The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-10-24

domestic producers, that any import
alton of pig-iron would take place
even with no duty at all. At such
points the barrier is lowered q bit, but
not enough to affect the situation
seriously. Under the House rate of
20 per cent, equivalent TO a specific
duty of about -, il would have been
lowered still more. In certain official
calculations the new duty, as settled
in the Senate, is put down as equlva-
lent to an al UdLOrenl rate OF ID per
cent, and so would appear to be lower
than that fixed by the House. But
these calculations rest on the prices
of certain exceptional and expensive
kinds OF iron imported in very smaIl
quantities for mixing. On the great
bulk of the iron used in trade the
House rate would have meant
lower duty than that which we now
have.
The pig-iron duty and the changes
made i'm it by the Senate are typical.
The drift of the new rates on metals
and manufactures of metal Is toward a
very careful pruning. The House has
adopted a system of al UdLoreD1 duties
varying from 20 to % per cent; the
Senate substituted specific duties of
the old sort, somewhat abated in
amount. In comparatively few cases
were the House rates retained, or, if
somewhat advanced, still left in al
UdLOrenI form. The dd UdLOrenl method
is far from faultless, and, indeed, from
the simple administrative point of
view, is TO be unequivocally con-
demned. But specific duties have the
defect, grave under our system of gov
eminent by public opinion, of not tell
ing their own tale. Their meaning
and incidence are often known only to
a few persons versed in the details of
some intricate trade, and they give
opportunities for that manipulation of
legislation in favor of private interests
which is the greatest evil of our day.
Hence the prediction of tariff-re-
formers for al CdLOren1 rates, notwith-
standing the administrative Difficult
ties they entail; hence the suspicious
which the retension of the specific sys-
tenn aroused. AS matters stand in the
new act, we can only be sure that if
abuses exist in the intricate figures
as they still remain in the tariff lists,
the general pruning of the specific
rates has made them somewhat less in
degree.
FOREIGN woOLLENs.
Among manufactured articles the
most marked change is in the duties
on woollen goods, where free wool
made necessary an entirely new sys-
tenn. Under the old system, which
went back to the time of civil war,
and had been retained and emphasized
in the Mckinley act, woOllen goods
were subject to a compound rate, part
ly specific and partly al UdLoren1. AS
there was duty on wool, the manu-
facturers had rightly demanded that
foreign woollens should be subjected
to corresponding duty, which should
prevent the foreign competitor enjoy
ing free wool from having an advan-
tage over the domestic maker. The
specific duty on woollens had been
meant to accomplish this result; it was
supposed merely to offset the wool
duty, and to give no protection. The
al UdLoren1 duty gave the
net protection, which was originally
at the rate of % per cent, but had
been gradually raised, until in the Nc
Kinley act, on the most important
classes of goods, it was 90 per cent.
Under this system the total tax on
woollen goods, taking the specific and
dd UdLOreD1 rates together, had risen
to an intolerable point, being equiv
alent to so, 80, 100 per cent, even
more, on the foreign value of the wool
lens. Moreover, the system gave eX-
amples of those difficulties with spec
ific duties which were mentioned
moment ago. In many cases the COM
specific duties on woollens
in fact did more than to compensate,
being so arranged as TO give protection
where they were supposed to give
none. Hence when IL was proposed in
the Wilson bill to cut off the specific
duties entirely, as no longer justified
under free wool, the manufacturers
protested that they were really losing
contention which could
not but raise a cynical smile, in
view of the earnestness with which
it had been so long maintained
that this part of the duties did no
more than offset the tax on raw wool.
But the specific rates had to 60 on,
and the only question was as TO the
extent of the protective al UdLOren1
duty which was to be retained. The
rate in the Act is from 80 to 40 per
cent. Here again the House had
made the rate 40 per cent, with a pro-
vision for gradual decrease, until after
five years it should be So per cent.
The Senate raised it on some impor-
tant classes of goods. As a further
of the change to the manu-
Iacturers, it is provided that while |
wool is TO come in duty free at once,
the new and lowered rates on woolens
are not to be collected until January
lst of next year. For a season the |
get their wool free, yet
continue to enjoy the Mckinley rates
On woolens. In view of the consider
able plant required for a wooden mill,
Of the unquestionable fact that the
new conditions will be very different
rom the old, and the probability of I!
.rying period of transition for the |
this policy is sound as
we'll as generous; and ii illustrates the |
anxious with which vested interests |
have been regarded.
On the other great textile articles |
he changes are more simple than on |