Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-07
The Changes Made by the Mills.

The Changes Made by the Mills.
We have received several. communica-
tions from Democrats throughout
Southern California who desire US to give
the exact changes made by the Mills
bill in the existing tariff, and this morn
ing we comply with this request. The
Mills bill is without question the wisest
and most conservative treatment Of the
great question OF tariff revision and re-
form that could be accorded by states
men who are seeking solution of the
question with an eye single to the public
good. The more closely it is examined
now that it is completed, the more
clearly will it be seen by workingmen
that its plan is sound and that their in
terests have been carefully looked after +;
that the changes it makes are extremely
moderate, with a view to the general
welfare, and an equally careful determi-
nation to effect injuriously no established
and legitimate industry employing many
workpeople.
Its fundamental idea is to increase the
prosperity of the people at large, and
especially of those engaged in the
manufactures where labor forms a large
part of the cost of the product by making
important raw materials duty free, and
at the same time keeping up the protec-
tive duty on the manufactured products.
Thus, wool is made duty free, and
that part of the duty on woolen goods
which was laid to counterbalance the
wool duty is stricken off; but the duty on
al manufactures of woolens is placed SO
high that the actual protection to this
branch of industry, which employs large
numbers of people, is in every case some
what higher than under the present tariff.
If the bill becomes a law it will result
that the woolen manufacturers and their
workmen will be better able to command
the home market than under the present
tariff, and they will be able, with their
raw material free, to export largely. The
Mills bill will, therefore-as all wooden
manufacturers know who have candidly
examined its wool schedule-give
great impetus to the woolen business. 1t
will immensely benefit the workpeople
in the woolen industry.
The same is true Of many other indus
tries. For instance, lumber is made duty
free. It pays twenty per cent under the
present tariff, and this duty on a prime
necessary of life has created set of
lumber kings in this country, especially
in California. At the same time cabinet
and house furniture, and the whole line
of manufactures Of wood or wood and
iron combined, such as cars and car
riages, sashes, doors and blinds, boats,
ETC., are reduced five per cent from the
rates in the present tariff. Such a re-
duction against twenty per cent reduc-
ton in their raw material, in fact, gives
the workmen in these industries higher
protection than the present tariff, and
should give them, as it should the woolen
operatives, better wages and more steady
employment.
So, again, copper ore is made free in
the Mills bill, it now bears a duty of
seventy per cent, monstrous duty,
which has enriched number of copper
lords in the Michigan mines. Mr..
Browne, Republican and protectionist,
member of Congress from Indiana, said
in his tariff speech that he would make
copper ore free "as quick as lightning"
But manufacturers of brass, in which the
labor is large part of the cost of the
product, are reduced only five per cent,
and the ingenious workmen in that in
dustry will, under the Mills bill, get
larger wages and steadier employment
unless their employers are selfish enough
to'grab the whole advantage. Manufac-
lures ofcopper are unchanged.
The cry of "free trade" which the
Republicans have set up against the
Mills bill is seen in these instances and
could be shown in others to have not the
least ground. It Is just like the cry of
(" Abolitionst" which the pro-slayery
Democrats thirty years ago used to set