The tariff was supported by the Republican party and conservatives and was generally opposed by the Democratic Party and liberal progressives. One intent of the tariff was to help those returning from World War I have greater job opportunities. Trading partners complained immediately. European nations affected by World War I sought access for their exports to the American market to make payments to the U.S. for war loans. Democratic Representative Cordell Hull said, "Our foreign markets depend both on the efficiency of our production and the tariffs of countries in which we would sell. Our own [high] tariffs are an important factor in each. They injure the former and invite the latter." Five years after the passage of the tariff, American trading partners had raised their own tariffs by a significant degree. France raised its tariffs on automobiles from 45% to 100%, Spain raised tariffs on American goods by 40%, and Germany and Italy raised tariffs on wheat.[6] In 1928, Henry Ford attacked the Fordney–McCumber Tariff, arguing that the American automobile industry did not need protection since it dominated the domestic market, and their interest was in expanding foreign sales.[7] Some farmers opposed the Fordney- McCumber Tariff, blaming it for the agricultural depression. The American Farm Bureau Federation claimed that because of the tariff, the raised price of raw wool cost to farmers $27 million. Democratic Senator David Walsh challenged the tariff by arguing that the farmer is the net exporter and does not need protection because they depend on foreigner markets to sell their surplus. The Senator pointed out that during the first year of the tariff the cost of living climbed higher than any other year except during the war, presenting a survey of the Department of Labor, in which all of 32 cities assessed had seen an increase in the cost of living. For example, the food costs increased 16.5% in Chicago and 9.4% in New York. Clothing prices raised by 5.5% in Buffalo, New York, and 10.2% in Chicago. Republican Frank W. Murphy, head of the Minnesota Farm Bureau, also claimed that the problem was not in the world price of farm products, but in the things farmers had to buy. Republican Congressman W. R. Green, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged that the statistics of the Bureau of Research of the American Farm Bureau that showed farmers had lost more than $300 million annually as a result of the tariff.[8]
