Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-08-06

large increase or dutieS though the
committee neglected to assign any
reason for that increase beyond the
demand from the representative wool
growers of the country"
This affords another example of how
the protected interest Of the country are
allowed to write their demands" intoo our
tariff laws. The theory of protection is
that the lawmakers examine the con-
dition of the country and then decide
that protection" is needed, and this Is
accordingly given. In point of fact, the
thing is never done in this way; but the
hungry interests come fiocking to Con-
gress to impose their demands" upon
committee that usually knows very
little about trade and industry and is only
too willing to have its action guided
by men who know what they want This
is the way tariff bills to defend s'Ameri
can interests" are concocted. 1t is the
men who want to fill their own pockets
who rush before committees of Congress
and prate about protecting American
labor from disastrous foreign compe-
tition."
AS the Senate committee had no rea-
son to give Senator Plumb further than
1.-THE demand Of the representative wool
growers of the country" Mr.. Wind
mueller undertook to show the Senator
that there was no good reason to in
crease the duties on camel's hair and
coarse wool; and he undertook to show
up also the iniquity of the uniform
! and honest classification" which the
committee said it had given at the de
mand of the representative wool-grow-
ers of the country"
The present rates and the increases
are as follows on coarse wools: On wool
| valued at II cents a pound or less the
duty is ~ cents a pound, which ia
equivalent to "a per cent ad valorem,
and this is changed by the committee to
80 per cent for woods valued at 13 cents
a pound or less; on coarse wool worth
more than IL cents a pound the duty is
| cents, which IS equivalent to 80 45 pei
cent, this being raised in the present
bill to so per cent on wool above IL
cents pound.
So much for the duties; but here ID
where the uniform and honest classic.
cation" comes in and effects dou bling
up of duties in way to delight the po-
litical shepherds of Ohio who made the
demand" The bill provides that ii
any bale of wool of one class contains
any portion of wool of higher class the
whole bale must pay the duty of that
higher class; and further, that if any
sorting of the wool has taken place the
| duty shall be doubled.
This is what the political shepherds
demanded" and what they got. Mr..
Windmueller shows that, inasmuch as
all carpet woods are sorted before i'm.
portation, the rates put down in the bill
will have to be doubled; that is to say,
on wools worth IS cents or less the duty
will be "a per cent; on the higher grades
100 per cent Our political shepherds
know how to make demands" for their
own interests. The plea that the polit.
ical shepherds make is, not they have
any carpet wools to sell, but that these
imported carpet wools are sometimes
/ used to make cloth for the peoples
| clothing-which, from the shepherds
standpoint, is thing to be stamped out
by the iron heel of a Mckinley Tariff
| bill. Carpet wools must be made
so expensive that the wicked manu-
facturers shall not be able to put
them into our clothing, in order that the
| pOIlClcaI SnepnoruS may get nlgh0T
prices for their wool. This will mean
dearer carpets for the people; but what
do the shepherds care for that? They
are looking out for number one!
Meanwhile it is highly instructive to
note that shoddy men are clamoring for
the Mckinley wool duties They want
to feather their nests too They see
that high prices on wool will cause q
larger demand for their humbug stuff,
and therefore they have taken q great
liking to Mckinley, and nobody is now
supporting the Mckinley bill with more
ardor than the shoddy men.