The state chronicle., 1888-10-19
VOL. XVIII.

| upon the things which principally yield
protection. In short, the Mills bill gave
up half of the proposed reduction to come
from the Government and called upon the
beneticiarieS of tariff taxation to give up
the other half, whereas in justice it could
| have called upon these beneficiaries to sur
render III proportion to their interest in
the taxation, which, as have before said
! was about s. to one
To this fair and generous proposition
how did this favored class respond. With
the exception of three every Republican
voted against its passage. When it arriv-
ed IN the Senate and was acted upon in the
| Finance committee it was rejected by the
| entire Republican vote and the substitute
| adopted IN its place. Now. how does that
sub ,titute divide that reduction between
the government and the people on the one
side and the favored class on the other?
| In the first place, it takes from
/ Internal taxes on tobacco, which
! is pure revenue, e,............. $24 81 900
! BY reduction on alcohol used in
| the arts, Observation-Disclosures. 1000 600
BY additions to the free list of ar
tic1es which yield pure reve-
nue., Observation-Disclosures. 6,42S 900
| By reduction of sugar duties nine
| tenthS pure revenue, p 139 600
Total, ................. 49,. s65, ,55S, 900
| Excluding fractions.l
They claim a total reduction of $73 66S, :
| 600, and to make up the remainder they
! claim that they have reduced duties on
manufactured goods proper to the extent
of 50, 100, 900, So that if their statement
of the effects of their bill be correct it
shows that they propose to reduce revenue
! by very generously giving up 50 of the
/ government revenues and 81 of their own.
| But even this is not true. Selfishness nee
| essarlly takes refuge in fraud. The favored
| classes, at whose suggestion this substitute
was framed, were enabled by their tech
! nical knowledge of their own business to
impose, 10 doubt, upon the members of
the Finance committee, and to largely in
crease the duties IN several schedules. BY
the best il formation which the Democratic
members Of the Finance Committee could
obtain IN the short time allowed them to
examine the substitute this increase will
amount to fully $40 900, 600 In my own
opinion its practical effect would far ex-
ceed this. SO that it all amounts 10 this,
that for the privilege of reducing its own
revenues, those in which no favored man
ufacturer whOrnsoever is interested, the
government would be compelled by this
bill 70 pay these pampered paupers a bo-
nus Of more than $4,000, 600.
The method by which this increase is
l.
the so-called revision OF 1888. That, too,
was heraided with the declaration that The
country demanded reduction and that the
bill proposed by the commission would
effect a reduction of at least 25 per cent.
Yet when that bin had passed the ordeal of
this Chamber and through the dark mys-
terious manipulationS of the conference
Ommlttee. where no voice was heard but
that of the friends of high duties, it was
found that the alleged reduction Of p per
cent had BY this same process been con
verted into an increase Of 121 per cent,
making the duties which were AZ per cent
A. per cent. On this occasion that plan,
which has been again tried consists, first,
IN changing al valorem to specific duties;
to both specific and ad valorem duties: to
specific duties based upon values and al
yalo1em duties added. And where this
could not be conveniently done, or done
with sufficient mystifcation to conceal it,
changes of classification have been made.
1t is almost impossible for any but an
expert importer to ascertain precisely
what these changes mean, but the inten-
tion is plain enough TO the humblest un
derstanding. Is not this the acme of pam
| pered insolence; the very incarnation of
| human selfshness? | do not wonder at
| their thus using the power which they
have acquired over the legislation of their
| country; it is quite natural that they should
| 90 quite to the end of their teeth, if there
| be any end to it, in their uhhallowed pur
| suit of wealth; but | do wonder that any
| intelligent Christian man outside of the
| favored circle, can be induced to support
| by his vote and influence this shameless
| lnlquity.
These changes of classification and of
| rates of duty are justified, and always
| ha1 1,p1ar ha IF 9; MI nj if
cation and OF preventing fraud against the
| Government by importers. THIS is the
| old cry of sop thief " and must cause
| broad smile on the faces of manufacturers
when they mention it to each other. How
plain ad valorem duty could possibly be
| smplified by the addition of specific
| duty thereto is one of the mysteries of the
trade And how it could be further sim
| plifed by basing specific duty Oh yalu
| alton of the article and adding both to the
ad valorem is still greater mystery; but
when YOU add a half dozen different classi-
| GcatiCns Of the same article, distinguish
| able only by an inperceptible shade Of
| difference in material, tineness or coarse
| ness. and affx different value, a differ
/ ent specific, and different al valOrem
! late uf duty to each classification, the
! smplicatiOn to be found therein becomes
| the greatest mystery Of all.
The same argument appne6 Win even
greater force to questions OF fraudulent
valuation.
Take the woolen schedule-pa paragraph
354 cloth shawls,' etc, valued at not
exceeding 40 cents per pound, % cents
per pound, and 35 per cent. ad yalorem;
valued at above 40 cents per pound and
not exceeding 90 cents, 30 cents per
pound and 40 per cent ad valorem; v,l-
| ued above so cents per pound, 40 cents
per pound and 40 per cent ad vaiorem
Here there are three different estima ions
of value in the first place three differ nj
specific duties and three different ad VA
| loren duties on the same altlce Surely
this is slmplication with vengea ce. The
next section. 300, Channel. blankets, and
hats is still worse, comprising four dit
1erent estimates of value four specific
rates Of duty, and four ad valorem rates
Of duty. The next paragraph, No 336,
..wom-n'S aud children's dress goods,
etc If possible, still more complicated.
SO il is through the whole OF the wooitu
ard the cotton schedules. Proof of this
is found in sections 316, 31S, 219, 321,
1923 aud 424. In the metal schedule
these tricks abound, and wherever it was
practicable to do so specific duties have
been added to or substituted for ad va
loren. and classificatiOns changed. In