Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-02-04
THE NEW TARIFF s,lL
Chicago Inter.ocean.

the NEW TARIFF BILL.
Chicago Inter- Ocean.
Alter months of concealment in it's rrep-
Aration, the full text ofStho new tariff bill
has been spread hsfore thepubliGs Among
hG~explanatious which accompany IL pub
lioaiion b this.: s The present nunnbet Of
articles Ia the tariff Law is redueedt 20 about
800 all told, IN this bill. How radical aud
sweeping this change Is NAV be seen BY
reference to the following paragraph In the
annual report of the secretary of the treas.
ury for 1875:
The revised tariff cont ains thirteen schedules
embracing upward of 1870 dutiable. articles
In general or special classfacations. TO these
atsd. but which. under TIE general. provisions Of
sections 2,@S0, and 2.6i6 of the revised statutes.
Mou q be assigned q place g dutiablee, either BY
or as articles, manufactured orunmanafactured,
not otherwise provided for, making over 1850 In
a4er ! T he a FREE I,st e sSp1aias an 81 t sel s,si5s' sitb q
as dutiable or free.
A reduction Of the dutiable list from over
$500 to about 800 articles; IN abolition of
the fres list by admitting free all articles
not enumerated as subject to q tariff charge
for entry; and an average decrease Q ftwen-
ty per cent In present duties, may be styled
simplifcation, but they really amount to Q
revolution In our customs laws. And this
is the preposterous and ruinous scheme that
is claimed to be intended to recuperate our
paralyzed industries and help our crippled
manufacturers to q larger export trade! On
the contrary, the bill is written all over,
from beginning to end. with evidences of
being carefully prepared In the interest OF
importers, and, moreover, of only those who
do business at the ocean ports OF entry.
The pretense that the bill is for the benefit
of the manufacturers will be received with
derision and contempt. s
Among the most radical chsnges is the
reputation of the sim,l tide provisions
contained in the following section of the
revised statutes:
Sec. 2,499. There shall be levied, collected and
paid on each and every n~On-enumerated article
which bears Il similitude, either in material,
quality. texture. or the use to which it may be
charseaDle with duty. the same rate of duty
which is levied and charged on the enumerated
article which 1t most resembles in any Of the
enumerated article equally resembles two or
more enumerated articles, on which different
rates of duty are chargeable, there shall be lev
article, the same rate of duty asis chargeable on
the article which it resembles paying the highest
duty and on all articles manufactured fron, two
or more materials, the duty shall be assessed at
the highest rates at which any OF its component
parts may be cllargeable. @
These provisions, designed to illustrate a
numerous series of ingenious devices and
subterfuges tn avoid the payment Of duties,
were the outcome of long experience, and
they have been serious impedimeLts IN the
way of those who have sought to defraud
the revenue. Just as the exact meaning oi
the provisions, as related to a considerable
lot of crafty tricks, has been settled BY rul
ings Of the treasury department and by de
%cisions ofthe courts, it is proposed to repeaI
the whole section, thus opening wide thu
doors of our custom houses for the success
full practice OF evasion and fraud. The his
tory of our tariff legislation is the history o.
an incessant struggle to circumvent dishor
est importers lesgued with q parcel of ur.
scrupulous manufacturers in foreign y W
tries. The character of the articles used
has changed with the nature of the proven
tive measures; and the ingenuity of eva
sion seems to have almost kept pace will
the sagacity of detection. When 1t was en-
acted that every ad oahrem duty should bt
assessed upon the real and true market val
consuls we're required to see that the price!
in the invoices conceded with this regula
ton, the remedy was often rendered abor
tive by the carelesstess or the incompeten
CIV, or the corruption of the attestipg officer
Even when, to guard against these lapses o
consular function, power was conferred
upon appraisers, in cases of suspicion
to go behind the invoices, and to readjus
the prices therein, 80 as to conform viii
whatiwas believed to be a just standard Q
valuation, the adroitness of knsvery fire
quently became master of the situation, an
succeeded in cheating the revenue, some
times by open bribery, sometimes BY cor
fusing technicalities Of pettifogging quib
bles. All the %circuitous methods and q
the ingenious subterfuges that r~ascalit.
could devise have been tried to avoid tn
Just payment of duty. To repeal the simll
itude section under such circumstance
would be to remove obstacles out of tn
path Of swindling importers and thei
European accomplices for when the dutia
BILE articles shall have been reduced to abou
500. every unenumerated article being ad
mitted free, the dextrous trixsters who seel
thrift by fraudulent constructions-wh'
harbor in every nook and corner and pas
sage of the labyrinth Of legal interpreta
tion-will enter into an unexplored field Q
shams, of specious devices, Of subtle art
fees, reaping an abundant harvest of IN
scrupulous bargains. from which homes
business and the public revenue must sui
fer severely, long before official authorit,
shall be able to survey the unknown groun,
and determine the metes and bounds of il
jurisdiction. With equal reason might
farmer tear down a good fence that was pre-
venting the depredations of cattle an
swine. The proposition to repeal the SINH
itude section is virtually a proposition t
strengthen fraud.
Another of the radical changes contem
plated by the bill is the dropping of the fol
lowing provisions from the revised stat
utes:
Sec. a,5ls. There shall be levied, c~ollecte,
and paid on the importation of all raw or unman
ufactured articles. not herein enumerated or pre-