The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-17

cN- lDuuSlfl or IN the deQrala-
ton OF our labor. Either result would bring
disaster, the extent of which no one can meas
ure.
INCREASED DUTIES.
We have recommended no duty above the
polot OF difference between the normal cost of
PRODUCTION here, including labor, and the cost
OF ike production in countries which seek our
markets, nor have we hesitated to give this
measure OF duty, even though it involves
an increase over present rates, and showed
an advance of percentages and ad valorem
equivalent. We have not sought to make a
naiIorIn rate of duty upon all imported articles
rms would have been manifestly unjust and
inequitable.
QUOTING FROM HARRISON.
Tne committee closed its argument upon the
general subject of tariff by a quotation from
tne last annuali message of the President aud
then proceeded to discuss the details of the bill.
VI cneinlcals 1t says tnat many not produced
IN the United States are placed on the free list
to benefit consumers, mainly manufacture
ers The result is remission of SS76, ,304
IN duties. Earthen and chinaware
Femain bnt Ia ;,or"al without material change,
glassware to compensate for high labor cost
and to prevent destructive foreign competition.
In the case of wool the report cites figures as
an evidence of the alarming decline in pro-
ductlon, and says that an advance of duties has
been recommended which it is believed will
aford ample protection to wool-growing
farmers.
PRODUCTION BY TAXATION.
The, committee believes the United States
should produce all of the wool it consumes and
that with adequate defensive legislation it will
do so. The report gives an increase of duty on
WOOL and the construction given TO the worsted
clause of the existing law as reason for in
creaslng duties on woolen goods to protect man
ufacturers.
OF lumber the report says that any reduction
of the light duties would have discouraged
proper care of our timber lands and have in
urpd To the hanafit Of Canada utb in
lsnlng the market prices OF the metal
schedules the report says that no reduction
can be made on pig iron or ore
duties without detrlment to existing industries
and the committee has not felt justified in in
terfering with the further development of our
iron ore resources, now so promising in the
southern states.
PIG IRON NOT RAW MATERIAL
With regard to pig iron it may be said that it
IS IN no sense raw material. IL is
product OF the highest skill re-
quiring for its manufacture large
and expensive plants, the capital
than equals that which is invested in any other
branch of our iron and steel industries. Pig
iroa is made in twenty-five states of the union.
Its manufacture is increasing rapidly
suit of the protective duty which
has long given encouragement to its produc-
ton. 1t has had marvelously rapid growth in
the southern and western states in the last ten
years, and it is to-day the leading manufactur-
lug industry south OF the Potomac and Ohio
rivers. 1t has been the most potent of all infiu-
ences in the industrial rehabilitation of the
south.
THE TIN PLATE TAX.
In justification of the Increased duty recon-
mended on tin plate the report quotes from
the report upon the Senate bill, and says:
1t has been demonstrated that we can manu-
facture tin plate in the United States as sue
cesSfully as it can be done in England. It's pro-
duction here suitable for all uses is no
longer experimental. We make sheet iron
and sheet steel, and it is confdentially
believed that we have in the Dakotas pig tin
in sufficient quantities for use in making all of
the tin required for this market, and if this were
not so pig tin is on the free list. access bic to
our people for manufacturing purposes. There
is no reason except inadequate protection
why we are not to-dayi manufacturing
more than S21, ,00O, 900 worth of tin now i'm
ported into the United Stotes, and upon which
We pay an annual duty of over S700O000.
To BE TAXED INTO EXISTENCE.
1t is estimated that the establi shment of an
industry which would supply our own market
in this particular would furnish steady employ
ment to at least n, 000 men. 1t is argued that
as domestic plants are established prices will
fall so that in the end the American consumer
will secure lower and steadier prices than at
present.
OF sugar, the report says that the committee
recommends that sugar up to and including No.
10 Dutch standard of color and molasses be
placed on the free list, with a duty of four
tenths of cent per pound on refined sugar
above No. 16, and that bounty of cents per
pound be paid from the treasury for a period
of fifteen years for all sugar polarizing at least
IS per cent. made in this country from cane.
beets or sorghum produced in the United States
THE sMGAR DUTY "a TAX"
So large proportion of our sugar is i'm
ported that the home production of sugar does
not materially affect the price, and the duty is
therefore q tax which is added to the price not
only of the imported 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. Even on the assump-
tion that with proper encouragement We shall
eventually be able to produce all or nearly all
the sugar, required for the consumption of
our people, an assumption which your
committee believe to be sustained by many
facts, notwithstanding the slow progress thus
far made in sugar culture in this country-this
encouragement can be- given much more eco
nomically and effectually by a bounty of 2
cents per pound, involving the expenditure of
but little more that $7,000,000 per annum with
the production of sugar in this country, than
by the imposition of a duty involving the col
lection of S55 975, ,610 in duties in the last fiscal
year. not to mention the amount indirectly in
volved
AN UNNECESSARY BURDEN.
When it is considered that this increase at
cost due to duty falls on an article of prime
necessity as food, your committee are per-
suaded that justice, as well as good policy, re-
quires that such an unnecessary burden in the
~
sugar, and that the encouragement required to
induce the production of sugar in the United
States should be given through bounty rather
than by an import duty.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
Coming to agricultural products the report
says that the committee has given months of
investigation to the existing conditions of agri-
cultural and kindred matters, 1t says that there
is the widest depression in this industry to-day
cannot be doubted Every remedy within the
scope of practical legislation known to your
committee has been recommended in the pro-
posed measure to meet the urgent requirements
of the situation. The enemies Of the
protective system have no word of
criticism for the real causes of agricultural
depression; no suggestion. of relief from real
burdens which are weighing it down to-day,
but, seizng the present as a favorable time,
they solemnly charge that the decline in our
market is solely due to the tariff They are
pleased to ignore the fact that one of the pur-
poses of the protective tariff is to
hinder still larger importation of foreign
produce, and thus save the market from still
greater depression. But your committee,
Sensible of the importance of this industry,
prompted by the single motive to lift il to the
highest level of profitable employment, believe
that they offer in this bill all the RELIEF which
tariff legislation can give to it.
THE SILK BOUNTY.
With view to increasing the number of
painfn occupations open TO the farmer this
Committee has recommended bounty to grow
ers of silk. Refereace is made in the report TO
the successful experiments in silk culture of
the department of agriculture, which It is said
fully warrant the belief that the industry is