The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-12-21
OUR OWN MEDICINE.
France is Mixing Dose Of McKIn-
leyism for Us.

Tariff making is a game that two can
play at. We have had our inning, with
Mckinley at the bat. and now the
French are having their inning. We
fancied that we could build high tariff
wall that would keep out the s'cheap
pauper made goods of Europe and that
the matter would end there. Not so,
however A commission is now at work
In Paris revising the French tariff, and
from all reports that come to us the
French have learned the Mckinley les
son that to '.revise" means to revise up
ward.
The motives assigned by the French
commission for increasing duties should
be an interesting matter to those people
who hold the protectionist notion that
one nation can obstruct commercial in
tercourse with another without any
further harm to itself than the loss of
imports. for, as in this case, retalatory
legislation may follow which may re-
suit in a loss Of exports. One of the
reasons assigned by the French tariff
commission for the higher duties now
proposed is s'the example given by diff
ferent foreign nations" III. Paul Leroy
Beauiieu, one of the most distinguished
Of French economists, writes for
rEconomiste Francois series of articles
on the tariff as proposed by the commits
sion. This commission pre6xed report
to its proposed tariff bill, in which the
upward tendency of tariffs in various
countries is described. Criticising that
part of the report which refers to the
United States, M. Leroy -Beaulieu says:
s.The expose Of motives, which serves
as preface to the new tariff bill pro-
posed by the French government, next
leaps the Atlantic at bound. In Amer
lea it finds soil upon which it delights
to expatiate. The United States have
not ceased to increase their tariffs; that
of July II, 1882, adopted during the war
of secession, and the duties Of which
were already very high, has been revised
in an upward direction by whole series
of laws, codi6ed in 1874, modified again
in 1875 and in 1879, recast by the act of
March 3, 1888, then by another still
more vigorous Of Oct. 6, 1890, and forti-
fed by the rigorous formaiities which
Mr.. Mckinley has invented, the new
regime of American tariffs makes the
unhappy importer slave of the custom
house authorities, which can use these
duties against him almost ad ibitum."
In later article the same writer pro-
tests against copying the Mckinley
bill" and adds: Aside from the fact
that, Judging from the recent elections,
the Americans are not very well satisfied
with their Mckinley tariff law, there
are some things that must be overlooked
in big oyergrown child, somewhat
coarse and brutal, Wanting itself very
falsely as being sufficient unto itself.
All this talk about retaliation
has a vexatious appearance Of being pro
voked."
From this it may be judged that in
their new tariff law the French are put
ting rod in pickle for us; that not only
are they copying many features Of the
Mckinley bill, but that they viii levy
duties which are aimed especially at our
products. An examination of the French
project justifes this conclusion.
In the first place this bill imposes two
duties on nearly every article. First is
the so called minimum duty, or the one
to be collected in ordinary cases. Above
this and about rs per cent higher is
the maximum duty reserved for those
nations which do not grant France re-
ciprocal favors in trade. But this is not
in reality the maximum duty, for by
certain article Of the bill the govern
ment is allowed in some cases even to
increase the maximum drty-a provis-
ion made, doubtless, as a counter irritant
for our McKinleyisrn.
To give free reins to the governing
power in this way is in a line with po-
htical ideas prevalent in Europe, but it
is not more Objectionable than what our
protectionist congress has just done In
the humbug reciprocity feature ingraft-
ed upon the Mckinley law. This so
called reciprocity allows our president
to impose tax upon our own people on
their coffee, tea, sugar and hides, unless
the nations producing these articles re-
duce their tariffs on our products. Very
probably the French copied this feature
Of the Mckinley law as q smart Yankee
trick, wen worthy Of imitation in
country where government by the peo-
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