Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-10-08
An Inside View of the Tariff Influences.

| Mr.. Henry W. Oliver has been giving to
an interviewer glimpses of the way the
tariff was manipulated to suit certain inter-
ests Mr.. Oliver was member of the
tariff commission of 1882, and has been
since that time sort of consulting counsel
to republican tariff committees. Now that
an agreement has been reached on disputed
points, Mr.. Oliver has found himself at
liberty to leave Washington and return to
Pittsburg, delighted with the changes in
the tariff in favor of Pennsylvania indus
tries. In his opinion the new tariff bill ''has
the best proportioned rates, and is the most
protective bill that has ever been passed."
Upon the latter fact we imagine there will
be but one opinion. 1t is protection carried
almost to the extreme Of prohibition. Its
advantages to Pittsburg are MANY, and
among them he cites with nnction the in.
creased duties that have been placed on
iron ties and tin-plates-the first to give to
Pittsburg the monopoly of iron ties at the
expense of the Southern cotton grower, and
the next to build up business that does
not now exist in sheet iron and steel of
thinness suitable for making tin plates. In
the meantime, and until this tin plate in
dustry is established, heavy tax is placed
upon all the tin-plates imported from Eng
land, and consequently upon all articles of
tin, from domestic utensils to tin.roofng.
The South is to ba taxed on it's cotton ties
but concession ia made to the West on
binder twine, species of fsvoritism which
shows in a glaring light the political par
tisanship which animated the trainers of the
new tariff. On pig-iron, remarks Mr..
Oliver, there was no change, but small
reduction was made on bar and structural
iron, which will not affect the trade. The
New England members wanted to place a
duty as low as half cent per pound on
plate iron aud steel, but word was sent to
the iron and steel manufacturers Of this bold
proposal, and sat their call the representa-
tives of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois
took prompt and determined action to de-
feat it." The New Englanders got worsted
in the struggle, but as an act of grace the
manufacturers assented to reduction of the
seven.tenths and eight-tenths of cent on
boiler plates" "on hoops, bands and
Sheets" says Mr.. Oliver, "the rates fixed
are satisfactory to those industries" Then
follows this remarkable confession: "On
wire rods, wire and its products, nails, tubes
and articles of iron and steel in advanced
forms the rates adopted were those prop0s-
ed by the manufacturers. The House
made reduction on steel rails and carried
It's Dor -6oSint, .sbut the rate," says Mr.. Oliver,
sis still high e6GoSsssgh to prevent importa-
tions." On steel billets there was -6lass<- 6Sas<
agreement between the two houses. The
House insisted on five-tenths per pound, the
Senate on four.tenths per pound, but the
small manufacturers of New England were
so clamorous against any increase of duty
that finally the House gave in and left the
duty what it was in the old tariff, which is
forty five per cent. ad valorem. Some bill
lets may be imported into New England at
that rate, says Mr.. Oliver, and some steel
rails into California on the reduced duty,
but he adds, "we shall keep the rest of the
trade at home, and, in addition, we shall
have the cotton-tie business and develop the
tin-plate manufacture" Nor is Mr.. Oliver
wanting in gratitude for what Congress has
done. "The people of Pennsylvania he
says, ''are under great obligations to the
republican party and its representatives"
We should think so. if the "people" of
Pennsylvania are all tariff lords, especially
as it now turns out, by Mr.. divers admis-
sions, that the manufacturers, with few
exceptions, were allowed to
dictate their own terms as to what the rates
of duty should be.-BaH. Sun.
BROKEN PRoMIsEs.-Virginiaus will re.
call their promises about the Blair bill, the
tobacco tax, aud other measures of which
they talked so glibly in our recent cam