New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-05
AGAINST FREE TRADE.
REPORT OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE

| LANTERN" CONSPIRACY FULLY EXPOSED
-CLEvELAND's NECESSITY THE "CoN-
DITIoN"-wHY BRITISH FREE-TRAD-
| ERs REJOICED-vIEwS OF THE
MINORITY SUBMITTED.
rBr TELEGRAPH TO THE rRrsuNkl
Washington, Oct 4.-The report of the Com
mittee Finance against the Dark Lantern
Free-Trade bill and in support of the substitute
| therefor, which submitted to the Senate to-
day, is document which every American wage
Garner, every American farmer, manufacturer and
merchant, as well as every person interested in
domestic commerce and transportation may read
and study with profit The doctrine which the
Republican members Of the Finance Committee
maintain for California and Georgia and Virginia
and Missouri is the same which they uphold in
Iowa and Michigan and New-York and New-Eng-
land. The report, in every page and in every
paragraph. gives evidence of conscientious
thorough and intelligent study and honest work
| 1t was natural and probably necessary that the
Finance Committee should devote large part of
its report to an analysis of the " Dark Lantern
bill and an exposure of the absurdities, incon-
gruities, and antiquities as well as of the in
| tended treachery of that measure in dealing with
! American interests That this task has been
well and thoroughly performed even Free Traders
who are sincere as well as intelligent will admit,
however reluctantly 1t was proper and necessary
too, for that committee at the outset to criticise
with severity the policy of the Administration in
| lending to favored banks, without interest
$50, 600, 900 of the surplus which cannot he with
| drawn without great arrangement of business and
which might have been advantagcously employed
in reducing the bonded indebtedness and annual
: interest charge of the Government
The facts submitted by the committee furnish
irrefragabe proof that the effect OF the House bill
if enacted, would be to increase and not dimins h
| the revenues from customs surrender to for
eign manufacturers Of one-fourth of the American
market for wooen goods alone would result in
increased importations which would swell the
revenues from customs by at least $780, 600, 900
per annum. The committee performed necessary
duty when it pointed out that the House offers no
remedy against fraudulent invoices and under
valuations, but, on the contrary, proposes to ag-
gravate existing abuses by wholesale substitution
of ad vaorem for specific rates of duty
ARGUMENT AGAINST AID vALoREM RATES.
| The argument of the committee against id
valorem rates of duty is conclusive, and is sup
ported by facts which show that such rates
not only invite and promote frauds, from which
honest American importers. merchants, and manu-
|
pose a heavier burden relatively upon the great
mass of the people than they do upon rich con-
sumers An interesting feature of the report is
| the appendix, which contains citations from
Alexander Hamilton Galatin Dallas, and other
eminent Secretaries of the Treasury, in favor Of
specific rates of duty The committee has filled
another appendix of eight printed pages with
paragraphs OF doubtful interpretation from the
House bill to prove that that hotch-potch meas
ure would increase rather than diminish existing
antiquities inconsistencies, and obscurties in the
tariff law.
The committee has clearly exposed the injurious
nature of many of the reductions. made by the
House in the dutiable list, to say nothing of the
transfer of wool. lumber and many other impor-
tant articles to the free list. This part of the
report will be of special interest to farmers,
manufacturers, and worlSinemen 1t appears that
of the ! Of items sent to the free list by the
Dark-Lantern- conspirators, forty-eight com
prise manufactured articles, sixteen agricultu-
raj products. and eleven are articles already
the free list If the trainers of the House bill
| possess any sense of shame they Will blush when
confronted with the proof of their dupcity, or
ignorance. or bcth so clearly and strongly pre-
scented by the Senate Committee, which tersely
remarks:
This Is free trade in the concrete and the list fur
of the House bill which cannot be neurazed by the
cleventh-hour disclaimers OF its supporters.
QUEER "NEcEssARIEs OF LIFE"
The fallacies respecting =" raw materials" and
| necessaries of life upon which the House bill
largely rests are exposed by the committee, which
has not left Premier Mills leg to stand on.
most striking and instructive comparison is
that which shows that the percentages Of dutiabe
and non-dutable articles under the freetrade tariff
of ls46 were IS and l 2 respectively, while under
the robber tariff" of 1888 the percentage OF
dutiable articles had fallen TO &C, and the per-
centage of articles admitted free of duty had
risen to "a. The committee furnishes an in
sructive list of certain necessaries of life.' the
duties upon which are RENTED greatly re-
duced by the House bill 1t includes artificial
flowers feathers and millinery ornaments kid
gloves cut engraved and stained glass, manu-
features Of rosewood, mahogany and satnwood,
fine confectionery, fine linen cloths of all kinds,
ETC.
| Half dozen pages Of the report, which farmers
and wool growers manufacturers and wor,ingmen
will study attentively are devoted to the duties
on wool and woollep goods. The relation OF the
House bill TO Canadian competition Is fully eA-
planned, and the advantages OF q home market
for farm products are fairly and strongly pre-
sented 1t is shown that an addition OF cents
per 0ay TO the wages of American w0rlngmen
would furnish home market Tor the enure
surplus of agricultural products now exported
The plain and clear definition OF free trade sno,
mitted by the committee viii give the sO-called
Revenue Reformers,' from Cleveland down TO
Bvnum, no end of trouble during the next month
So, too with that part of the report In which
the percentage of labor cost IN production Is
discussed and the fallacies and Misrepresentation
of the Free Traders refuted. favorite, theme
of Cleveland, Scott, Mills, and their followers,
is the enormous profit reaped by manufacturers
at the expense of consumers. The facts submitted
by the committee on this subject completely
a. cd sfa
T,adcrs have repeated so often that they now
seem really believe them The free-t.ade 9utcry
Inv the overwhelming array Of facts and figures
contained in this report.
LIVING IN GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA
Worlngmen will be stecially interested in the
comparisons of the average earnings and cost OF
living in Great Britain and the United States