Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-03-19
ERee BINDING IWINE.

Report on Congressman Bry MS Bill Il
Put Binding Iwine on the Free List.
The first one of the reports of the
ways and means committee on tn,
three tariff bills ordered reported e
the house has been prepared by Repre-.
sentative Bryan, of Nebraska, who
drew up the bill. 1t is to accompany
the bill making binding Irvine free OF
duty, aud will be presented to the house
in n day or two, The present rate OF
duty on binding Irvine, the report says,
is s.10 cents per pound, this rate having
been fixed as n compromise in confer
ence after the senate, by a vote of 81
to "a, had placed binding'twine on the
free list
The report adds: petitions have
been received from a number of indi.
viduals and organizations asking that
this relief be granted TO tine farmers of
the country. The committee is con-
WINGED of the justice of the demand.
There is n difference between a request
that all consumers be subjected to a
tax levied for the benefit of some
particular industry and a demand
from the consumers to be relieved
OF the burden While both classes
look to their own advantage, they are
not equally selfish, for the latter only
asks 10 be let alone, while the former
seeks to appropriate to its own use the
proceeds Of the toll of others, That
great industry, agriculture, which lies
at the foundation of all others, and IN
on the welfare of which all the inter.
ests of the country 50 largely depend,
has been neglected 1t has been dis.
eliminated against for the benefit of
the projected industries, and the injury
has been aggravated by the imposition
of useless duties upon a large number
of agricultural products, under the
p~retence that such a tariff would in.
crease price Of such products, although
the farmer has been assured that sim.
liar tariff on manufactured articles
would reduce the price of the goods he
buys. 4 large part of the surplus
products of the farm must be dis.
posed of in a foreign market, and the
price of that surplus, fixed by free
competition, regulates the price
of the portion sold at home.
If the articles necessarily used
by the farmer in the harvesting
of his crops are made dearcr for him
than for his competitors he must bear
the burden alone, for there is no one to
whom he can transfer it. The chief of
the bureau of statistics has informed
the committee that sit is believed that |
no binding Irvine has been imported in
to the United States for several years"
The tariff, then, of seven-tenths of
one cent per pound is prohibitory and
brings no revenue whatever to the gov.
eminent The tariff on this article,
therefore, cannot be justified, except
upon the principle that the taxing pow
er should be used to prevent importa.
tons entirely, and that principle, be.
sides being unsupported by constitu-
tional authority, would destroy all in.
from imports and compel us to
look to some othersource for the neces-
sary The treasury depart
has sent to the committee all the |
information obtainable in regard to
this industry.
a letter received by it from a promi.
nent manufacturer states that there
are in the United States thirty-fye cord.
age and binding Irvine faG]6Ties
twenty-nine OF which Sg.e owned and
'ohtr9lte1 ~ tie National Cordage Co, |
u New York. The twcntv-nine in the
trust, il it may be so termed, produces
60 per cent. of the total output There
was produced and consumed in the
United States in 1890 So 900 tons of
Irvine, all but 1000 tons of which were
made from foreign grown fbers. If
the seven-tanths of one cent per pound
is added to the price, as is probable,
this tax cost the farmers of the United
States in the year 1890 alone 500, 900,
and this does not include u large addi-
tional sum charged for profits on the
increased price by the various dealers
through whose hands the product
passed. Not one dollar Of this large
tax reached the treasury. Surely there
can be no excuse for allowing this
trust TO continue the eXaction of this
tribute. The raw material from which
this Irvine is made is already on the
fraa list