Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-03-12
MORRIS oN'S BILL
SubH iltsd to the RoIss Ye,ter-
day Morning.
A GENERAL REDUCTION FAY )RED
As a Measure Of Relief from Unnecessary
Taxes, of Justice to cOnsuH,Es
and as Conduceasis Gen.
eraI Prosperity.

WASHINGTON, March 1.-THE maj Irity
and minority report of the Wiys and
Means Committee on the Morrison tariff
bill were submitted to the House to-day.
The division in the committee was on strict
party lines. Morrison was asked when he
proposed to call the bill up. He said he
didn't know. Other members expressed
the opinion that it would come up next
week. The majority report is as follows:
The Committee on Ways and Means, to
which was referred so much Of
the Presidents message and &C.
oompanying E-documenss-as- relates to
the revenue, respectfully reports that in
regard to the said message, and in accom-
panying documents the President has
deemed it his duty to give to Congress in
formation as follows: To make start in
the proposed reduction of revenue from
imports. The tariff commission having
been created, 1t
Understood TO Work In Good Faith.
In its report to Congress 1t said:
EARLY in its deliberations the Commits
sion became convinced that substantial
reduction of tariff duties was demanded
not by indiscriminate popular clamor but
by the pest conservative opinion OF the
country. Such a reduction in the existing
tariff the Commission regards as not only
due through regard to public sentiment
and as measure OF justice to consumers,
but one conducive TO the general INDUS
trial prosperity and which though it may
be tenn porarlly inconvenient will be ultl.
mately beneficial to the interests affected
oy such reduction. Entertaining these
views the Commission has sought to pre-.
| sent the scheme of tariff duties, in wnicn
substantial reduction should be dlstil-
suished feature.
The Average Reduction
| in the rates, includiDg that from an en-.
largement Of the free list and the abolition
of duties on charges and commission at
which the commission has arrived, is not
less on the average than twenty per cent,
and it Is the opinion of the commission
that the reduction will reach twenty-five
per cent" The chairman OF the Senate
Committee on Finance in an explanation
before the Senate last year which, after
various amendments became law, estima-
ted at forty. five million the reduction in
revenue which would follow the changes
in the tariff proposed thereby. These cal.
culations have not been verified, 80 the
question still presses what legislation is
necessary to relieve the people OF unneceS
sary taxes Your committee find that in
the first six months ending December 81,
1888, under the act of March 3, 1888, (the
new law duriable mercandise was lrn'
ported into the United States valued at
S235, ,S0S, 100,
On which Duties Were Paid
amounting to S96,5l4, l3G being 40 100 per
cent. on the value thereof. In the corrs
spending six months of the year 1882, un'
der the old law, the value OF dutiable i'm
ports amounted to $3.50, ,S5S,273 aud the
duty paid was Sill, ,266, 5O7, or IL 65 100 per
cent. on the value. 1t thus appears the
average cost of importing goods valued at a
hundred dollars was only "A per cent.
less under the new than under the old law.
This exhibit of reduction in rates made 6y
the act Of March 8, 1888, amounting to
"A per cent OF the duty is subject to an
unimportant modification resulting from
the changes in value and other conditions,
some of which increase and others reduce
the comparative adyalorem rates. The
nominal reduction made by the proposed
bill is twenty per cent or one-tifth OF
the present rate. With the Morrill, tariff
limitations in the bill and the liquor and
silk schedules omitted, as they are, the
actual reduction on the basis of last years
imports will not exceed 1914 per cent on
the whole importation Of dutiable goods.
Together
The Average Reduction Made
in the tariff bill (aot Of March 3, 1889 and
that to be made by the proposed bill do
not equal the reduction at which the COM
mission aimed. Wood, sawed lumber, coal
and salt are in such universal use among
and so necessary to all people that in view
of the present abundant treasury receipts
it is not deemed advisable longer to obtain
revenue by taxing these articles. The
decrease in the revenue as shown by the
receipts under the new law other than
that resulting from the reduction OF
per cent. results from the falling
off in value of $25, 200, 900 in imports in the
first haIf OF the year under the new law as
compared with the first half OF the preyi
ous year under the old law. The reduc.
| ton in the revenue receipts under the bill
reported is estimated at $50, ,000,0 900 on the
basis of last years imports to the extent
| that the S31 100000 bill will relieve the
people of unnecessary taxes to that extent,
Taxes will be reduced directly as a measure
Of Justice to the consumer and indirectly
In Largely Increased Proportions.
F.om the statement by the Bureau Of Sta.
| stistics, q COPY of which is appended to
-
| tariff taxes were decreased on some and
| increased on other articles of imported
| goods under the act of March last new
| law While this is true, there has been
| no increase in the rates OF wages in any
| but reduction of wages in most OF tie
| industries ss we'll in those whose com.
petlng products received more as in those
| that obtained less protection under the act
| OF March last. The condition of the man
- 10 ktofa anfn in
| common with other industries. They only
recovered late in 1879 from the reyerses or
| partial paralysis of five years duration. In
| less than two years after this recovery, such
new evidences Of industrial adversely ap.
| peared that in the largest, best paying and
| best paid industries Of iron and steel the
| calamity of q four months stoppage and
| i6leness fell upon the workers dependent
upon it, not upon the capital invested. In
the annual. report of the American Iron
and Steel Association for the year 1882,
made May /, 1883, by James N. Swauk,
| secretary of the association, he says: AT
:he beginning OF June nearly ell the mills
referred to the rolling mills Of Pittsburgh,
| Wheeling and the Vest were
| Closed by General strike,
which continued until the last of Septem
| Der, when the work was resumed upon the
| scale of wages which previously prevailed.
| During the strike of four mouths the pric9s
/ of rolled iron did not advance, notwith-
standing the stopping of the mills, q
fact that clearly demonstrated that the ca
pscity to produce this form Of iron had
again, as in panic years, exceeded the de-.
| mapd. at the same time il must be frankly
admitted that our rolling mills capacity
hss for some time been in advance of the
corsumptive wants of the country ald the
check 20 the overproduction Of rolled iron
which was afforded by the strike thus was
in no sense q calamity to the msnutsc
turers. 1t is believed that the condition
| of the iron and steel industries aud the
workers in them has not much chsugei
since 1882, and that the condition OF other
| industries is not unlike and differs only in
the degree from iron aud steel that the
calamity of frequently recurring Industrial
| embarrassment aud enforced idieness Is in
separable from
! rne Eaormity Of Our Protective
| system,
and that the calamities Of such q System
always fall upon the lsboring p por. Your
1 oo,,,n;ttaa tharefnra rennrt a bill TO reduce