The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1890-12-18
OUR OWN MEDICINE.
FRANCE ls MIXING A DOSE or
M'klNLEYlsM ron Us,

|
A Commission a. wsrk In Paris on
New Tarin-iiigher Duties 10 Retaiiate
Against Us--The American Farmer WIN
Fay The Piper
Tariff making Is u game that two can
play at, We have had our inning with
Mckinley at tho bat, and now tho
French arc having their inning, We
fanoied that We could build high taidif
wall that would keep out the "cheap
pauper made goods Of Europe" ANA that
tho matter would end there, Not no,
however A commission ~ now at work
IN Paris revising the French tariff, and
from all reports that come TO ua tho
French have learned tho Mckinley les
son that TO oreyiao" means TO revise up
ward,
The motives assigned by the French
commission for inereasing duties should
be an interesting matter to those people
who hold tho protectloniat notion that
ono nation can obstruot commercial IN
tercourso with another without any
further harm 10 itself than the loss OF
imports, for, ~ In this case, retaliatory
legislation may follow which may re-
mlt In a loss Of exports, Ono OF tho
reasons asdgned by tho French tanlf
commission for the higher duties now
proposed Ia "tho example glyon by diff
ferent foreign nations" M, Paul Leroy
Beauliou, ono Of tho most distinguished
Of French economlsla, writes for
lEconomiHto Franoaia u seros Of articles
on tho tari0 as proposed by the commits
sion, This commission profyed u report
10 Ia proposed tarin bin, In which tho
upward tendency Of tariffs in varioua
countries ia described CHHeling that
part Of the report which retem 10 the
United stutes M. Lmoy- Bonuliou aayai
"Tho expose Of motives, which serves
ah q preface 10 the new tarif bill pro-
posed by tho French government, next
leaps tho Atlantic NJ u bound, In Amer
lea Il finds soil upon which II delights
10 oxpatiale Tho United statos have
not conaod to incrcnse their tlrlsi that
OF July II, 1862, adopted during tho war
Of secession and the duties Of which
were already very high, has been revised
In an upward direction by whole series
OF laws, oodihod Ia 1874, modified again
IN 1875 and in 1879, rccagt by the not Of
March o. 1893, then by another still
more vigorous Of oct o. $780, and forti-
fed by tho rigorous fomalitIes which
Mr., Mckinley has invented, tho now
regime Of American tariffs makes tho
unhappy importer slave Of tho custom
house authorities, which can use these
duties against him almost nd libitum,' y
In later article the same writer pro-
tcsa against copying the Mckinley
bill" and addai "Asido from the faot
that, judging from the recent elections,
tho Americans ore notycry well satisfied
with their Mckinley tariff law there
are some things that must bo overlooked
Ia big oyorgrown child, somewhat
coareo aud brutal, Wanting itself Very
falsely "a being sufficient unto itself
- All this talk about rotalaton
has vcxOtious appearance Of being pro
yolycd."
From this ~ may De Judged that in
their new tariif law the French IRE put
ting u rod IN Pickle for us; that not only
are thoy copying many features Of tho
Mckinley bill, but that they viii levy
duties which are aimed especially NJ our
products, An examination Of the French
project iustaes this conclusion,
In the first place this bin imposes two
duties ON nearly every article, First Is
the NO called minimum duty, or the one
TO bo collected In ordinary casos, Above
this aud about 20 per cont, higher is
the maximum duty reserved for those
nations which do not grant France re-
ciprocal iavorB In trade, But this 10 not
In reality the maximum duty, for by a
certain article of tho bill the govern
mont is allowed IN some oasos .cvon TO
increase tho maximum duty-a provis-
ion made, doubtless, as counter irritant
for our McKinloyism,
10 give FREQ reins 10 tho governing
power In this way Is in line with po-
liticnl ideas prevalent In Europe, but II
~ not moro Objectionable than what our
protectiopist congress has just done In
tho humbug reciprocity feature ingraft-
ed upon the Mckinley law. This so
called reciprocity allows our president
TO impose q .taN,upon our own people on
their coffee, ten, sugar aud hides, unless
Che nations producing these articles ro-
duco their tariffs on our products. Very
probably tho French copied this feature
Of tho Mckinley law rs u smart Yankee
trick, wei worthy Of imitation in
country where government by the peo-
plo Is 30 littlo developed us in France
Az amy r0te, we may expect that the
heavier duties Of the proposed French
tariff, whether the maximum or ultra
maximum, are intended mainly for our
producta, since II Is precisely our two
Mckinley laws---the customs ajminis-
trative law aud tho tariff law proper
which have had most to do with arous-
jng the domand for higher tariff duties
In France. II is against us that the pres
eut high tarif agitation Ia France has
been directed.
This fact makes II Of special interest
10 us TO inquire what some OF the pro
posed French duties are, They concern
mainly our agricultural products. In
1889 we sold France 20000,0O0 pounds o.
lard, aud this year 4l,000,00 pounds,
Lard Is at present admitted FREQ into
Franco, but II is TO 90 on the dutiable
list at tho minimum duty Of one cent