The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-10-05

trusted with the responsibility of the
customs administration and by honest
importers and merchants, as well as by
intelligent political economists and leg
1strators of every shade of economic
belief. When business is depressed and
foreign prices abnormally low, when
foreign competition is most to be feared
| and when a defensive barrier is most
needed by domestic producers, then ad
valorem rates the lowest protection, are
reduced and the depression is intensified.
On the other hand. when foreign values
are the highest, rates are highest, and
restriction enlarges into prohibition
| 1t 1t is desirable. sliding scale of duties
| should be adopted. Rates should in
crease as foreign prices diminish. The
proposal to apply this principle to all
manufactures of wool would be unsat.
! isfactory and destructive. The rate
proposed in the wool schedule would
prevent any importation of low-grade
fiannels, blankets and hats of wool, and
all low grade cassimeres and other
cloths which enter into the cloth
ing of the great mass of our
people, but would be insufficient
on all fine classes of dress goods and
cloths for men 3 wear.
The majority says the free trade ten.
dency of the party conceded in these
PROPOSITIONS to cripple or destroy the
numerous Industries are clearly brought
into view by au examination of the list
of articles which the bill proposes to
place on the free list. OF 104 items
from which the duties are removed,
nearly one half, forty eight in number,
are manufactured articles, sixteen agri-
cultural product, eleven articles now
free of duty or without commercial i'm
portance, and twenty. one articles which
now pay a small revenue duty, but
which are of such a character that the
reTovale of the duties is unobjection-
able.
The report here embodes a list of
OF about fifty manufactured articles
from which the duty is proposed to be
removed by the Mills bill. Refer
ring to which list the major
NV says: :" This is free trade
IN concrete, and the list furnishes
conclusive evidence of the intent of the
House bill, which cannot be neutral
!Zed by the eleventh hour disclaimers of
its supporters. Upon investigation it
Will be found that with the exception of
tin plates the supply of the above arti-
oASS 1OA db 10 uOW
furnished to great extent by domes-
tic producers, whose business would be
in most instances at once destroyed by
the adoption of the bill. The majority
report estimates that at least $50 ,000,-
600 of capital and 100000 werkmen are
nowso employed. 1t declares in many
cases where manufactured articles are
placed On the free list. the duty is re-
tanned on the materials from which it
is manufactured, and that this discrim-
lnation would act as prohibition on
its production in this country. The
provision admitting German looking
glass plates free the majority believes to
be the first attempt that has been made
in the American tariff to discriminate
between the productions of the various
foreign states, and thinks it can be
be safely assumed that The producers of
France, Belgium and England would
not consent to this discrimination in
favor of German manufacturers.
In several cases articles are free un-
der one description and dutiable under
another. In great number o. in
stances ma terials used by manufacture
ers are dutiable at one rate, while the
finished products are dutiable at a
lower rate.