The Washington times., 1894-08-10
COMPARATIVE TARIFF TAXATION.


A few weeks ago the country was con-
fronted with the apparent necessity of ac-
cepting the tariff bill prepared by the Senate
putting tax on sugar, coal, iron, and lead
ores, besides a number Of other prime neces-
stiles. which logical tariff reform principles
require to be free. This was NOT very salts
factory result after thirty-seven years of
tarif-reform agitation, hut a great many
Democrats were willing to accept this propo-
sition as matter Of expediency, because the
bill did reduce the duties on long list Of
manufactured articles.
The firmness OF the House conferees has in
part disillusioned the men who were ready to
surrender, and after long fight the Senate
conferees have come to position where they
offered to put either coal or iron ore on the
free list. They finally favored iron, but the fact
that they were willing at one time to yield the
duty on coal has suggested that good, vigor-
GUS stand by the conferees will result in hay
ing coal and sugar placed on the free list.
There has been so much knavery exhibited
by the trust, and 1t has been made so clear
that it is to get the direct benefit Of millions
the pockets of every human being in the
country, that it is worth very long struggle
to shake off the annual levy which this ini-
quitous combine makes upon the people,
The only argument for the maintenance of
any duty, even the 40 per cent. ad valorem
duty on raw sugar, is the alleged need of rev.
enue. 1t does not appear, however, that
there is any such need.
The total of the appropriation bills for the
next fiscal year as passed by the Senate is
S496, ,9ss, ,226. 1t is estimated that the reduc-
tions in conference may be So, 900 more,
making the total s491, ,9sS. .226. For the pur-
pose Of meeting this expenditure the Senate
bill, with raw sugar taxed 40 per cent, will
yield an estimated revenue of S496, ,67S, $50.
based, ho,reUer, on the imports Of 1898. The
House bill, without Il sugar tax, would yield
an estimated revenue of S442.0S5.177. Ac-
cording to these figures the Senate bill would
yield surplus of about $1,000, 900, and the
House bill would result in a deficit OF about
S4s,000, 600 year.
But there is one most important fact ig-
nored in this estimate, although it was not
ignored in the debate on the floor OF the Sen
ate That ID that if tariff reform, as exempli-
fed in the House bill, is worth anything, it
will increase the volume o: imports as McKin-
leyism decreased them. The total imports,
therefore, will be so much larger than those
Of 1898, on which the above estim ates are
based, as to yield a much greater income than
the above estimate in the House bill, and thus
wipe out the estimated $4,000, 900 OF deficit
and yield large surplus.
The average rate on dutiable articles in
the House bill is about 35 per cent. 1t fol-
lows, therefore, that an average increase of
S1Ss. 900, 900 OF dutiable imports would make
up the deficit. Actually the required volume
would be even less. bee ause the sort of goods
that would be imported would be largely wool
ems and other articles on which the duty is so
per cent. instead Of the average 35 per cent.
These are the real facts about the estimated
government revenue as given by practical
men. Making sugar free will create no def
cit, and especially would this be true SO far as
this year is concerned, because the sugar
trust has already gotten the greater part of
the sugar crop into the country free.
McKinleyism taxed the people s19s. .373. .452
In tariff duties in 1898. The Senate bill tax
ing sugar only reduces this to s179, Psi JAP.
The House bill, with free sugar, would re-
duce it to s124,657, ,429.
Give US free sugar and reduce the burden
of taxation on the American breakfast tables
s43, ATE, ,957 yearl