Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-04-30
How III Will Work,

| Mr. Carlisle's report in behalf of the mi
nority of the ways and means committee
upon the Mckinley tariff bill gives facts and
figures that enable the public to understand
fully how the measure will work in practice
The bill increases the present duties on tin.
plate, wool, woolens, linens, cotton goods,
cutlery, metals, NC, to the extent of $685.
600, 600. Il places on the free list articles
which last year yielded revenue of Sc, $685.
| 500, and reduces the duties Oh sugar and
molasses by $54, 922, ITO. The net increase
of tariff taxation under the bill as it stands
is, therefore, something over $4,000,0 600.
The bounty of 2 cents per pound to sugar
growers in Louisiana and Kansas, aggregat-
lug about $1,000, 900, will be balanced, it is
thought, By the increased income derived
from an advance OF 120per cent. in the duty
on tin plate, What the bounty of 81 a
pound on silk aud cents pound on CO.
coons will cost the treasury is not stated.
| This bounty, it is worth noting, is to be
paid by taxpayers who do not use silk goods
as well as by those who do, and is to be an
expense in addition to the cost of the silk
itself. We imported last year abroad goods
to the value Of $745, 131, 652, and paid for
them mainly with our surplus agricultural
products The value. in fact, of our exports
of the products Of the field and forest was
over 1924, 800 600, or over 76.5 per cent. of
our whole exports. AS the foreign demand
for the farmers products depends strictly
upon the extent of our purchases of foreign
goods, it can easily be seen what must be
the effect of increased duties laid with the
object of diminishing importations. With
the lesseniug OF imports there will be
lessenipg of exports. That implies a
lessened demand for wheat, corn, cotton,
&C., and diminished commerce, fewer
ships at our ports, poorer earnings for rail-
roads leading to coast ports, aud q general
depression of trade. This depression must
be enhanced by the increased cost of living
content plated in the bill. Mr.. Mckinley
avows that his bill "does not SO much con-
Germ itself with prices as with the promo
ton of home production" This means that
tie consumer must make up his mind to
higher prices IL order that manufacturing
at home may De made tD pay better than it
does. THIS may snit persons whose incomes
are SO large as 70 bear considerable deduc-
lions without discomfort, but the masses of
the people, who already find it hard to make
ends meet, may perhaps after a while, un
der the influence Of tariff burdens, lapse in
to complete indifference to the prosperity of
manufacturers. Mr.. Carlisle notes the
chaffy nature of the supposed benefits the
bill offers the farmer. 1t raises the duties
on agricultural products to an immense
heighi, the idea meant to be conveyed be-
ing that the golden rewards of protection"
are hereafter to be showered upon the horny
handed son of toll. But the idea is fala-
cious. AS our farmers encounter 10 foreign
competition in the home market, tariff to
protect them against such competition is
deusion and is meant to be snare. a few
figures make this clear. In 1889 we ex.
ported 60, 500 929 bushels of corn and i'm
ported but 1888 bushels. We exported
312, 1856 barrels of corn meal and imported
1896 bushels. We exported 46, 414. 1879 bush
els of wheat and imported only 1,946 BUSH
els. Thus the boon to the farmers
of the entire country in return for
is to be the exclusion of 2,3SS bushels of
corn, 396 bushels of meal, and !, 946 bushels
of wheat This magnificent benefit is to
reconcile him to higher prices for clothing,
tableware, carpets, earthenware, glass ware,
agricultural implements, tinware, wire for
fences, &C., together with largely dimin-
ished foreign demand for his surplus prod.
ucts. In his address to the farmers en-
coursgiug them to expect relief from the
duties soon to be imposed in their interest
upon imported agricultural products, Secre-
tary Rusk estimates the value of such i'm
potts at present at about $3.50, 600, 600.
These, he declares, could all be produced
on our own sol! "with proper encourage
ment." The list includes, however, $685.
301, 1894 for sugar and molasses, which the
Mckinley bill puts on the free list; $11 49,
434 for carpet woods which cannot be pro
duced in this country; So, 6Sl, 1868 for ami
mails imported for breeding purposes; S.
949, S96 for tropical fruits; $25, 1877, oil for
hides; $40 076, 500 for tobacco of a kind that
cannot be grown here; $12, aS7. 427 for india
rubber; $40, 1888 ,229 for silk, and other mil
lions for gums, spices, cork, ivory, oils
articles this country cannot, nnder existing
conditions, ever hope to produce. The sug-
gestion that relief is to be had by growing
them is perfectly absurd. 1t is impossible,
We think, to fool the farmers again on the
tariff with devices SO ransparent.-BoH.
Sun.