Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-05-09

markets In larger measure than ct presents TO-.
our own farmers without any increase of revenue.
In the case Of manufactures Of wool. where tho
importations have been enormous because Of In
adequate duties, there can be no reasonable
doubt that the rates Of duty proposed will d.
minish rather than increase the revenue. Your
committee conclude, therefore. that the proposed
bill, II enacted into law, will certainly reduce the
revenue from imports at least sGo,038, $50, and
probably more, and from the internal revenue
$40, 1871 7S. or. in the aggregate, ST.. 264.4l4.
Mr.. M'KENNA'S DISSENTING REPORT.
Mr.. Mckenna, of California, dissents from
the sugar schedule of the bill.
1.-THE bill In its sugar schedule, he says, makes
an arbitrary and invidious distinction between the
sugar industry and other iadustries-a distinction
Inconsistent with the principle upon which the
bill Is framed and upon which 1t Gun alone be
justified. Protection, as understood politically, L.
the clear right Of all industries or of none. The
means of 1t Is n tariff, not ~larsesses from the treas
ury. The distinction Is not one Of words. 1t Is a
distinction firm and clear in its substance ald
effect. A tariff may be u tax; a bounty is Ger.
tainly one, fixed and unavoidable, and increases
with the production 1t encourages. A tariff tax
lessons with the production it encourages and final
ly vanisheS In the completion of home production.
A bounty abandons the home market to the for.
eign product; a tariff secures the home market to
the home product. A bounty, therefore, Is as
useless as it is burdensome, and as odious as 1t Is
useless. 1t has no justification in either the prac.
tice, the principles or the professions of the Re-
publican party. If a bounty is useful for sugar,
why not for other things? In all the range of or.
tices with which the bill deals, Is none fit for
bounty but sugar? If a bounty is q tax of less
burden than Is a tariff, why are sugar consumers
selected for favor? A Republican house of repre-
sentatives should not set this example. Who can
say where the contagion Of it will stop2"
THE bill presented" he adds, ''gives a
bounty to silk cocoons and raw silk. It is as
Objectionable as a bounty on sugar"
REPORT OF THE MINORITY.
The minority report is signed by all of the
five Democratic members of the committee.
1t begins with the following statement:
Upon the question of collecting such revenue
from duties on imported goods as may be neces.
sary to pay the whole or a part of the cost of con.
Quoting the government when economically ad.
ministered, we are now at the parting of the ways.
Whether such taxes shall be imposed upon the
people for the primary purpose Of raising money
for the payment of the ordinary public expenses
and the public debts, or be imposed for the pur.
pose of increasing the cost of production and the
prices of certain articles of domestic consumption,
Is aquestion upon which there is an irreconcilable
difference of opinion between the two great pollti.
cal parties of the country; and this question in its
plainest form is directly presented for considera,
ton by the bill reported by the majority
According to the statement made before
the committee, the protected industries of the
country have never been at any time in our
history in such a depressed and discouraglng
condition as they are now. After nearly
thirty years of continuous protection by
government taxation for their support, a
great many of them are reported to he on
the very verge of bankruptcy and ruin,
while very few of them, according to the
testimony, are yielding a fair profit upon the
capital invested. A great many of the par
ties engaged in these industries have declared
III the course of the investigation that the
slightest reduction in the rates of duty now
imposed upon competing foreign products
would compel them to close their works and
discharge their employees, and others have
even gone so far as to assert that they will be
forced to 60 out of the business if the rates
of taxation are not increased. At the same
time, the laborers lin those industries are
complaining of insufficient wages, repeated
suspensions of work, and a general condition
of uncertainty and insecurity in their rela-
tions to those who give them employment.
The report states that the remedy proposed
by the majority is the imposition of more
taxes upon every article of foreign origin
which the people of this country desire to
buy, and for which they are ready and an1.
ious to exchange the cotton which they can.
not spin, the corn and wheat which they cannot
consume, the oil and coal which they cannot burn,
and many other products Of our farms, our forests
and our mines.
Under our unwise system Of taxation there Ia
no market which will pay our industries, and to
attempt to remedy the evil by increasing the cost
IF nrnH, notion Il i'm ,Ir 70 L1-;, -A A.
and will greatly aggravate the situation. 1t can
be demonstrated that we have the capacity to
produce most of the manufactured staples at less
cost and ut the same time pay higher wages than
can be earned in any other country in the world,
but In order to do SO we must have some imports
from other countries free of duty.
The object Of the proposed silk bounty is to dis.
courage importations which cost the people moth
Ing unless they saw proper to use silk goods, and
to encourage the production Of those articles here
at an expense of 81 a pound for the silk and seven
cents a pound for the cocoons, in addition to the
actual value OF the articles themselves, and this
expense is to be charged to all the people, whether
they use silk goods or not, and be paid out Of the
public treasury. At the same time the bill pro-
poses to make enormous increases In the rates on
wooden goods, which all our people are compelled
to purchase and use, and very large increases In
the rates on some kinds Of cotton and linen goods
which are absolutely necessary for the health and
comfort Of all classes.
Continuing, the report says the bill increases
the taxes on wool and woolens SIS, 500, 900 per an
mum, according to last years importations, but
really to a much greater sum, while taxes on to-
bacco to the amount Of S., $50, 994 are abolished.
The bill increases the rates of duty on all classes
of wool imported into this country. These In
creases have been made principally upon the de-
mand Of q few large fockmasters in the state of
Ohio, and they will be defended by the majority
upon the alleged ground that they are beneficial
to the farmers Of the country who keep sheep on
their lands. The fact is that wool is one of our
least important agricultural products in point of
actual value, and by comparison with others, even
in the state of Ohio. 1t does not amount to more
than 3 per cent. of the total value of farm prod.
ucts in that state.
1t is impossible to protect the farmer from for
eign competition in his home market, for he has
no such competition, and the insertion or reten-
ton Of these articles in a tariff bill is a device
which will deceive no one who gives q moments
thought to the subject.
How the farmers are to be helped by the In
creased duties on live animals we are wholly un-
able to see, and in our opinion, if this bill passes,
they will be the first to demand a restoration of
the old rates, or that these importations be made
free.
No reduction has been made in the amount Of
duties imposed under any schedule except that