Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-11-01
NEW TARIFF BILL.
Free Wool Is Made the Most
Conspicuous Feature.
Reduction Of the Duties on Woolen
Goods---0ther Charges.


For SIX wsxA * the II Democratic mem he-s
/ st The ways and means committee Of The
ko1ss have heen hard al work npan the
I Dew tariff bill which the Democratic party
/ : TO pass into the s.stDse books and brooule
f. responsible for before the country. TIE
| COMMITTEES has Rot made rapid progress
| The preparation ot a new tariff hall is an
euornous task, considered simply trsfn tie
| clerical and statistical .=aiut Of ssex. Add
/ TO the perplexfties ot the tariff IN its rela-
/ ttoa 10 reyenue the fac1 that certain rroe1-
! sle~o1ae principles ksve TO De applied In a
! thousand details. AMI thG. twenty times
ten Thousand men sad sasdy Ia complain
et injustice. no nasfter wha; the result. and
il VIII be seen that the framing Of new
revenue law Is 10 child 5 play. Up 10 this
tine tse committee has beea able TO asr-es.
upon ssooa many main lines On which the
schedules viii be drafted, leaving the de-
tails 70 be filed in afterweri
One et the conspicuous features af the
nesr bill VIII b~ free wool This has been
| decided on and was. in fact, promised by
the Democratic parry IN the last campaign.
Not only will wool be placed On the free
LIST, bat the duties On woolen goods Will
hare 10 be changed accordingly The ay-
ersse rate of duties On imported wooiens
viii be about IS per cent Some members
were in fAvor Of curtins il 10 % per cent.
bat il the opiDioa of the more conservative
meEabers This was considered somewhat too
low. What the political and commercial
effects Ct this new departure viii he time
alone can determine
Abolishing specific Duties
Another striking change in the wool
schedule viii be the abolition Of specific du-
ia- l..
daty on raw wool, the necessity for speci &c
duties disappears. they having heea orig
inaIiy levied for the purpose Of protection
The committee claims that the ad valoreni
duty on woolet goods will more than make
up the difference ia labor cost between this
country and Earope, and they further claim
that sEe1Gc duties are -eRerslly wrong In
principle because they Constitute an invita- |
ton 10 frauds and differentiation, whereas
an ad valoren duty Can be more easily lev /
led and collected. The oomInittee has !
agreed 70 apply this principle 20 all ether (
schedules wherever practicable A Large
number # the specific duties in other schea- /
ules willehus 20 by the board, AID ad va /
lnrern duties will take their place.
Mast Have More Revenae.
The greatest task which the committee |
revenue IT, has been very serious prob /
lem 10 discover tie proper source from
which TO raise sixty or more millions o. /
dollars per year than is produced by the /!
present law. Three plans have been before |
the committee for this purpose One, which !
has already been described in these dis /
patches, Is The imposition Of AZ income tax. 1
Il Is bow probable that there viii be com /
promise. so far rs the incouse tax is con 4
cerned. and IL any direct Income tax is I
levied it Will be only upon the lager in-
cones and at a very small rate. A tax On
legacies will probably be imposed.
II the committee reports II favor of any
sort Of an income tax, there viii be lively
debate over the matter In the house. for, .
while this method Of raising revenue has
many champions 10 both parties from iht
south and west. the eastern and New Eng /
land members generally oppose it. Those
who favor the income tax say that il viii
lie easy TO raise in this way s5o, o,"1.soo .
year without making the tax burCiensome /
upon any business or professional man who
enjoys q moderate income In fact. ths |
burden would fall almost altogether upon /
men who are fortunate enough TO have in
comes running into many thousands Of dol |
lars per year. /
Possible Fortunes In Whisky.
The second plan which the committee |
has under consideration is to increase the
internal revenue tax on whisky or beer /
Strong pressure has been brought in favor |
Of IN increase Of the whisky tax from o
cents 10 sl-25 or even 81 per gallon, ara |
oddly enough, the higher the tax the bet /
ter pleased viii be the men who are inter
esteyi in whisky. This seems likr an anon
aly. fer. as rule. the people who appear |
before the committee with reference TO in |
ternal taxes want lower rates
The whisky men viii consider thesu- /
selves In grea. luck If they are able 20 fn |
dnce the committee to oincrsase the tax apon |
their product. The reason IA simple They |
have millions and millions Of gallons Of
liquor in t-orsd, which. under the implied
contract entered into between the distillers
and the government. must pay tax OF 10
cents a gallon when withdrawn for con /
sumption or after il has been in the bonded /
warehouse three years
Il j. easy to see that, If the whisky is |
Withdrawn at the cd rate after the price Of |
the article has been advanced from % TO GO |
per cent by the new tax. owners Of the |
whisky in bond VIII make just thst amount |
Of money On every gallon which they noe |
the tax Of l:5cerltS only wonid make prg;i, |
to the dRtiIlsrs of at least se.ota coo |
Therefore the distlllers are using every et |
fort in their power TO induce the COMMITTEES |
to throw this plum iuto their laps.
How Some For. Were Made.
Il will he remen berei that IN the early |
days Of theE war several Large fortunes were
made by operations ia whisky on just such |
a state 81 affairs The ways and means /,
committee bad secretly decided 10 increase
the tax on whisky. and inasnluch a. the
value ef the article was sure 10 60 up ia
proportion to the increase Of tax a few men
who became possessed of the secret were
abe 20 buy large quantities Of iiquor and
re- li1s a handsome profit thereon
TIE man sho first obtained tie secret
was Horace White, then the correspondent
in Washington of the Chicago Trin1ne- He
ca1a m un3eate,1 bis discovery 20 Lyman ].
Gage, who mas Ct late BEEN 50 prominent
IN the WorId $ fair :. NJ Siekerson Cros-
t1y. builder Il the famous Crosby Opera
House. Y hicl wss raffsed of il a lottery,
and others in Chicago. These men RAISED
all the usonsT they could get, bought whi--
ky and rasde fortunes
White had no money of his OVID. but was
given share Of the profits and realized a
sufficient sum 70 enable him TO sco1rn piish
what had long been his dream-the par-
chase Of large interest IL the paper On
which be had been working So far as can
bs learned. the committee has not reached
a conelusion as 10 what Il will do with tsa
.