The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-10-15
THE MCKINLEY BILL.
What Republican Member Of the Con
ference Committee Says.

What Republican Member Of the Con-
ference Committee Says.
The Chicago Inter. Ocean of the Goth
ult. prints the following dispatch from
Washington:
MIR. Dingley. of Maine, member of
the conference committee, who is as
profound student of the tariff as there
is in either house, furnishes this sum-
mary of the effect of the tariff bill: Il
affirm that it is measure to diminish
the burdens of the people and increase
the prosperity of the country. The pro-
tective policy proceeds on the assump-
ton that duty imposed on an article
which we cannot produce, is n tax
which increases the cost of such arti-
Gle to the consumer TO the extent of the
duty; but that protective duty inn
posed upon an article which we can
produce here substantially to the ex-
tent of our wants, is not a tax which
increases the burden To the consumer
This is due to the fact that the duty
in the latter case simply secures the
production or manufacture of the aIti-
Gle here instead of abroad at the lowest
cost possible with the payment of wages
of labor ~ per cent higher on the aver
age in this country than in Europe; and
this encouragement of home industries
not only makes everything cost the con-
sumner less than in any other country in
the world, but also eXerts II potent in
fluence in reducing the "cost" of pro-
duction by giving a stimulus to skill
and inventive genius. Carrying out this
protective policy, the proposed tariff
transfers to the free list imports which
in the last fiscal year were valued at
s109, 1923, 900, and which paid duty, in
this case tax on consumers, amount
ing to $50, 1886, $50. The Mills bill, So
called, transferred less than $23, 00O, 900
to the free list.
1.-The effect of this large addition to
the free list is TO make nearly 80 per
cent of the imports of the United States
absolutely free of duty, inasmuch as on
the basis of last years imports the value
of those which are to be admitted free
of duty under the proposed tariff would
be 1886, S06, 40 against 1875, 1874 ,6s7 duti-
able. This will give us the largest
measure of freedom of trade ever ac-
corded by any tariff act in this country.
Indeed, prior to 1920 almost no imports
were admitted free of duty. Even I'M
der the so-called low tariff of 1916 the
imports free of duty were only ~ per
cent; under the Mills bill, so-called, the
free goods would have been only 40 per
cent, while under the Mckinley tariff
nearly so per cent of all our imports
will be absolutely free of duty.
"When it is borne i'm mind that the
articles transferred to the free list by
the proposed tariff includes such mate
rails used by our industries as jute, iute
butts, MANILA, sisal grass, nickel and
nickel plate, and such articles of food
as sugar, molasses and dried currants,
the Importance of this legislation will
be appreciated The proposed tariff
not only reduces the revenue (estimat-
ed between $40, OOO,O 900 and $50, 900 ,OOO)
but also reduces the average rate of du-
ty on all imports (which of course is the
true measure of the tariff from 80 per
cent ad valorem as against 2si per cent
proposed by the Mills bill. In 1880 the
average duty on all imports was 43f per
cent? in 1868, under the so-called war
tariff, it was 46} per cent. The propos-
ed reduction of the average duty on all
imports to "a per cent shows how large
has been the tariff reduction which has
been made by the Republican party