Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-10-13


| of the Mckinley act was 8, 2s0, S41, the tax
on them was S5,423, i:a12, the ad valorem
rate OF taxation upon this =, 2S0, S41 worth
OF goods purchased and consumed by our
people was 1920 per cent. The cost of
these goods abroad was 22S cents per
square yard, the tax was %. ~ per square
yard, and, adding the tax. it made the
total cost to lay them down in New York,
without any charge for commissions,
freight or insurance, 45. 30 per yard, so
that the goods which cost abroad IS $50 81
cost the importer at New York, without
any of the other usual charges, $40 1O4, 264
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. If so, here is the most re-
markable instance of disinterested benev-
olence ever witnessed in a commercial
transaction between people of different
countries, for the foreigner actually gave
to the people of the United States between
Oct. /, 1890, and June 30, 1891, s, $50 81
worth of these goods and paid them mora
than S142, 600 in money to induce them to
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, rs senator's viii see when
give hilC t-tNfil llAiiti ti lIc SOOuS.
think that anybody who examines this
table, which makes n correct exhibit of
the importations of these goods after the
passage of the Mckinley act, and the rates
of taxation upon them, Will scarcely ever
contend hereafter that the foreign pro-
ducer pays the duty-he will go back to
the old ''delusion'' with which nv friend
from Iowa (Mr. Allison) says he was at
flicted in 1870, that the American con-
sumner naVS at least a mart IF
Mr. Allison-I have not gotten over that
yet.
Mr.. Carlisle-The senator SAYS he has
not recovered yet. But the senator NAV
believe now that the foreign producer pays
some part of the tax upon articles imported
into this country. If he does. he has,
either by mistake or otherwise, assisted in
making gross misrepresentation Of the
public money in the Mckinley act, for
which he voted. That act provides that
when raw materials subject to duty arc
imported into the United States and con-
verified here into manufactured articles
which are exported for sale abroad to the
citizens OF other countries, the domestic
manufacturer, producer or exporter shall
have a drawback equal to the amount Of
duty paid less per cent. If the foreigner
pays that duty, why in the name of conn
mon sense and common honesty do we pass
a law to pay it back to the Standard Oh
company, or to somebody else who exports
oils, meats or cans made from imported
tin plate? An honest legislator who be-
heves the foreigner pays the tax would in
slst upon giving 1t back to the foreigner
who sold us the tin plate out of which tho
cans were manufactured, and not to the
corporations and others who convert that
material into cans and then export them
and their contents to be sold abroad to the
people OF other countries at lower prices
than they can be sold to their own fellow
citizens therefore feel justified in say
ing that no gentleman who supported the
Mckinley at in con- -ress, nor Mr.. AcKin-
ley himself, although he goes about the
country proclaiming that the foreigner
pays the duty, really believes a word of it.
But 1 tender an apology to the senate for
attempting to discuss such an absurd
proposition.
Now, Mr.. President, while speaking Of
tin plate ought to refer to statement
made by the senator from Rhode Island,
that the people of the United States paid
to the Welsh manufacturers of that article
IN the year 1891 seventy-siX cents per box
more than the profits which they were
realizing before that time. This is I'M
doubtedIy too true. 1t is certainly true
that the Mckinley act was a great bless
ing to the Welsh manufacturers of tin
plate, and enabled them to take from the
people of the United States as shall pro-
and above the profits which they were
making before its passage
1.-The senator here presented tables show
ing the cost of produC ing tin plate in Wales
and the advance in price there in anticipa-
ton of the Mckinley bill, and continuedl:
1t appears therefore that the people of
the United States, before the increased
rate of duty on tin plate took effect under
the Mckinley act, paid, not to the impor-
tiers, not to the government, not to the
dealers here, but directly into the pockets
of the Welsh tin plate manufacturers the
sum of 81, 80 as a surplus profit on their
sales. which was considerably more than
half the value of their plant manufacture
of that article.
An Injustice of the Tariff.
Mr.. President, it is broad statement to
make, but the Mckinley act increased the
duty on every fabric that contains a single
thread or ber of wool, and in most cases
the increase was very large. If an article
of silk is found to contain a thread of wool
for characterization or for any other purpose,
it becomes subject to the wooden goods
duty, which, even in the case of the cheap
est wooden fabrics used by the poor is
much higher than the duty on the finest
silk fabrics used by the rich.
Ihave here a number of samples of wooden
and worsted goods imported under the Nc
kinley act, with statements showing their
cost abroad In 1889 and 1890. their cost
abroad now, the duty imposed upon them
in 1889 and 1890, the dnty imposed upon
them now, and the increased cost to Law
them down at New York to the consumer.
Elaborate tables were presented1
The prices abroad have fallen necessarily
because the cost of the raw material, wool
and cotton, has gone down in the market;
but the people of the United States, by the
passage of the tariff act and the imposition
OF higher rate of duty upon these goods
x-hich 81 lox-