The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-05-16
THE TARIFF BILL.
Debate on the Measure Opened In
the House
III. McKinley Speaks In Favor OF HIS Bun
and Mr.. Mills Argues Against it-Hou
the Bill VIII Affect the
Revenue.
The Debate Opened.

Inc OeD8te Openeus
WASHINGTON, May s.-The House
soon after assembling yesterday. wen
into Committee of the Whole upon the
Mckinley Tariff bill, reported from ths
Ways and Means Committee.
Mr.. Mckinley took the floor II
support of the bill In the last political
campaign the tariff had been the absorb
ing question before the people. Il
seemed to him that no extended discus
sion of this great principle was expected
or required or necessary under existing
conditions, for If any one thing was set
tied by the political contest of 1855 il
was that the protective policy as promul
gated by the Republican party in the
platform, as maintained by the Repub
ican party through long series of years
should be secured in any legislation
which was to be had by a Congress chosen
in this great contest and on this mas
tering issue. he interpreted the vic
tory to mean, he interpreted the major
fly in this House TO mean, he interpreted
the incumbency of the Presidency OF
the United States by the present Execu-
tive to mean, that revision of the
tariff was demanded by the people, and
that that revision should be along the
line and in full recognition of the prin-
ciple and purposes of protection. Ap-
plsuse- The people hal spoken and
they asked this Congress to register
their will and embody their verdict into
public law The bill presented by the
Committee on Ways and Means to the
House was a thorough answer to that
demand, in full recognition of the prin-
Ciple and policy Of the protective tariff.
The bill, Mr.. Mckinley said. had not
sbolished the internal revenue tax, as the
Republican party had pledged itself to
10 in the event that abolition was
necessary to preserve the protective
system, because the committee had
found the abolition of the one was not
necessary to the preservation of the
other. The bill recommended the aboli-
ton of all special taxes and the reduc-
ton of the tax on tobacco and it re-
moved the restrictions upon the grow
ers of tobacco. With these exceptions
the internal revenue laws stood as at
present II these recommendations
were agreed to, internal taxation would
be reduced little SIS, 600, 900. The COM
mittee also recommended a provision
requiring all imported articles to bear a
stamp or mark indicating the country in
which such articles are manufactured.
The reason that actuated the commit
tee was that it had become too common
among some of the countries of the
world to copy some of the best known
brands and sell them in competition
with Americas home made products.
The next provision recommended was
one extending and liberalizing the
drawback sections of the law. Under
the existing statute any citizen of the
United States could import an article,
pay duty upon it, make it into COM
plete product, export it and the
Government refunded 90 per cent
of the duty paid on the raw ma
teriaL The committee recommend
ed that hereafter the Government
should retain only one per cent instead
of 10 per cent This would give tc the
people of the United States practically
free raw material for the export trade.
The committee said to capitalists of the
country: 'If you think you can go into
the foreign markets with free raw ma
terial, we give you within one per cent
of free raw material and you try and see
what you can do" Laughter This
provision completely disposed of what
had sometimes seemed an almost I'M
answerable argument, urged by gentle
men on the outside that if the manu-
facturers only had raw material they
eould compete in the markets of the
world.
Mr.. Springer, of Illinois, inquired
whether this provision applied to wool.
Mr.. Mckinley replied that it applied
20 every thing. 1t was asserted by the
minority that the bill would not reduce
the revenues of the Governments but
that on the contrary it would increase
the revenues This statement was mis-
leading. 1t could only be valuable on
the assumption that the importstions of
the present year under this bill would
be equal TO the importation of like arti-
cies under existing law. The instant
duties were increased to fair protective
point that instant the importation
diminished. No one could dispute that
proposition If the bill should become
= law the revenues of the Government
would be diminished from $50, eoo, 900 to
500, ooo, coo.
After discussing the bill more in de-
tail Mr.. Mckinley said that under the
duties fixed by the bill the annual i'm
ports of SIS, eoo, Gee of agricultural prod
acts would be supplied the people of
the United States by the American
farmer rather than by the Canadian
farmer, and that SIS. 0o0. 900 distributed
among the farmers would relieve some
of the depression prevailing among
them and give confidence, courage and
increased ability to raise the mortgages
upon their farms IApplause.l During
the twelve years of reciprocity with
Canada the United States had bought
much more than it had sold What
Canada wanted what other countries
wanted, was free and open market in
the United States What the United
States wanted, If il ever had reciprocity
was reciprocity with equality, re-
ciprccity that was fair, reciprocity that
was J0SS rSt4pEOC4ty Sode "ouIO give
her her share in the trade or
the bargain she made with the old
countries of the world Whenever the
United States had free trade, reciprocity
or low duties it had always been the
loser. But he would not discuss recip-
rocity. This was domestic bill: it was
not foreign bill Applause.
Mr.. Mckinley explained and defended
the wool schedule and the paragraph in
the metal schedule concerning tin-plase
nd raSSad 70 4la consideration 80 -la