The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-12

I'LL Will % u III ClaSbkiiN0biOhcs - w.
provide for each cause of complaint as it arises.
In the bill proposed, the most pressing and
prominent OF the grievances are dealt with
The report of the Republican minority, which
has been prepared by Representative Mckinley,
of Ohio, begins with the statement that the sub
stitute agreed up by the majority is a new crea-
ton. and embodies little matter that was in
cluded in the original bill, as introduced by the
chairman. After r~eciting in detail the various
articles which it is proposed to place upon the
free list. and the reductions to be made in man
ufactured goods, the minority report says:
''The majority assert that in 1885 the average
of duty upon imported goods a little exceeded AZ
per cent, but this only means that prices and
values were unusually low, and furnishes no
justification for this bill. Nothing is more un-
sound and fallacious than to assume that a re-
duction of duties is dem .nded when
average advalorem rates show that per
centage. There is no attempt in this bill to
on any just principle, or to make equal reduc-
tons throughout the tariff list. Of thirty -one or
more articles dutiable at from 100 to $50 per
cent. not one is dealt with in this bill, while
other articles, upon which is imposed a duty OF
from 10 to 20 per cent. are cut down or trans
ferred to the free list. This bill goes into opera
ton on the LIST of January, 1887, except as to
hemp and flax, which are exempted until July 1,
1887. Why these productions should have SIX
months of license not accorded to other industries
equally deserving may be manifest to the major
ity, but is surely not based upon any principle of
fair play or sound craftsmanship.
The free list is peculiarly an assault upon the
agricultural interests of the country, seeking out
from the 4, 900 articles in the tariff their leading
products to he driven out by ruinous competi-
ton from abroad. The metal, glass. pottery,
sugar, rice, and other important interests af-
fected by the original bill were given due notice
of the changes proposed, and mad ample oppor-
tunity to make a successful defense through
their well-organized associations. The wool
growers of the country were led to believe, from
the bill first before the committee, that no ad-
verse action would be had touching their inter
ests. They were therefore not before the COM
mittee in any official way, and those VINO were
heard spoke for the restoration of the
duty of 1867. without dreaming that
the inadequate protection they now en-
joy was to be swept from them and
their vast interests left to the mercy of compe-
tition of wool-growers in Australia and other
foreign countries, where the principal cost of pro-
duction is the herding required by shepherds,
where labor is cheap, and where feeding, either
winter or summer, does not enter into the cost
of sheep husbandry. The first effort, therefore,
in the direction of free trade, is aimed at the
unorganized farmers of the country, who. re-
moved from the centers of trade, busy on their
farms and plantations, unused to meeting COM
mittees of Congress-, and unadvised that their
interests are to be dealt an unfriendly blow,
are to be the first victims N the
British policy. through the agency Of
the American Congress. In 1860 the sheep in
the United States numbered a little over
%. 600, 900; in 1883 the number had reached 50.-
600, 900; in 1860 the clip was go, zoe, 900 pounds:
In 1888 it reached 800, 600, 900 pounds. In 1867
the price was 81 cents; in 1870 it was 46 cents:
in 1875, 43 cents. There has been a steady re-
duction, until now it is so low as to be Temporal
rily Improbable. The decay of sheep husbandry
in the United States would be a national calam-
ity. 1t would place our manufacturers at the
mercy of TIE foreign producers. This is an in
dustry which cannot be built up in a day; 1t has
required years of care and cost to develop it.
The minority sought to restore the duty Of 1867
on wool, but were prevented by the votes of the
majority, and from the same cause are unable
to maintain even the existing rates. We could
not believe the majority would take the duty
from wool that even the free-trade nations did
not exempt.
"The hax-growers Of America protest against
the unjust action of the committee in taking
fax from the dutiable list, and a conven-
ton held in Chicago in February. 1886, declared
that a reduction of duty on foreign fbers would
be disastrous to the domestic industry.
1.-THE bill proposes.to enact the very outrage.
the renewal of the Canadian treaty, the fear of
the possibility Of which so aroused the indigna-
ton of the whole New England fishery interests,
without distinction of politics. 1t does more; it
proposes to give to Canada, for nothing, what
the Dominion Is longing to pay a high price for.
The minority view the bill as the first step
toward a reversal of a revenue system founded
by the fathers. and the substitution of the British
system of tariff for revenue only.
1.-THE committed have accepted and adopted
the Secretary's political request that the first du-
ties to be safely discarded are those upon mate
rails used by our manufacturers. and It's free list
discards wool, lumber, fax. hemp, and all fbers.
The second step will be to discard all duties on
articles competing with our own, and then q tax
duty will be levied upon articles produced in the
United States.
I'VE must dissent from this proposition, and
insist that the true method of levying duty upon
imports is to impose them upon the imported ar
ticles which compete with the products of our
own industries and labor, and while such duties
will secure the necessary revenues, they
will, at the same time, encourage home produc-
tons, create a home market. aud furnish en-
ployment for American workmeu without in
creasing the burdens of the people. The
minority declare that the bill Is born of party
necessity. 1t is here because the Democratic
party is in power. The people of the country
are not asking for it. 1t is in response to no
public sentiment or national requirement. In
the Judgment of the minority 1T will increase
rather than diminish our customs receipts; it
will answer no sentiment for a reduction of the
surplus; it will help no American interest; it will
cripple, if not destroy. all it touches"