The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-08-30
ERRORS IN THE BILL.
MANY MISTAKES DISCOVERED
IN THE TARIFF BILL.
No Appropri .tion to Put the Income Tax
Into Eject Treasury Asked for $500, o
Diamonds CnintentiOnaiiy Placed on
the Free List.
Big Tariff Blun ders.

In addition to the long list of errors
found in the German tariff bill. the
surprising discove Y has been made by
the Treasury Department officials hal
no appropriation has been made for
putting into effect the income tax pro-
visions. The col 'ectOrs OF internal
revenuc can do nothing under these
circumstance in the direction Of pre-
pairing to collect the tax. The treas
ury officials claim to be blameless, for
they forwarded to the Appropriations
Committee more than Il month ago an
estimate for an init il appropriation of
$500, 600 to be used during the current
fiscal year in carrying out the income
tax provisions Of the tariff bill if it
should become a law. The omission
cannot be rectitied at this sc sion of
COngre. S.
Scattered over twentN-Ole different
pages of the new tariff bill there have
! cen discovered so far a total of thirty
one errors. the greater part OF which
have no c .ect on the bill. There
are thee serious errors, though. not
counting the section that authorizes
the payment of a rebate on the tax
paid on alcohol used in the arts and
sciences. None Of the error, can lie
corrected without a joint resolution of
the two hOJses, for the law" print Of
the bill must be an exact copy. word
ing and spelling, puLctuation, and
everything else contained in the en-
rolled bill. which is the copy that be-
comes part Of the archives Of the gov
eminent.
Pt- fho an Of , tl1>
Senate has lifted bodily from the free
Ordyes. Among the pl lucts of coal tar
and benZole. These shou d have ON
i~n.free, but by the omission OF the
comma they are all t ansferred to the
dutiable list. Another error is one
over which there has been some dis
pute, but according TO tariff experts it
operates TO put diamonds in the free
list. The use Of the senicolon in.
stead of the colon is used by en-
perts 10 indicate that dia nonds
themse YES, as a class, not set. in
addition to those tor use in certain
trades. as was intended, are admitted
free. 1t is aid that some of the larg-
est importers of precious stones in
New York, aware of this error, have
ordered large invoices of diamonds be-
fore the error can Q corrected. Para.
graph ~ Of the chemical schedule
makes sulphate of magnesia, or epson
salts, dutiab,e at 10 OF a cent a pound.
This was an item add d by the Senate
which omitted to str Ike from the free
list paragraph 542. which reads: Mag
nesia, sulphate Of, or epson salts. "
The two paragraphs are in opposition.
Costly Error. of the Past.
In a communication sent t o Congress
some years ago it Was shown that the
insertion of a comma instead of a
hyphen in a tariff bill cCst the govern
ment almost $500. co.. The tariff act
Of .luLe u. 1872. contained in the free
list a paragraph reading: Fruit
plant :. tropical and semi-tropical, for
the purpose OF propagation or cuitiva-
ton. instead of the comma aft n the
word fruit" there shOud have been a
hyphen, the article intended to he adj
mitted free Icing fruit-plants. The
error was corrected by a joint resolu-
ton on May 8, 1874. but up tothat time
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth
of tro' zeal fruits were brought in alb
solutely free of duty.
a serious error in the Mckinley act
was corrected in like manner, the mis-
take being the displacement o IL pa
r%enthesis. The paragraph as it APP
peared in the law read: Gables, cord
age, and Irvine eX, ept binding Irvine
composed in whole or in part Of istle,
or Tampico fiber, 81 al grass, on sun
|! cents per pound" The only W rds
that should ha e been inclose6 in pa
r%entheses were except binding twine, >
which made II very material change in
the construction Of the paragraph.
The correction was made Feb. Is. 1871.
the law. however. having been in force
since Oct. |, 1890.