New-York tribune., 1893-12-01
.NOT 4 HEDENTE MEASURE.

The party which has eyes only in the back Of
it's head. in framing n tariff for Isl has nati-
rally gone back To The Walker tariff of 1886
The theories on which The proposed tarin *
based. So far ~ il is governed hy any theories
whatever. are precisely those Of The familiar
Walker report of iifty years ago. \ party
which learns nothing in iify years. and imag
ines that the Industries and commerce uf the
most progressive Nation on The earth have stood
still all that time. and need to-day only what
theorists supposed they needed before the
mining dis 'oy"rics in California or The general
utilization of steam or electricity. learns too
little and too slowly for the American people.
Ii is sienif cant that The Wilson bill relies large
ly to-day upon the theory Of Secretary Walker
in 1916 that the cost Of transportation from
the scaboard Ia the interior always provides
sufficient protection Mr. Wilson does not seem
10 have learned HAT instead Of 500 per ton by
Erie Canal 10 Buffalo. shippers are now paying
less than 81 per ton by rail To- Chicago Afor
the same Bourbon fashion he urges that al
valorcm duties are the best. though Secretary
Manning eight years ago submitted Ia Prcsi-
dent Cleveland great body Of expert testimony
supporting his declaration lhat fraud could only
be- prevented by specific duties.
Throughout The bill there is evidence that IT
was framed by men about fifty years behind
the age 1t Is proudly hrraldcJ as Il revenue
tariff, but is not Il tariff for revenue in any
sense and largely because its trainers were too
ignorant TO know what sort Of tarf would
yield revenue They confess it is true. that
their bill will yield deficit. and say that The
revenue part Of the business must be provided
by another measure. which is a singularIy cal
loiis admission that the tariff is not Il revenue
raising bui an industry smashing bill But on
their own theories II bill framed for revenue
only would have yielded at 20 per cent duties
on sugar wool, lumber, salt eggs cotton ties
and binding twnc over $29UUO.OOO. and yet
they have put all these on The free list. Here
possibly theories were sacrificed on the altar
of political expcdicncy. But duties on manu-
facturcd goods, according 10 the committees :
own theories would yield less revenue than
the existing duties.
Take the case Of wool. for example The
main imports in 1892 We're 13.JS1 .JS2 pounds
wOollcn cloths, now yielding Sl2,297.321 rcvc-
nue. which at the proposed 40 per cent duty
would yield $5,O57,1' Of dress goods by the
pound 496JGj2 pounds being imported. now
yielding 81. 723.G .G97, the duties at 10 per cent
would amount to only S2,0''l ,0iS. and on dress
goods by the yard. now yielding S2SOO.MO
revenue. which at 10 per cent would yield only
81. 200, 900; here we have in all a revenue OF
$S.2SS. 193 from these three classes. against
so. .S21 ,02i under the present tariff. In order
to get only as large n revenue. no less than
AZ. .OOO. 900 pounds and 47,OOO,OoO yards of these
goods must be imported, instead of S.J0O0oO
pounds and 2O,OOO,OOO yards II the theories
are not ridiculously false, the removal Of duties
on raw materials will help the manufacture
here so much that there can be- 10 increase In
imports. In that case more than S1l.OOOO00
revenue must be losr. But wool II now about
down TO Frec-Trade prices. II IL goes lower the
production will decrease greatly, and so The
price may rise. In spite Of this the importation
of goods by value and not by the yard or pound
will cut off so great a part Of the effective pro-
lection that large increase in imports may be
expected. The other fact, which the theorists
forget, is that men at work buy more woollcns
than men not at work, and men earning $50