The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1888-04-11
SOMERSET PA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL H. 1885,

comparable with it, let rs first OF all
possess il il is ours, and We should en-
joy it.
Wool oS TIE FREE IIST
is a deadly assault upon great agricul-
, tural interest, and viii fall with terrible
severity upon 100000 people. 1t viii
, destroy invested capital, nnsettle estab-
lished values, wrest from the iockmasters
their lifetime earnings. bankrupt thous-
ands OF our best and most industrious
farmers, and drive them into other
branches ofagri ail;ure already overcrowd-
ell. 1t is vicious and indefensibIe blow
at the entire agricultural interests OF the
country.
The report then goes on TO say if the
provision of the bin concerning WOODEN
goods and manufactures Of wool become
law, the whole ready made clothing busi-
ness Of the country will be transferred to
European rivals
The provisions proposed by the bill
under the fax and hemp, borax, earthen-
ware, glass, plate glass, lumber, salt and
metal scheduleism, the report declares,
will, if enacted into law, be disastrous,
if not entirely ruinous, to many Ameri-
can industries Under the head of steel
rails, the report says:
If the majority desire to insure the
handing of our steel rail market 10 our
English rivals the proposed duty Of sll
viii accomplish this purpose unless the I
workingrnen who are employed in pro
iucing the rail material are willing 10 1
greatly reduce their freight rates. Have !
the majority any assurance that the +
workingmen and the railroad companies
are willing to accept these conditions I
Neither were heard before the commit
/ tee.
/ WORTHY OF TuauGur.
The SUPPLY of steel rails to the Pacific
coast is now in the hands Of foreigners.
because of the cheap transportation by
water from foreign ports, the existing
duty of Sl7 not being sufficient to enable
our manufacturers to compete for that
! trade 1t il stated that the Atciiison,
( Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company
had lately purchased 10000 tons Of for
eign rails. to be delivered at san Diego
I Cal, and it IS mentioned that another
/ lot Of : 800 tons Of foreign rails had re-
Gently been sold by foreign makers for
seriously cripple. if not 10 destroy, the
manufacture Of steel rails in this country,
the majority probably do no; realize the
/ full significance of the results which they
invite. 1t should be rendered that our
manufacturers Of steel rails consume
almost one-half Of ali the iron ore and
almost half Ct all the pig iron that the
country produces Ifihis great market
for American iron orcs and pig iron is to
be destroyed, the country need not be
told of the distress which will come TO
labor and the bankruptcy which will
come to producers.
4 hagrant defect OF the bin OF the ma
jority is its preference for al valorem
over specific duties, although the testi-
nony OF almost every Secretary of the
Treasury since the foundation Of the
Government mas been recorded against
the frauds upon the Treasury which ad
valorem duties invite and foster And
here says the report we detect a mani
rest purpose to Etvor foreign maBufac-
turers at the expense Of our people. for if
ad valorem duties have 50 operated in
the past as to encourage fraudulent i'm
portations OF foreign goods, they may be
expected to do 50 again.
THAT Awful srKPLrs.
The next question considered is that
of the surplus, and upon this report
says:
If it be the purpose of the majority to
reduce the income Of the Government
from custom sources, we beg to remind
them that that purpose will not be ac-
eonIplished by the scaling down ofiuties,
as proposed in the bill. II is well known
and supported by almost universal expcr-
ienco, that mere diminniion of duties
tends TO stimulate foreign impor;ations,
and thereby increase the revenue and
augment the surplus. If 8 the absolute
peril 10 the business of the country,
described by the President in his mes
sage last December, resulting from an
existing and increasing surplus, vas i'm
minent and we'll founded, how easily he
could have ayertei it by the purchase of
outstanding bonds with the surplus mon
ey in Treasury. power which he posses
sed, clear and undotibted, under the act
of March 3, 1881, which is as follows:
That the Secretary Of the Treasury
may at any time apply the surplus mon
ey in the treasury, and not otherwise ap-
propriated, or so much thereof as may
be considered proper, 10 purchase or
redemption of nited States bon,Isr
To have thus used the surplus would
have been direct aud business-lke. Just
what prudent business man would have
done with his idle noney-caIled in his
creditors and applied it to his debts The
President failed to do this, and when
Congress assembled, the condition
confronted it. II the House had even /.
then appreciated the situation, how ,
promptly and easily it could hate, in
part at least, relieved it. 1t could have
been done in the first week Of December
by abolishing the entire tobacco tax,
amounting TO s30000,Oo0 annually, and ;
thereby
REMOVED 4 GREAT BURDEN
from the agricultural producers Of the ,
country, by releasing, also, from taxation, ,
alcohol useI in the arts and man fac ;
lures, which it is estimated would have
received a practically unanimous vote in /;
the House, and the approval of the coun-
try. and have stopped the collection Of
S3,000,eS. month, and if it had been
promptly done, shere wouId now be Si2,- ,
O09,00e less of the surplus in the Traes-
ury, and VIC venture TO predict that the
reduction that could have been thus Sc
cured was greater than the reduction ,
which will be accomplished by this bill. ,
The majority failed to seize the eppor-
7. II = Al