HARDING WANTS EMERGENCY TARIFF PUSHED THROUGH NOW
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 27, 1921, Republican leaders were "virtually in a panic" because President Warren G. Harding was insisting on "pushing through" an Emergency Tariff* at the opening of the new session of Congress.
Carter Field wrote that efforts were being made to find a way to "sidetrack" the legislation with the President's consent while pacifying farmers of the middle and northwest United States.
Field goes on to say that almost every member of Congress considered the proposed tariff to be "political buncombe**."
Northwestern senators and congressmen, however, believe the emergency tariff would "keep the Canadian wheat off American railroads...just after harvest time," and farmers expected it would boost the prices of their products.
*Emergency Tariff Act of 1921 was signed into law by President Harding on May 27. It imposed temporary duties on certain agricultural products (wheat, sugar, etc.) imported into the U.S. to meet present emergencies.
**buncombe: insincere or foolish talk, nonsense.
SOURCE
"Harding Farm Tariff Plans Alarm Leaders," by Carter Field, The New York Tribune, March 28, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
