The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1892-10-27

OoW klAaa anu WOOlen koOuA. here are
fifteen Of the most highly protected indus
tries In the United States, and the wages
Of the laborers employed In them fell So
i00ths Of ! per cent. after the passage Of the
Mckinley act, notwithstanding the rise
Of 75-lO0thS Of per cent. In the wages Of
laborers engaged In the nonprotected in
dustrles.
One Of the most significant facts dis
closed by the report in relation TO this sub
Jet Is that the rates Of wages in these pro-
tected industries had increased 65-l00ths Of
! per cent. between the beginning Of the
investigation and the approval Of the tariff
act on Oct. I, 1890. and consequently the
entire decrease Of 60lOOths Of per cent. oc-
CURED after this law was passed for the
benefit Of the WorkingInan.
Now, Mr.. President, on these questions
concerning wholesale AID retail prices, cost
Of living and rates Of wages, have pre-
Sented the figures made by the statistician
Of the committee, based upon the actual
returns made to US by the agents who were
sent out, not TO take anybody's statement
or anybody's testimony or hear anybody's
argument, but TO go 10 the books showing
the actual transactions In the retail stores
In these seventy cities; TO go to the pay
EQAlh lu NuG
and take from them the exact amount Of
wages paid on the first Of each month
covered by this Investigation, and I conf
IDENTIFY submit the results TO the senate
and the country as a complete vindica ton
Of the judgment pronounced by the people
upon the policy Of high protection at the
election In 1890. Thew was no attempt at
Misrepresentation or deception except upon
he = 81 ksra.. H.. kaA - =. u
at the consequences Of their own fayorite
measure Of legislation. The people were
not deceived then and they will not be de-
from this report, or by any frantic appeals
horrors Of free trade.
A Tax on Poor Peoples Clothes.
As have already said, the articles So
lected by the committee were, with 4 few
Insignificant exceptions, the products OF
our own country, and the sums which
have given to the senate as representing
the increase in prices and In the cost Of
living are based upon them and not upon
any rise which may have taken place in
the prices Of imported articles on account
Of the very large increases In the rates Of
duty contained in the tariff act Of 1890.
WHY, Mr.. President, the increased price Of
the tl9, 5ol $50 worth of wooden goods which
weps Imported into this country between
Oct. l. 500, the date Of the passage Of the
Mckinley bill, and the S0th day Of June,
1891, the end Of that fiscal year. amounted
to many millions Of dollars.
The report Of imports and consumption
for the fiscal year 1891, furnished to US by
the treasury department, embraces and
Ill al
which were made during that year, for the
purpose Of showing the Hd valorem rate Of
tax, whether they were made before or
after Oct. l. 1890. and therefore reduces the
average Ad valorem rate Of taxation to q
much lower figure than IL actually was
under the Mckinley act. At the expense
Of great deal Of time and labor have Be-
lected from this report those articles Of
wooden manufacture which were imported
after Oct. I, 1890, and which therefore
paid the increased rates Of duty imposed
by the Mckinley tariff act, and flnd the
result TO be that the total importationa Of
wooden manufactures, including yarns,
which cost US abroad tlO,S9I go, paid an
Ad vRlorem rate Of o2.S4 per cent The
amount Of duty paid on these goods was
SlS,l82, 89s, so that Il cost, without includ-
ing anything for insurance, commissions,
freight or interest or any other charge,
81, TS5, $50 to lay down In New York goods
which cost abroad 1880, $50
An elaborate table was here presented,
showing the imports Of wooden goods from
Oct. l, 1890, TO June 80, IsoI.l
Let US take for illustration quality Of
dreIs good1 in most common use among
the people. The total value abroad Of that
class Of goods imported after the passage
Of the Mckinley act was q, 2so,sll, the tax
on them was t5,423.I22, the Ad valorem
rate Of taxation upon this q, 2S0, S4l worth
Of goods purchased and consumed by our
people was lO27O per cent. The cost Of
these goods abroad was 22.S cents per
square yard, the tax was 23.42 per square
yard, and, adding the tax, 1t made the
total cost TO lay them down in New York,
without any charge for commissions,
freight or insurance, $50 per yard, so
that the goods which cost abroad q, ESQ, 81
cost the Importer at New York. without
any Of the other usual charges, SO, 7OI ,964.
But we are told by the author Of the
Mckinley act that we ought not to be dis
turbed about this, because the foreigner
pays the tax. II 80, here IL the most re-
mRrkahle instance Of disinterested benev-
olenee ever witnessed In q commercial
transaction between people Of different
countries, for the foreigner actually gave
TO the people Of the United States between
Oct. I, 1890, and June 90, 1891, SS,28O,Sil
worth Of these goods and paid them more
than SIC, 900 In money to induce them 70
take them.
The goods Of which am now speaking
constitute the class most largely imported
and sold TO The masses Of the people Of the
United States, not TO rich people, but to
poor people and people in moderate cir
cumstances, as senators will see when
give the description Of the goods.
think that anybody who examines this
table, which makes a correct exhibit Of
the impOrtatinns Of these goods after the
Of taxation upon them, will scarcely ever
contend hereafter that the foreign pro-
dueer pays the dnty-he will 20 back to
the old 'delusion" with which my friend
from Iowa Or Allison) says he was Rt.
Aicted In 1870. that 'the American con-
sumer pays at least part Of It.
Mr.. Allison-I have not gotten over that
yet.
Mr.. Carlisle-The senator says be has
not recovered yet. But the senator may
believe now that the foreign producer pays
some part Of the tax upon articles imported
into this country. II he does. he has,
either BY mistake or otherwise, assisted In
making q gross misapprOpriation Of the
public money in the Mckinley act, for
which he voted. That act provides that
when raw materials subject 10 duty are
imported into the United States and con-
verted here into manufactured articles
which are exported for sale abroad to the
citizens Of other countries, the domestic
manufacturer, producer or exporter shall