The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-12-16
A Year of the Mckinley Law.

A Year of the Mckinley Law.
The New York Independent, one of
the most widely circulated religious
newspapers in America, and which OPP
posed the Republican party in 1884,
prints the following excellent editorial
on the Mckinley tariff law:
The results of the first year of the Nc
kinley tariff are now at hand. The tariff
went into effect October q, 1890, so that the
reports to october l. 1891, cover the tariff
year excepting five days, and it is now pos
sible to ascertain whether the facts thus far
Justify the predictions of It's friends or those
of its enemies.
The tariff was revised with two leading
principles in view: First, to reduce the
annual income, which was larger than was
needed for the economical administration
of the federal government: second, to re-
wise the schedules so that while the income
was diminished. rates of duty should be
increased, diminished, or removed, as the
interests of our labor and our various in
dustrles and productions required. Ac-
cordlngly raw sugars below certain
grade were made free, with the object,
nrSt, OF reducing the customs receipts, sec
ond, OF benehting the masses with cheap
sugar, and, third, of raising the duties on
wool and woolcnS and other articles which
we ought TO produce in larger quantities.
TO recognize the principle of protection
In dealing with sugars it was decided
10 give bountieS TO our own sugar
producers.
IN considering the results of years OPP
Grafton of the new tariff the first question
that presents itself Is, Has there been re-
duction in the receipts? If so, has 1t been
as large as was expected? Senator
Aldrich, before the bill became law, stat
ed that it would result in 4 reduction of
about SiO,0OO,OOO year. The govern
ments reports show that the amount Of
customs collected for the year ending Sep
TENDER 30, 1891, was S19S,349S23. The GUS
toms receipts for the previous year were
$237, 7O2, 343. According to these figures
the actual decrease under the Mckinley
tariff is 1852, 520-indicating an almost
literal fulfillment or Senator Aldrich's
prophecy
The Mckinley tariff has, therefore, real
lied the expectations of its trainers and
friends in effecting reduction of SS9, 3D.
b20 III the customs receipts. This includes
only SIX months OF free sugar.
How has the tariff affected our COM
merce? Under 1t there has been an in
crease of imports of S11,250,0O0 There
was adecreaSe IL dutiaDle imports OF near
ly $107, 0O0,0 600; but the heavy increase i'll
Tree imports more than OYercame this de-
crease, so as to give the handsome net in
crease above mentioned. The falling off
In imports was, next to sugar, chiefly in
WOODEN goods and tobacco, on which
heavier duties were levied for the better
protection of the American products.
The same result followed the increase of
dnties on manufactures of silk, flax, hemp,
Jute and cotton goods The net result is
that we have had more goods from abroad
by $11, 250,0 900, under the Mckinley act and
have paid for them S39, 100000 less i'll du-
ties. AS business transaction this seems
pretty advantageous to us, and IL will be
n W =
bered that our own manufactured goods
have, in part, at least, taken the place in
our markets of the woOlenS and other
products which We imported in less guam
tity than before the Mckinley tariff was
enacted.
How has the tariff affected our exports
We have been told again and again that
the natural result of the Mckinley tariff
would be TO narrow our own market TO
foreign producers and inevitably narrow
the foreign market to our producers. The
official reports do not bear out this predic-
ton. Our exports under the Mckinley
tariff were larger by SO, 600 than they
were III the previous year. This Is An in
crease OF over ii per cent. 1t would be al
together wrong to claim this increase as
the natural effect OF the new tariff. 1t was
not. 1t was chiefly due to the fact that
there was scarcity of breadstutfs In Euro
pean markets, which we were abundantly
able, by reason of large crops, TO supply.
But the balance of trade in our favor of
nearly S23,000,000 certainly proves that a
decrease in our exports is not an inevitable
result of the new tariff.
On the whole the new tariff is working
well. We have had prosperous year un-
der 1t, and we have Topped off over S39, 000,-
900 from our excess of annual receipts. In
other words, it has done about what it was
designed to do, and it has failed of those
results which its enemies confidently
looked for as a justification of their vehe-
ment condemnation of it.