The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-12-06
THE NEW TARIFF BILL.

likely be called. and there is no doubt
| it will be closely criticised by the press.
1t win also be taken up piecemeal in
Congress and the Republicans may be
counted on to fight it vigorously. Some
features sof it will be opposed by some
of the Democrats on account of local
Drejudices or interests But we believe
that in its production the good of the
whole country has been studied in pref
erence to the demands of any section
or any class
1t is just such a measure as might
have been expected from men standing
on the tariff plank of the Chicago plat
form of 1892. 1t aims at providing rev.
enue for government expenses, but
with due regard for the necessities
Iof the masses, the demand for mate
rails for manufactures. the existing in
dustries which the party desires not
to hamper or depreciate, and the en-
ployment of labor, without which the
!
This of course will not please the
high protectionists. They will attack
it on the ground that it is too sweeping
as to its free list. and then that it is
protective in relation to dutiable arti-
cles. That does not matter. Nobody
expected or wanted absolute free trade,
nor a uniform rate of duty for every
export, as some cranky protectionists
affect to interpret the doctrine of a
tariff for revenue only. The bill in it's
main purpose and most of its features
will satisfy the majority of the Demo-
cratic party and of the people, and the
sooner it goes into effect the sooner
the country will reap the benefits of its
operations. We append a few opinions
of the press in regard to the bill:
We regard the work of the commit
! tee as sound and stateSmanllke, an adj
mirable combination of fidelity to prin-
ciple, with iudicious caution in its
application the beginning of the final
triumph of the cause of commercial
freedom, full Of richest promise for the
prosperity of the land.-New York
Times Den.).
This tariff is in no sense a free trade
one. It deals tenderly with protection
1t carries out 20 some extent the Demo-
cratic idea of a tariff for revenue. This
| is the kind of reform to which the
President and his party are pledged,
and it is both their duty and policy to
carry it out and give the country
cheaper goods.--London Daily News.
These little general paragraphs in
| high tariff newspapers about the stag
gering blow given to infant industries,
are not very convincing, but they are
! perfectly safe AS long as editors re-
| frain from specifying any particular
industry that is going to be staggered
they have pretty smooth sailing. Once
| in a while, however, an enthusiast
gets reckless and names his infant
whereupon he speedily comes to grief.
Kansas City Star
The proposed bill is not of a very
sweeping character So many interests
are involved in tariff tinkering that
no political party, however great IFS
wish to arrive at ideal free trade,
can Immediately resolve to strike con-
fusion into the business of the country
| by making any very radical changes
| in the tariff laws. Furthermore, the
| bill will necessarily arouse a. long and
spirited discussion in Congress. The
| chances are that it will be materially
amended before it becomes a law
Baltimore Herald Qnd0
The Ways and Means tariff bill,
which will probably be known as the
Wilson bill, is, on the whole, a salts
factory response TO the demanos OF lhe
| country The first. because the most
universal. demand was that the nee
essaries of life should be made cheaper
| by the abolition of taxes on the ma
! teriaIs used by American lnanufactur-
| ers and on the tools1of agriculture and
trade. The bill is fully satisfactory in
| this respect 1t goes very far, perhaps
as far as it is possible to go at once
toward a complete fulfillment of Demo-
cratic pledges When it passes and
becomes a law, new and brighter
\ era will begin for American commerce
1 and manufactures.-New York World
| OemD
The tariff bill COMFORTS admirably
with the promise of low taxes made
to the people in the platform of the
national Democracy in 1892. 1t is an
honest and courageous effort to relieve
the masses from the exactions of mo-
nopolies created and protected by
an abuse of the taxing power. What
| the Wilson bill proposes is justice as
| between man and man and equality OF
! opportunity. 1t proposes to bring our
economic legislation back to sound
principles, so that industries of all
sorts may thrive and prosper under
the operation of natural laws. The du-
! ties prescribed in the bill averag sc from
% to 30 per cent. of the value of the
dutiable imports, as against the duties
averaging from So to so per cent. inn
posed in the Mckinley act. Revenue,
not prohibition. is evidently the object
| had in view. Yet it is very far from
being a free trade measure, as any one
will see that counts the thousands of
| articles taxed Free trade England
taxes only wines, teas, spirits. tobacco
and about a dozen other articles. plac-
ing no tax on imported manufactures,
whereas the Wilson bill taxes nearly
every manufactured article enumer-
ated AS a rule. the duties are made
Lowest on the cheaper goods of general
and necessary use and highest upon
expensive articles. The bill, as a
whole. is emphatically conservative and
tender TO the protected manufacturer,
but it has everywhere chiefly in view
| the rights and interests of the masses
of the peope-tile axpayers.-Balti-
more Sun Dem)
| A carping contemporary quotes
gIeefully some remarks made by two