St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-29
THE NEW TARIFF BILL.

The tariff bill as reported by the ways
and means committee of the house, and
fully outlined in dispatches to the
GLOBE. is not the tariff bill that will be
finally passed by congress and approved
by the president, any more than the
rough stone as it is placed in the lathe
OF the lapidary is the polished diamond
that bedecks the breast of fair woman
of fashion. There are MANY imperfec-
tions in it that will have to be ground
out by the friction of parliamentary dis
cuSSion-much dross adhering that will
disappear before it is placed IN its
proper setting. 1t is not perfect in
symmetry; its outlines will improve as
the workmen fashion it in accordance
with the public desire and the pattern
outlined in the last Democratic national
platform.
The committee has labored diligently
III the work of revision. Its pathway
has been beSet with difficulties that
few persons realize. The protests of
protected Interests against a reduction
OF Imposts have been loud and persist
ent. 1t has not been the purpose of the
committee to Wreak vengeance upon
those Industries that have already re-
ceived more than their due share of
legislative protection. That would
have been suicidal = would have de-
Stroyed industries upon which millions
of our people thrive. 1t is intended to
encourage them, and, while the duty on
iron is removed, measure of com pensa-
ton is offered in free coal, by means of
which the cost of manufacture NAV be
considerably decreased without neces-
| stating red uction in the wages of
laborerS. The duties On wooden goods
that enter so largely into the consump-
ton OF the average family are so grad
uated as to lessen the cost of the cheaper
grades of goods, although the cost of the
higher grades. which the rich and we'll
TODD can afford, is but little affected.
The same rule was applied to crockery
and glassware, the chief reductions
being made in articles in common use.
| while duties are generally maintained
| upon finer goods.
Perhaps the most commendabIe feat
| ure of the bill is the substitution of ad
valorem duties for all others, as far as
this has been possible. Under the Nc
| kinley law both ad valorem and specific
duties were imposed, system ingen-
louSly devised to conceal the amount or
percentage of the tax imposed. For
instance, under the Mckinley act some
articles of import, especially in the
WOODEN schedule, bear specific duty of
! a certain sum per pound, as we'll as an
advalorem duty, both apparently reason
able, but when combined add from 80 to
40 per cent. The objections to specific
rates of duties are that they frequently
| conceal rate of taxation too enormous
to be submitted to if exposed In ad
valorem terms. as the duty of s cents a
hundred pounds on salt in bulk, which
amounts to over 50 per cent on a COM
mon necessary of life. They always
bore heavily on the common article used
by the Masses" says Chairman Wilson.
land lightly on the expensive article
consumed by the rich. as tax of $50
on all houses would be little or nothing
Oh the great mansion, and very high on
the humble nome. And contrary to
common belief, specific duties lead to
greater faults in administration, for
counting AMI weighing at the custom
house are done by the cheapest and
most easily corrupted labor, while ad
valorem rates are assessed by the best
paid and most responsible appraisers.
The ad valorem system has worked we'll
in practice. is essentially the best be-
cause it is tax upon the actual value of
an article, and was declared by Mr..
Clay himself to be in theory, and ac-
cording to every sound principle of
justice, entitled to the preference and
vlndicated by experience.
Taken as whole, the new tariff bill
is long step in the right direction. 1t
will not meet with the full Endorsement
of the most radical tariff reformers. but
it is, under the circumstances, near
approach to an equitable division of the
burdens of taxation. There may be