Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-03-05
The Tariff Bill.

MONDAY EVENING, MARCH s. 1888.
The Tariff Bill.
The passage of the tariff bill was q
repetition of the performance of the
mountain that labored with very small
neDult. The bill was Siamese twin af-
0nir-half being a revenue reduction
nneasure and half tariff reduction.
The internal revenue part of the bill
reduces the revenue of the government
from that source, and If the government
does not want the money, its loss GER
tainly will not hurt it but it would not
have troubled the people much to have
continued to contribute it in the way in
which it was being collected, and as long
@ the internal revenue machinery of
collection is retained in its full strength
tho sources of collections might as well
have been left undisturbed. The tax on
propf. Mary medicines was very just
one and 30 was that on bank checks. The
country will accept the release of such
objects of taxation with equanimity, but
without special qualification.
In the tariff part of the bill the reduc.
tions were generally made in such way
as not to diminish or increase the rev.
enues of the country and not to affect its
manufactures. Mr.. Hewitt. who ex-
presses this view, that accords with our
own judgment, points out some remark
able exceptions that were caused by the
haste with which the measure was passed.
But a few hours were given to its final
consideration in the committee of con-
ference and in the two Houses of Con
gress. Iron wire rods, for instance, under
the present tariff bear a duty of one
and quarter cents a pound the new
law reduces this to six-tenths Of cent :;
which will not be sufficient protection
to the industry and will destroy it. A
curious fact about this blunder is chat
Mr.. Henry Oliver of Pittsburgh, the Penn
sylvania representative on the tariff
commission, is the chief sufferer from it.
Another wrong done was in imposing a
duty of twenty per cent. upon raw jute,
while the manufactured article bears
but thirty per cent. This injustice is due
to the effort of Senator Sherman to pro
tect the flax culture of Ohio against the
competition of jute.
Further examination of the tariff will
probably disclose number of cases in
which, by accident or design, the duties
are changed SO as to affect the revenue
and certain manufacturers favorably or
unfavorably but as a general thing it
is as bill as inconsequential as the
pope's bull against the comet. The duty
on steel rails for instance is reduced
from twenty eight to seventeen dollars a
ton, which will let in foreign rails
at q cost at the seaboard of forty.
Eve dollars ton; whereas the
American mills are selling them at
thirty eight to forty dollars ton. Bar
iron is reduced from a cent pound to
eight-tenths of cent, which is still a
prOhibitory rate. The same care has
been taken in other industries not to
lower the tariff so as even to compel a
reduction in the cost of home manufac
ture. There is ample room for reduc
tiQn of cost of manufactures to be found
in the very high transportation rates
which are the most serious tax upon
home industry. A much greater reduc
tion in the tariff would have compelled
the carrying companies to lower theil
charges, and they are the parties whom
the new measure is most likely to be
entirely agreeable to.
If it could be accepted as a final ad
justment of the tariff for period OF
years, the passage of this act would be
beneficial to the trade of the country in
giving it a quietude from tariff agitation
which would be boon to it. But the
ineffectiveness of the bill in the way Of
securing redIotion Of the cost of man
ufactured articles or in the way of secur.
ing q revenue to the country; and the
manner in which it was brought fourth
by Republican midwives alone, deprive
. it of all semblance of a compromise OF
Cancellation measure which the advo
, Gates Of revenue reform ideas can be ex
pected to accept. We have little doubt
that the hasty work of this session of
Congress will be revised in the next.
| 1t was rather graceless task for Mr.
Randall to propose a vote of thanks te
Speaker Keifer. Nobody comes out OF
kIo Loot (yopcroco xx,;fI, 1oeo orod;t %bor