the League of Nations so that you may see that the league differs in no particular from other great bodies of men wherever they get together to discuss important matters. As is human, they, too, are more or less steered; it is the same thing we find anywhere. That disposes of the League of Nations as a superbody, and I am sure that anyone who will go there and observe it as I did in connection with its inner mechanism will feel that way. In my opinion, whether the propaganda charges us with isolation or not, it makes little difference. If we become bound by the rules of the League of Nations we will find ourselves, step by step, yielding to the majority. We are a good-natured, generous-minded people, and with organization and a majority against us the situation would be dangerous. It is my opinion that the United States should stay out of the League of Nations.

Many of the keynotes of the league are obvious statements. If I were a politician I would always deal in obvious statements, and then the most of my hearers would agree with me.

For illustration, here are some of them: "It is generally conceded that the greater the international interchange of products best and most economically produced in different countries should therefore be regarded as the normal rule." This, of course, means free trade. But the human equation enters, and certainly France, with her standard of living, could not abandon the making of silk and pottery and give this business to China or Japan, nor would those countries give France any return unless her prices were lower than other nations.

Again, England could not abandon the manufacture of dyes and chemicals to Germany on both military and commercial grounds; nor could she intrust a monopoly in such things to any other country and be sure that the higher prices of dyes would not make her production of textiles competitively impossible.

Here is another obvious statement: "Human brotherhood is growing, and in human brotherhood lies our opportunity for future progress and the growth of civilization." Well, that is true basically whether we are white, black, yellow, or red. We are of the same humanity, and we have evolved along similar linos; but our standards differ enormously, and we can not sacrifice them; nor can we adopt the methods of life, morals, or economics of some of our brothers.

Another: "You can not sell unless you buy." Well, that sounds perfectly sound and obvious, but there is much to be said on the other side. Such general statements are hard to answer, and it takes patience and time and no little ability to do it. The league's attitude all the way through was based upon these generalized statements. "Rationalization of industry," by which is meant quantity production, automatic machinery, system, and great capital investment, became a subject of much discussion. There was a clear understanding that a great deal of the industrial progress of the United States was due to this policy. The efforts of the American people to standardize products so that rationalization could be attained and the extraordinary reduction in man power per unit of output was recognized. The league was apparently unanimous in the opinion that Europe, if it wishes to succeed and compete successfully with the great country across the seas, must adopt this magic rationalization.

All through the discussions of rationalization were long arguments to the effect that the introduction of new machinery was dangerous to the workingman; that if they started rationalization by improving their products or getting a larger production per man it would increase unemployment; and therefore provision must be made and subsidies provided for the idle laborers thus thrown out of work until consumption caught up.

Now, we in America have passed beyond that. Labor in this country knows perfectly well that the introduction of a new machine means more business for the employer and more work for themselves at higher pay. But over on the other side they still show by their debates that they are in the old state of mind. That may not be the feeling of all, but it is the state of mind of many of the delegates.

We see that the average opinions of the other nations are a generation behind us in this matter. But they are awakening, and the time is coming very soon when rationalization and the adoption of American methods will be general. American machinery is now purchased and copied, so that in certain industries, like window glass, they are beating us with our own tools. It is going to increase their competitive ability most materially. They are still in the stage where they feel that lowcost labor reduces the cost of production and that the way to save money is to take it out of the human hide. Fortunately we have gotten beyond that, and the producing power of the American people is the key to our progress. I hope we can maintain wages in this country, and if necessary pay higher ones. Certainly we should pay wages com