Archive Report
Archive Report
The Fordney-McCumber tariff act was signed by the President September 21, 1922, and has now been in effect a little over five years. The average life of the six tariff acts adopted during the preceding 40 years was six and a half years.
The present act was framed during a period of uncertainty as to the nature and extent of the foreign competition American producers would be called upon to meet during the immediately ensuing years. Its rates were fixed at a high level, but there was doubt in certain cases whether they would prove adequate to achieve the protective purpose of Congress. At the same time it was conceded that in certain other cases the rates might prove in practice to be too high, ...