The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-12-02

WASHINGTON Nov. 27-Mr Wilson, the chairman
of the ways and aud means committee, has pre-
pared the following statement. which was given out
this morning with the bill
The committee have welcomed inf oFmation and
counsel from every trustworthy source. and while
they do expect their bill To escape just criticism
in all Of its details they do present it to the country
as the result of months of patient anxious toll,
and OF an honest desire 10 discharge their duty,
purged of all taint of local and personal avorism
or prejudice. its main features are two: First. the
adoptionwh il seemed practical OF adj yalorem
instead ofspeciGc duties; secondly the freeing from
taxes OF those great materials Of industry that lie at
the basis of production. Specific rates of duty are
Objectionable for these reasons: They frequently
conceal rate OF taxation too enormous to be sub
mitled to if expressed in ad va.orem terms. the
duty of cents on a hundred pounds on saltin bulk,
which amounts to oyer 30 per cent. on common
Necessary of life. They always bear heavily on the
common article used by the masses and lightly OH
the expensive article consumed by the rich, as l
tax Of so all houses would be little or nothing
on the great mansion and very high on the humble
home. And. contrary to common belief, specific
duties lead greater frauds in administration, for
counting and weighing at the custom house are
done by the cheapest and most easily corrupted
labor while ad valorem rates assessed by the best
paid and most responsible appraisers. The ad valo-
rem system has worked well in practice, is essen
tally the fair system because It is tax upon the ac-
tual value of an article and was declared by Mr..
Clay himself to be in theory and according TO every
sound principle ofjustice entitled to the preference
and vindicated by long trial.
The boldest innovation of the bill is its large free
list of raw materials. Taxes upon production are
double wrongs. They gather and cumulate on the
consumer of the finished product. They hurt labor
by narrowing the market for what it produces.
Coal aud iron are the foundations of modern indus
try. Material progress is measured by the amount
OF their consumption. No other country can supply
them as abundantly or cheaply as we can. No pos
sible competition interfere with our own pro-
ducers few miles in the interior of the country
Remoteness from the sources of supply is in itself
enough disadvantage to any section of the country
without further burdens in tariff taxes. Cntaxed
ores coal LUMBER wool and other fbres must i'm
mensely stimulate production in certain parts OF
our country The thin edge of American manu-
factures has entered every country. With re-
lease from taxes upon their materials there
Is no limit to the growth of our foreign
trade. This will more than compensate to the home
producers of raw material who, tariff or no tor
if control all the interior of the country for any ap-
pretended loss of markets anywhere along the sea-
board Its incalcuable advantage to labor is ap-
parent In every great line of manufactures we can
produce in six months TO nine months enough for
our home market. We can get rid of our surplus
only by foreign trade. As long as we have taxes on
the materials of industry we cannot build up that
trade Hence the other alternative of trusts TO keep
down production TO the home market. The work
ingman can see whether his interest is with sys-
TEN that represses production and robs him of en-
ployment or with a system that gives natural and
healthy play to production and emancipates him
from trusts and lik. combinations of capital.
As to details of the bill will briefly recapituate
the salient changes of the several schedules In the
chemical schedule we have transferred to the free
list quite number of articles used in manufactures
! the most important of which is sulphuric acid
one Of the corner stones of all chemical industry
The duty on castor oil is reduced from s. to 80 cents
! per gallon and the dnty on linseed oil which was
secretly raised 10 80 cents by the conference COM
mittee on the Mckinley bill. alter each house had
openly voted for lower duty, we put at 10 cents
! gallon. Pig lead being reduced from to cent
| pound. lead paints correspondlngly reduced.
/ The Mckinley bill increased the duty on opium
| prepared for smoking to sl2 pound in the vain
| hope of lessenng its importation. The custom
house officers on the Pacific coast declare that this
increase of duty has simply placed in the hands O.
smugglers the Bringing in ofopium to the demoral
iZatiOn oil the custom service IoeS VI ONei
/ half million revenue. The duty proposed is be
lieyed to be eollectable and will put the traffic un
de T government control and supervision.
In the pDttory schedule substantial reductions are
made. Plain white ware is dropped from the high
| schedule in which it mysteriously crowded itself
4 Uecorated ware is reduced from 60 to 45 per cent
1 EndecoTated from So to 40.
In common window glass, where close combina
tions have kept up the prices TO consumers under
the shelter of duties averaging hundred per cent.
I reduction of more than one-half has been mads
in all the larger sizes. There is no douh that thest
rates will permit very healthy growth OF the in
dustry here.
In plate glass reductions are made, the largest
sizes from so cents to so cents per square foot OF sill
vered. from go TO 50 cents.
In the iron and steel schedule we begin with free
ore The discovery OF the immense deposits of bes
semer ores in the lake region and of foundry ores in
Alabama has rapidly swept us to the leadership Of
the world In the production ofiron and steel and
brought near at hand our undisputed supremacy in
the great field Of manufactures. The use of steam
shoyels reduces ihclcos, Of mining % point wIers