Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-17
SUGAR TO BE FREE.


dav more than equals that when is lnVesee9 ~
any other branch of our iron and steel indus
GROWING INDUSTRY.
Pic iron Is made in 25 States of the Union.
It's manufacture is increasing rapidly in many
States. largely as the result Of the protective
dutv which has long given encouragement to
its production. 1t has had a marvelously
rand growth in the Southern and Western
States IN the last ten years, and it is to-day the
leading manufacturing industry south OF the
Potomac and Ohio rivers 1t has been the
most potent of all influences in the industrial
rehabilitation of the So til.
OF sugar the report says: THE committee
recommend that sugar up to and including NO.
Is, Dutch standard of color and molasses. be
placed on the free list, with duty of four
tenthS of l cent per pound on rehned sugar
above No. 10. and that a bounty Of cents per
pound be paid from the Treasury for period
OF 10 years for all sugar polarlZing at least 10
per cent made in this country from cane beets
or sorghum produced in the United States. In
1858 the consumption of sugar in the
United States was l,469,997 tons, or
53l pounds per inhabitant. OF this
only lS9 Sl4 tons were produced in the United
States, and l,2S0,lSS tons, or seyen-elghths OF
our consumption. were imported. So large q
proportion of our sugar is imported that ne
home production of sugar does not materially
affect the price. and the duty is therefore a tax
which is added TO the price not only OF the i'm
ported but of the domestic product. which Is
not true of duties imposed on articles produced
or made here substantially TO the extent OF our
wants.
SOME SUGAR STATISTICS.
In 1889 the duties collected on imported sugar
and molasses amounted TO S55,975,6l0. Add to
this the increase of price of domestic sugar
arising from the duty. and it is clear that the
duty on sugar and molasses made the cost OF
sugar and moIasses consumed by the people OF
this country at least S64 600 OOO or about 81 for
each man, woman and child in the United
States. more than it would have been II no
such duties bad been levied, and the domestic
product had remained the same. Even on the
assumption that with proper encouragement
we shall eventually be able to produce all or
nearly all the sugar required Tor the
ton which your committee believe to
be sustained by many facts. Notwithstanding
the slow progress thus far made in sugar cult
ure in this counury-this announcement can
be given much more economically and effect
ually by bounty of cents per pound, invov-
ing the expenditure of but a little more than
s.. .000. 900 per annum with the present produc-
tion of sugar in this country than by the i'm
position of a duty involving the collection of
sos 6ld in duties in the last fiscal year. not to
mention the amount indirectly involved.
When it is considered that this increase in
cost due TO the duty falls on an article of prime
necessity food, your committee are per-
suaded that justice as well as good policy re-
Quires that such an unnecessary burden in the
way of direct tax should be removed from
sugar and that the encouragement required to
induce the production of sugar in the United
States should be gwen through bounty rather
than by an mpcrt duty.
Ia providing that not only raw sugar. but
also sugar up TO and including No. l6, shall be
admitted tree of duty, All opportunity is given
for the free Introduction of yellow sugars
suited for family use-an arrangement which
will secure to our people sugar at the lowest
price existing in the markets of the world.
while even imported white refined sugar will be
subject to a duty of only four-tenths of one
cent per pound.
A BOUNTY ON SILKS, TOO.
With view to increasing the number of gain
full occupations open TO the farmer, the COM
mittee has recommended bounty to the grow
ers OF silk Reference is made in the report to
the successful experiments in silk culture of
the Department OF Agriculture, which, it is
said. fully warrant the bell i that the industry
is entirely pracucable in many of the States.
As 4 duTy OF 81 a pound would be required to
protect the American silk reeler the committee
has decided that SO hiCha duty would embar-
rass the silk weaving interests without sufficient
reason. and to secure the industry as speedily
as possible. offers the necessary differential of
q bounty OF 81 per pound, or about 20 per cent
protection on leeled silk.
: The minority report is signed by all the Dem
CORA iic members of the committee. 1t saws: |
f1he minority contends for the principle OF |
Just and equal taxation upnn all. according TO |
Their ability 10 bear the burden, while the ma, |
jorIty has, in this bin, thoroughly committed |
itself to the policy of unjust and unequal
taxation of the many tor the benefit of the few.
We are as anxious as the majority can possibly
be to prOIuote and encourage American indus
tries and advance the interests of American
labOrers, and those who i.upute to us any other
purpose or design either misunderstood or mis-
represent our position. But we believe that
both these objects can be accomplished by re-
ducing the burdens of taxation and not by in
creasInG them, and that the benefits thus Sc
cured Will be tar more permanent ana far more
satisfactory to those directly concerned than
anv supposed advantage that can result from
different policy.
CRITICISING THE MAJORITY
The majority, after months of patient and
laborious investigation, has been able TO satisfy |
a part only Ct the demands made upon il. The |
only remedy is TO remove, as far as possible ar
tificial burdens and restrictions and give to all
our industries an equal chance IN the field of |
competition at home and abroad According |
to the statements made before the committee /
tie protected industries of the country have |
never been, at any time in our history in such 4
q depressed and discouraging condition they |
are now After nearly 80 years of continuous |
protection, by government taxation for their
support. great many of them reported to |
be on the very verge of bankruptcy and ruin.
while very few 9f them, according to the testi- |
mony, are yielding fair profit upon the capi-
tai invested.
"A great many of the parties engaged in
Klese industries have declared, in the course of
our Investigation, that the slightest reduction ]
in the rates of duty now imposed upon COM
peting foreign products would compel them to |
close their works and discharge their employees. 1
and others have even gone SO far as to assert |
that they will be forced to 90 out of business if
the rates of taxation are not increased. At the |
Same time the laborers in those industries are 1
complaining of insufficient wages, repeated |
suspensions of work and general condition of |
uncertainty and insecurity in their relations to |
those who give them employment
ONE OF THE POINTS MADE.
These laborers, fully realizing the facts that |
this system has wholly failed to increase their |
earnings or improve their condition in any way. |
have been compelled TO organize trades unions |
and resort to other methods of ombinatiop
and cooperation for self protection and these
various organizations now afford the only ef- /
hclent means at their command for the preser-
Natlon even OIL the existing rates of wages. |
Wien capital and labor unite III declaring that
our protected industries are not prosperous
under that system, although it was designed |
ana mas oeeh maintained Tor their special ben
eht the conclusion Is inevitable that there is a |
vice in 1t somewhere that ought to be removed
for there is no reason to dou bit that in a country
like this every productive industry would be
reasonably prosperous if a wise and inst rev |
enue and financial policy prevails
THE ma jority bill is framed upon the assu,nn |
ton that as our industries grow older thew
grow weaker and more dependent upon the |
bounty of the Government. 1t deyoiyes unon |
those advocates now to explain, if they can |
why it is that after low tariff policy has been
abandoned for more than quarter of a cen |
tury and high tariff policy substituted the |
manufacturing and mechanical Industries of |
the country are less able to maintain hem
selves than they were when the change was |
made; and when this is done, it still will re- |
main for them to show upon what principle of
Justice or sound public policy consumers can
be periodically subjected to additional tara |
tion, not for the benefit of the Government
which does not want the revenue but for the |
exclusive benefit of private business enter
prises which are not able to sustain them
selves"
WOOL, SILK AND TOBACCO
The silk bounty is severely criticised in the
/