Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-01-05
MINORITY TARIFF REPORT
VIEWS OF REPUBLICAN MEM.
BERS OF THE COMMITTEE.
the Opposition on the Ways and
Means Present Their Analysis of
the Wilson Bill to the House
They Assert That Revenue VIII
be Lowered 81 600. 900.

be Lowered s. 4, ,OOO,OOO.
The report of the Republican minority
members of the Ways and Mears Committee
on the Tariff bill has been submitted to the
House. The first part Of the report, discuss
ing the bill generally, was prepared by ex-
Speaker Reed. The other members Of the
mipority-Messrs. Burrows, Payne. Dalzell.
Hopkins and Gear prepared tho portion of
the report dealing With special features. The
report, in part, says
The most surprising thing about this bill
is the fact that this proposition to raise
revenue will lower the revenue of this
country S74 900, 900 bsiow the revenue Of
1898. which was only $2.000.010 above our
expenses. This fact and the other fact that
by this bill the larger part of the burden Of
taxation is transferred from foreigners and
brought to our own citizens. should always
be kept in mind during the discussion.
Had the committee in making what the
Chairman on the floor of the House has
called a "political hill' followed the plain.
uncompromising declaration of the party
which they represent and abolished prOtec-
tion, giving us a tariff for revenue only, our
task i'll commenting upon tho result of the
committees efforts would have been much
more simple. The bill would then have been
a straightforward. manly attempt to carry
out pledges. and would have placed in issue
two great principles and have led to clear
and comprehensive discussion.
So far, however have the committee de-
parted from the demands of their National
Convention that we should have been much
tempted to borrow phrase from their own
platform and designate the bill as ''cOw-
ardly makeshift' were it not that the re-
suits have been already too serious for mere
epithets. Such a phrase even thus sane
toned would be out of place in discussion
which involves so much of Importance to all
PlQCCpG n 81 Ct hNUnNvnr 0uj jpG
fact that the bill presented can in no way be
justified by people who claim to have OBJ
tained possession of all branches Ofthe Gov
ernment upon distinct promise which they
now as distinctly repudiate.
If it should be said that these pledges,
sOiemnly made on n yea and nay vote after
full discussion, were not intended for aC-
ton, then the breaking of these pledges has
the additional disadvantage of premedita-
tiOn.
If subsequent events-and they have been
numerous enough and weighty enough to
startle the country have convinced the
committee that the Democratic platform is as
utterly wrong and indefensble history
will Iow it TO be, then it Is great misior-
tune to this country that the committee did
not have the courage to openly abandon the
false doctrine and leave the country undis-
turbed. 50 that it might convalesce from the
shock of its great mistake.
But he committee. instead of proceeding IN
its great work of abOliShing protection and
preserving the people from the load of taxa
ton which they have always averred was
the result of protection, has presented a
bill which is only another tariff tinkering
BILL that like of which has disturbed the
condition of business 80 many times
in thirty years. 1t is great misfortune
that such is the case, for had the bill
been for revenue only, in the
only sense possible for that
term, the people of this country might have
seen at one glance whether they desired the
che policy or the other, and the question
might have been settled once for all and the
country might have returned to that repose
stability and certainty which our business
prosperity so much needs.
The Democratic Attorney ii the Northern
District of New York comes down, as he had
a right to. and declares that from a prOtec-
ton standpoint barley and malt cannot go
together under the same ad valorem. and
promptly the committee raises the tariff
taxes from twenty-five per cent. to thirty per
cent to protect the manufacturers, although
it must lessen the revenues.
The new plan also involved a new method
of encouraging manufacturers by giving
them what are called free raw materials, -
SO that what goes into tho mill pays no taxes
and what goes into consumption pays all the
taxes. The manu- facturers have no taxes on
what they buy and the people the equivalent
OF taxes on all they purchase.
wool, free coal and free iron are not put on
the free list with any reference direct or in
direct to raising revenue.
1T is true that the consumer will no longer
pay tribute to the Western farmer for the
wool of the sheep. but the New England and
other manufacturers are still authorized to
lay tribute upon the citizens of the United
States, who must pay, as they have al
ways paid thirty. forty aDd fOrty-iVe per
cent to the manufacturers on every yard of
wOolens and wOrstads, while the country
Will only receive by way of revenue n LEGS
ened sum. unless increased impOrtatiOns sig
nal1ze the death of American pro iuctiOn.
1t is true that the coal miners in West Vir-
ginia and the ore produces of Michigan will
be stripped of their sO-caled robber gains
entirely and the railroads must lose their
transportation of millions of tons of freight,
but the manufacturers are thereby stimu-
lated and aided SO that they can. as the COM
mittee asseverate, still continue their profit
able business here and reach across the ocean
for the business of other countries, land for
eign trade without limit"
If, as it is asseverated, the 10000, 900 OF
American people have been for thirty years
taxed for the benefit of a few hundred thou
sands of favored individuals. why should've
tax be continued even in diminished ratio
for another series of years and these few
hundred thousand favored creatures be given
n new lease of life?
We cannot meet the lower prices of q
lower level of civilization. Our inYen-
tiOns are too quickly absorbed by
foreign countries to permit this. Hence
the result of refusal TO protect our
labor at its present rates must result
in lower wages. This seems capable
of rough demonstration. Our goods are
now met by foreign goods on our own shores
at price made up of raw materials plus
labor and plus the present rate of tariff on
very nearly equal terms.
In discussing the wooden schedule the
committee says this schedule as proposed in
the committee bill is in some respects the
most reprehensible. It proposes to destroy at
R blow the great industry of wool growing.
which now ranks as seventh in the value of
its products among the several branches of
American agriculture and which has here
tOfore been recognized as an agricultural
product deserving and requiring protection
under every Administration and by every
Tariff act since that of May %, 1921 Meth
ing short of the total destruction of this I'M
portant industry can be counted upon as the
consequence of placing both wool and NUT
ton on the free list
It is a fact established by experience that
at the prices for wool now prevailing in
the foreign markets our farmers cannot con
tinue the business of wool growing without
absolute yearly loss. During the past year
ng to the impending threat of free wool
and radical reductions in the duties on
WooieH SCCuS tne prices OF domestic WOODS
of all descriptions have fallen from thirty to
fifty per cent. below the prices that prevailed
year ago. Even at these figures there has
been little market for wool, and many farm
ers have still on their hands this seasons
clips, which at this time last year were be-
ing rapidly converted into goods by mills
which now stand idle. The value of the
sheep has fallen equally with the value of
their clip. The depreciation in the value of
this species of agricultural property from
the two sources may be conservatively stated
at S5O ,OOO, 600. Each detail of the Wilson
bill is taken up and analyzed.
DIR. HEeMANN SCHUMACHER. of Berlin, is in
this country making a study of industrial
features, principally in relation to bread
etuffs. He has visited the Western States,
ana was recently on the floor of the Bati-
more Corn and Flour Exchakge. He will
WISH other Eastern cities DR.. Schumacher
was sent to this country b. the Interior De-
partment of Germany and is to -eport fo