The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1893-12-15
A DEMOCRATIC TARIFF,
What the Wilson ELL Would DO for Amer
lean Industry.

The new tariff bill is an anacronism,
which would have appeared less ab-
surd If 1t had been offered at any time
before the late elections Even to dem
ocrats who had supposed their leaders
could be taught something by phe-
nomenal defeat it is surprising. Pre-
pared by democrats only and in secret,
under the constant direction of the
| president, it betravs the absence Of the
/ SOLDERING influence of frank comparison
of opposing convictions In parts it is
clearly out of harmony with itself,
where political considerations since the
recent election seem to have prompted
departure from its theories. but in the
main it justiies the claim that the
committee has gone straight on, as if
the wishes of the people deserved no
attention.
Its most characteristic feature is the
general substitution Of ad valorem for
specific duties. This is in contempt of
the Judgment of competent ecOno-
mists, including some eminent demo-
Gratis, and Secretary Manning. Presi-
dent Cleveland's first choice for the
treasury. who strongly urged specific
duties on the ground that by them Only
could fraud be effectually checked.
But the extreme free trade theorists
have always been anxious for al
valorem duties only, as if because these
are most easily evadei and practically
least efficacious. The committee could
hardly have decided to open wide the
doors to fraud had it not been anxious
to deprive American industries of de-
Tense more completely than the people
could discover from mere comparison
of rates. Besides all its open blows it
wished to deliver Il stab in the dark.
1t should be 4 fatal objection to this
bill that unlike any other ever proposed
by either party it deliberately and inten-
tlonally creates a deficit. Its advocates
say that the deficit will be about fifty
million dollars. which they intend to
make good by later enactmcnts. per-
hapS an income tax. But there can be
no certainty about the passage of a
future measure, especially OF such 4
character. No other par has VEN
tured to cut down revenues beyond the
needs Of government without providing
in the same act for corresponding in
crease from other sources. The reduc-
ton of revenues will probably be found
even greater than the committee repre-
sents. The additions to the Tree list
alone, including wool. iron ore. copper,
lumber, sulphuric acid, salt and coal,
with many other articles which protec-
ton only has enabled the country to
produce will take more than ten mil
lion dollars from the customs receipts.
Some of these changes have met opposi-
ton SD strong that it seemed hardly
possible the committee would disre-
gard it. Wool growers of the suuth
protested against destruction Of their
industry as earnestly as the growers of
Ohio or Michigan, but without avail
Coal and iron miners of southern states
protested, not willing to accept the de-
struction of their industries as the first
choice fruit of a thirty years struggle
for democracy, and similar protests
came from copper and lumber proliuc-
erS. But with the committee of demo-
Gratis a grain of theory seems 10 have
Outweighed Il ton of experience. The
change in these articles will not mere
ly take millions from the revenue but |
Will deprive several hundred Thousand
American workers of their power to |
purchase foreign or domestic products.
The duties on manufactured prod
ucts are reduced, apparently. rather
more than 40 per cent. in the aggre-
gate. But the proposed reductions DO |
not appear to be governed by any in !
4 al h,,
specific to al valOrem duties makes it |
4 task of some days labor to deter
mine even approximately how far the |
reduction in some schedules extends. |
In the wOolens schedule more than
half the duty would be taken off, evil
deutly. even if the goods should be
invoiced without undervalua-
ton, and the change to al valorem
duties vii. make the practical effect
still greater. In the iron schedule the
on pig from SG.12 per ton 70
% per cent, which means at present
prices sl.5O to 81 % per ton, must shut
up many eastern and Southcrn fur
naces. Rails are reduced from So. IL
per ton to 25 per cent, which means at
latest quotations about S4.50. and on
most finished products the duties are
heavily cut On glass the reduction is
over one-half, and on linens from 40
per cent. upward 1t is an added inju-
~ TO industry that the duties on wool
ems, being deemed too high rs fixed in
the bill, are to be further reduced five
points in five years on a sliding scale,
which would compel makers 10 tighG
all that time against falling markets if
they should venture to contend at all
In abolishing the duties on eggs and
the committee not only
away about $500, 900 revenue,
but this change with abolition or re-
duction Of duties on breadstuffs and
other farm products is calculated to in
crease the serious depression of agri-
culture in eastern and border states.
Even the sugar-growers. though the
committee did not venture to repeal at
once the bounty so often denounced by
democrats as robbery" are to see it
cut away by fractions in eight years. a
process eminently calculated to dis
any industry. In short. nearly
all classes must share the blessings of
this democratic change, farmers and
vn;norS uoOl.OrOworS and weaverS |