The morning call., 1893-11-25
THE DEMOCRATIC TARIFF.

Implicit reliance IS not 10 De placed In
the newspaper accounts of the provisions
of the new tariff bill upon which the Com
mittee on Ways and Means Is said to have
agreed. Stil, few features of the new
bill are so clearly prefgured by the his
tory of past debates on the tariff that they
are almost foregone conclusions. 1t is
almost certain that lumber, coal. pig iron
and wool will be placed on the free list.
The sacrifice of revenue on these articles
will amount to some millions. To this loss
must be added the sacrifice of revenue on
textiles and hardware, which will remain
on the dutiable list, but at reduced rates
of duty. How much this will amount to
will depend on the stimulus which reduced
duties give to importations. A low duty
sometimes yields more revenue tnaD high
duty; thus il is possible that the coDtem-
plated reductions may involve no sacrifice
at all. The only effect of reduced duties
on textiles may be TO increase the con-
sumption of foreign goods at the expense
of home manufactures.
In the fiscal year ending June 80, 1892,
the revenue from customs was SIT, ,0O0, 600 !;
in previous years it often reached $780,
000. .000 In order that it shall not fall be-
low say S175.0OO,00O, it is proposed to re-
impose duty on sugar. Our importations
of sugar during the current calendar year
will amount TO about $500, 000 600 pounds,
worth. at invoice value, about S122, ,00O. 600.
A duty of half cent pound on that
would yield revenue of about S17, 100000.
Internal revenue yielded in the last fiscal
year S154.000.000; II will not yield as
much in 1884; but it is supposed that
the bill reported by the committee will
suggest an increase of the excise on
whisky. An increased tax of 10 cents
gallon on that article would be great
speculation for the whisky trust, which
has millions Uf gallons stored on which 1t
would at once put up the price.
During the eight months Of the calendar
year ending August 81, 1898, the total i'm
portations of free goods were valued at
S303.000, 000-a trifiipg decline from the
cores pondiDg months of 1892 During
the same months of 1898 our importations
of wool, pig and scrap iren, coal and lum-
Der footed up something over SO. .0Oo 600.
The importations would have been larger
under a tariff which placed them on the
free list-how much larger il is d OF easy to
determine. Since sugar was placed on the
free list our importation of the article has
increased about so per cent; but some of
the increase must be attributed to the de-
cline in the price and some to the en-
larged consumption caused by the swell of
population. The importation of drugs
and chemicals has nearly doubled since
the Mckinley tariff placed them on the
free list.
Under the working of the Mckinley
tariff the volume Of free importations has
exceeded the volume of dutiable i'm porta-
tIons. During the first eight months of
the current calendar year they compare as
S303. 100000 to S275.o00.000. In 1888 for
the whole year they compared as S244,-
100000 to S46S, 100000. Under the tariff
then in force two-thirds Of the importa-
tions furnished the whole customs rev.
enue. Under the present tariff that duty
devolves upon less than half the importa-
tions. The articles of most general con-
sumption by the people at large-tea,
coffee and sugar-do not contribute at all
to the customs income.
Over one-half of the expenditures Of the
Government, exclusive of ensions, Is
betrayed by three articles.-spirits, fer
mented liquors and tobacco. For the
other half and for the cost of the pension
list the country must look to customs du-
ties. We shall see in week how the
Democratic Congress proposes to distri-