Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-10
THE BALL OPENS.
Benton McMiIIin Fires the First
Tariff Gun of the Session.
1T 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.


cussion of the Fifty-second congress opened
in the house OF representatives to-
day with McMillin of Tennessee as
leader of the tariff reform forces
ard Dingley of Maine as defender of the
Mckinley law. The galleries were well
crowded long before the house opened,
and the public interest manifested in
the debate was greater than any previous
day Of the session. To Blount of Georgia,
a clear-headed parllamentarian of twenty
years. congressional experience, was
awarded the honor by the
speaker and committee of ways and
means of presiding over the deliberations
of the committee of the whole and when
he wearied now and then of the arduous
labors Kilgore, the giant
STATESMAN OF TEXAS,
was called on to assume the gavel. Among
other things McMillin said: 1.-THE last
congress imposed the highest tariff taxes
ever levied in this country. It also
made the most extravagant appropriations
ever made in time of peace. This congress
was sent here TO correct both evils" The
tariff law, he said, had now been in opera
ton year and five months. Where are
the beneficial effects that were to follow it,
Where is the magnificent price the far
mer and wool-grower were to rea-
lie? Where are the increased wages
the laboring man was to getl He detied
contradiction when he said the farmers
realized from to cents less on a pound
for wool than they did before, and chal-
lenged any representative to point to
a single line Of manufactures in
which laborsrs' wages have been increased
by that law. He asked any Republican on
the committee of ways and means to point
to a single lahorer whose wages had been
increased by that law. The duty on wool in
1876 placed II cents a pound on IN
washed wool By this agreement en-
tered into between the National asso-
clarion of wool manufacturers and the Ma
tlonal association of wool growers,
they dictated the terms to congress. 1t was
claimed this would foster the sheep indus
try and increase the value of
wool to the farmer. What were the
results? In 1868, year after the enactment
of the law there were 81, Cos, 600 sheep in
the states on the Missouri and Mississippi
rivers. In 1891 there were only 1916, 900
sheep in the same territory, a 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 100000. A thorough investi-
cation of the question shows the increase
in sheep husbandry has been in the
West, where grazing is hmitless and cheap.
The price of wool at this time is about half
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
a reduction of one-half in the mum Der of
sheep in the states east of the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers and reduction of about
one-half in the price of wool Nor have
the results been favorable TO wool manu-
facturers They have been restricted as to
bo ~ tba 60
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
shoddy as a substitute for wooden 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, and it is esti-
mated to amount 10 "A cents on every
pound of finished cloth According to
official report substitutes have taken the
place of fieeces of 100000 sheep, or about
two-thirds as many as are in the whole
United States. In the first quarter of 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
pretense that high duty would increase
the number of sheep in the older states has
not been verified. The value of wool of
similar quality varied very little in
the markets Of Boston and London
since that duty was imposed, but |
the average advantage in favor |
of one country or the other has not been |
one-ffth of the duty imposed by our gov |
eminent, which proves conclusively, whilst |
the cost to the consumer has been in |
creased by the duty, and possibilities Of |
manufactures have been restricted, both in \
the markets and the quantity, sheep hus- |
bandmeu have derived no substantial |
benefit. The act of 1888 imposed an average |
rate of duty of 10 per cent. The two acts |
of 1890 which supplanted it imposed an |
average of nearly 90 per cent. This is not |
the worst. The rates Of duty were placed |
lower by that act on luxuries |
than on the necessaries of life. Nc
Millin then passed on to the sugar tax |
and said the authors Of the Mckinley bill |
placed most grades Of sugar on the free list |
but the finer grades were still taxed heavily |
for the benefit of the manufacturer. He is
left with more protection by that bill than |
by the rates imposed in the Mills bill.
1t was true ffty-odd million dollars were
taken OF the sugar TAX, but it was no free
will Offering. for the same provided for the |
payment of 81, O00, 600 to the prod ucers of
sugar as bounties. Again while ffty-odd
millions tax was taken on sugar and
increase of duties amounting to
about SIS, O0O, GOO was put on other
things and generally on the necessaries of
lire. They rembved the sugar tax, which
yielded eight-ninths of the benefits 10 the |
treasury and but one-ninth to the manu-
facturer, only to place many times more
than the sugar tax on others where
but one-fourth OF the exactions went into |
the treasury, and three-fourths went into |
the private Golfers of the favored manufac- |
turers. McAiillin then reviewed the ques-
tons of reciprocity rebates affecting tariff
Oh commerce, etc, and quoted some of the !
high rates now exis ting especially the duty |
On knit goods, which is now actually 500 |
Der cent under the existing law He
,ontended the people had already taken a
ong step toward overthrowing the exist
ng state of affairs by converting an AFRO
can't majority into an insignificant minority
md would complete the work at the next
election.
At the conclusion Of McNillin's speech
le was the recipient of magnificent cluster