The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-03-09
The senate,s Tariff for the Trus

AAootH oA@O "
walls this morning--in the circles OF
piutocracy. The sugar barons and
lead barons and whiskey barons are
happy. The representatives of their
noble orderin the Senate have proven
their loyalty to their class. The in
terests of the m~illionaires are safe
and 1.-THE public be damned"
There are many Objectionable
changes in the Wilson bill as manipu-
lated by the Senate Finance Commit
tee, indeed it may be said that every
change in it is for the worse. 1t can
not even be claimed that N single
item of change was made in the inter-
est of the people-of the consumers;
and those who know will have no
difficulty in seeing that not one item
was changed in the interest of the
laboring classes. Every change,
without exception, appears to have
been designed either to subserve some
~capitalistic interest or else to excite
the hostility of some element of the
people with a view, it would seem, to
the total defeat of the bill. In this
latter class we are obliged to classify
the reduction of rate on woollen
fabrics. 1t is inexplicable on any
theory save that it is intended to con-
solidate the opposition of all the
woollen manufacturers in the country
against the measure.
The particular villainy of the Sem
ate changes is in the treatment OF
sugar, iron ore and lead ore, or at
least these are the most glaring cases
and may be taken as typical. The
bill puts a duty of l cent a pound on
raw sugar up to eighty polariscope
test, and / 40 cents a pound on sugar
above 96 degrees, with a sliding scale
from so to SO. The protection to the
Trust is four-tenths of a cent a pound,
which is only one-tenth of a cent less
than it gets under the existing law,
and which it obtained under a series
of monumental falsehoods on the
part of the people in sympathy with
it.. The Trust only asked 10 cent
from the House Committee, or at
least expressed a willingness to accept
that rate. Here is a Ease where our
representative lordlings are even
kinder to their constituents than they
are required to be. Perhaps that
Wall street turn may in part account
for the circumstance.
This places a duty OF. 40 cents a ton
upon coal and the same impost upon
iron ore. This is, in fact, an out
geo. sectional discrimination. 1t
is calculated to most seriously injure
the iron interests of the Atlantic
coast States. That it is imposed in
the interests of the miners is absurd.
Forty cents a ton duty is fully fifty
per cent. more than the cost of mining
a ton of iron in West Virginia or
Michigan. All the changes in the
iron schedule are on a par with this
one. The rate on steel rails is raised,
Tor instance, from 20 to % 1-2 per
cent, although the old duty had
utterly stopped all importation of
these articles, and it is notorious that
the profits made by their manufac-
ture are colossal, while the operatives
are not extraordinarily we'll paid.
The imposition of a duty of "a
$3.50 -~x1.| ~ Lad 1ro &c m t,offan
that comes right home to us in Jersey
City. Within two weeks, the annual
meeting of the Lead Trust was held
here. in the office of Messrs. Dickin-
SON., Thompson s. McMaster. 1t was
there and then announced that the
profits of the year 1898 had been ST.
100, 600. Now, the entire amount of
capital honestly invested in the Lead
Trust does not exceed five millions.
1t is true the nominal capitalization
vastly exceeds that amount-it is
$40, 600. 600; but it is mere water and
wind, and the public are being taxed
III this infamous import to pay divi-
dends on that water. 1t is on record
that a director of the Lead Trust has
estimated at 5000, 600 the actual value
of the plant of one OF the factories
controlled by the Trust, which is
represented In the scheme of capital
ization by the astounding figure of
81, 600. 900.
AS the bill comes from the Commit
tee of Barons, vino have thus per-
verified it, it raises a prospect of a new
surplus. 1t is variously estimated
that with the income clause annexed,
the bill will bring in from $50, 900, 600
to $50, 600, 900 more than is necessary
for the expenses of the government.
Presumably Lord Hill, Lord Brice
and Lord .'Jim" Smith will try to
obviate this difficulty by eliminating
the income tax altogether, for does it
not assail the privileges of their classs
Is it not a tax upon the trust barons
and the coal barons and the other
do~wn-trodden and oppressed billion
aire elements. 1t remains to be seen
whether the House of Representatives
will tolerate any such thing. Will
they allow the whole people to be
taxed for the necessities of life In order
hat f.t dividanda NAV M Maid on