Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-17
THE BALL OPENS.
Benton McMiIIin Fires the First
Tariff Gun of the Session.
IT SCATTERS THE ENEMY, TOO.
The Sheep Husbandmen Have Suffered and
the People Have Paid the Freight
A Tax of 1913 Per Cent.
The Sugar Tax.
A Great Speech.

WASHINGTON, March 9.-The tariff dis
cussion of the Fifty-second congress opened
in the house of representatives to-
day with McMillin of Tennessee -
leader of the tariff reform, ess8erces
ard DiHgley of Maine as defegaSr of the
Mckinley law. The gallskFes were well
crowded long before I've house opened,
and the public interest manifested in
the debate was CRATER than any previous
day of the SESSION. To Blount of Georgia.,
clear-headed barllamentarian of twenty
years Congressional experience, vas
awarded tie honor by - tbs
speaker andy committee of ways and
means of presiding over the deliberations
of the commitAee of the whole, and when
he wearied noA and then Of the arduogS
labors Kilgore, Ne giant
sTATEASAN OF TExAsae.sgszsN
was called on to assdAe the gaveI. Among.
other things McNIillin scFidt.a-----s',TF'he lasF
congress imposed the highest tariff taXs8
ever levied in this country. 1t 40
made the most eXtravagant appropriaEBn
ever made in time of peace. This co1Sfess
was sent here to correct both evils. ~ The
tariff law, he said, had now been inSBpera-
ton year and five months. WlE8re are
the beneficial effects that were to- Bllow it,
Where is the magnificent prioF the far
mer and wool-grower Were% + rea-
lize2 Where are the incressed wages
the laboring man was to getty He defied
realized from 2 to cents less on a pound
for wool than they did before, and chal-
lenged any representative to point to
a single line 20 of manufactures in
which laborors' wares have been increased
by that law. He asked any Republican on
the committee of ways and means to point
TO a single laborer whose wages hvd been
increased by that law. The duty en- wool in
1876 placed IL cents a pound on IN
washed wool. By this agreement en-
tered 'Hto between the National as.l-
clarion of wool manufacturers ant the Ma
tlonal association of wool growers,
thy dictated the terms to congress. It was
claim d this would foster the sheep indus
try and increase the value of
wool to the farmer. What were the
results2 In 1865 year after the enac; lent
of the law there wera 1858, 600 sneep in
the states on the Missouri ard Mississippi
rivers. In 1891 thele were only 1916, 600
sheep in the same territory, reduction
of more than half in twenty-four
years, when the high tariff on
wool had been enforced, and this in
face of the fact the population of those
states had vastly increased. If the in
crease in sheep kept pace with the increase
OF population there would have been
probably 75,0O0,0O0. A thorough investi-
cation of the question shows the increase
in sheep husbandry has been in the
West, where grazing is limitless and Cheap.
what it was at the time of the act March 2
1867. The whole matter may be summed up
thus: After twenty-one years experiment
with high duty of wool the result has been
q reduction of one-half in the number of
sheep IN the states east of the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers and reduction of about
oue-half in the price of wool. Nor have
the results been favorablc to wool manu-
facturers. They have been restricted as TO
the quality OF the wool ley could afford TO
buy in the grease by reason of the
tariff. They have been restricted
in the market substantially TO their own
country. They have been forced to use
sboddy as a substitute for wOolen goods
The tax of II cents pound on wool, it |
must be remembered, is not tax on pure
wool, but on all the grease in the wool and |
all the dirt in the grease, aud it is esti- |
mated TO amount 10 ~ cents on every |
pound of finished cloth. According to !
official report substitutes have taken the |
place of feeces Of 90 000,000 sheep, or about |
two-thirds as many as are in the whole |
United States. In the first quarter of q cen
fury OF the history of the government |
there was no duty imposed on wool. The |
first duties imposed were insignificant |
compared with those now in existence The |
preteuse that high duty would increase
the number of sheep in the older states has
not been verified. The value of woo. of |
similar quality varied very little in
the markets of Boston and London |
the average advantage in favor
Of one country or the other has not been
one-ffth of the duty imposed by our gov
ernmeut, which proves conclusively. Ewhilst
the cost 10 the consumer has been in
creased by the duty, and possibilities of
manufactures have been restricted. both in |
ths iasrkasS and TIE quantity. sheep hus-