The "Flexible" Tariff: The Operation of Section 315 of the Tariff Act of 1922 with Special Reference to Farm Products

Upon signing the tariff act of 1922, President Harding said:I do not know how many of you are in accord with me about it, but if we succeed, as I hope we will, in making effective the elastic provisions of this bill, it will be the greatest contribution toward progress in tariff making in a century.The "elastic" or "flexible" provisions here referred to comprise section 315, Title III of the tariff act of 1922, now superseded by section 336 of the act of 1930. These sections conferred upon the President the power to adjust import duties, within certain limits, upon the basis of differences between the cost of production in the United States and the cost in the principal competing country.Flexible import duties are not new or unusual. They date far back into the past and they have been used in various forms by many countries. The Corn Laws of England are a classic example of this type of duty. At the present time in many countries besides the United States customs tariff rates are subject to change, upon application or otherwise, by committee, board, commission, or body other than the one enacting tariff legislation. But the United States is the only country in the world which uses differences between foreign and domestic cost of production as the sole or determining basis for adjustment of import duties. In other countries which use the device of a flexible tariff, this has been only one of the factors considered in determining the rate of duly to be imposed.