The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1894-09-06
WHY MIR. WILSON OPPOSED

. The Publication of IA Comparative state
ment of the Differences Between the
Mckinley Tarifr Bill and the Sugar Trust
Bill.
Special to TIE CAUCAs.AN)
WASHINGTON, ID. G., Sept. |, '92
On the last day of congress Mr..
Richardson, of Tennessee, report
ed from the Committee on Printing
with a recommendation that it pass,
resolution providing for printing
10000 copies of the tariff bill com
pared with the rates of previous bills
At once Mr.. Wilson the author of
the House bill and the man who
ate the crow and swallowed the SEN
ate Sugar Trust bill was on his feet.
lie opposed the resolution. lie said:
"Of course a table Of this kind, printed bv
the authority Of the two houses. ought to
have the highest possible authenticity, for
1t VIII be accepted by the country as an Of
neal statement, a. nearly correct as 1t can
possibly be made. Now, ] suppose every
member of the House understands that it is
impossible for an accurate statiStician to
make these comparisons upon many Of the
schedules III the bills III such Il way a. 20 en-
tighten the taxpayer and the country at
large. 1t is impossible for instance to make
a comparison between the specific rate of
duty an at ValOrem rate Of duty. : = Now,
as | understand, the comparative statement
referred to III this resolution shows certain
percentage upon the imports of 1898 subject
to taxation under the Mckinley law; it
shows another rate upon the imports of
that year upon the suppOsitiOn 0f those i'm
ports being subject to taxation in accord
with he rates of the House hill .pl
then II shows another al valOrem rate of
taxation based upon the imports of 1893. on
the suppOsitiOn of those imports being sub
ject to taxation under the bill which has
Just passed both houses. Now | repeat
that it is quite as important-in my iudg-
ment 1t IS far more lmportant-in cOmpar
ing these three bills, to consider the basis of
taxation the amounts of imports of 1893.
which would be taxed than to consider the
rates of taxation. | believe, speaking en-
tlreIy from memory, that under the Ne
kinley law there was an al yaIorem duty
on dutiable goods in 1898 amounting to Is
and some fraction per cent. on something
over OOOOO,O0O of impOrtationS for that
year. If the House bill had been in opera
ton only about $500, 100000 worth of these
goods would have been taxed, and the rate
of taxation would have been about 30 or 36
per cent, and the rest would have come in
free Now under the law, which is expect
ell to go INTO operation in the Immediate
future, the basis OF taxation has been in
creased more than 100000, 600 over that
fixed in the House bill, and if ! mistake
not quite fifty millions over the Mckinley
bill That is point to be taken into con
sideration in considering this question of
comparison that the resolution now under
consideration proposes to print | want the
House to understand that in my judgment,
it would be unfair to unde take to institute
a comparison in the manner suggested"
These are his exact words. This
shows that Mr.. Wilson knows
that the tariff bill is "a humbug.
The Democrats have charged the
Republican specific duties to Demo
cratic ad valCIem and the Republic
can ad valorem to Democratic spe-
citic duties. This is to confuse the
people so that they cannot readily
see the difference in the tariff rates
The truth will come out when the
promised good effects of the bill fail
to materialize. Mr.. Wilson knows
there will be howl then and he
wants to postpone the day as long
as he can. The Democrats
hope to keep the people fooled about
it till after this election.