The times., 1897-04-12
The Dingley Tariff Encouraging
10 Higher Prices.
NO NECESSITY FOR A CHANGE
The Schedule on Watches Proposes
a Heavy Increase in Duties While
the United States Remalns TIE
Worlds Largest Manufacturers.
Example OF Projection Gone Mad.

scrutinized. An analysis OF TINS measure
shows the nand of the possible or the
existing trust in very many Of its para
graphs. The narm is frequently discovered
in napparenttyinnocentpr provisions andamong
the paragraphs of this clasSis that relating
TO watches No schedule could have been
drawn with more adroitness had a watch
trust been organized and schedule dc
manded by them Of their own construction
This paragraph gives an excellent illuStra-
tion of protection gone made. For twenty
five years the duty on watch movements,
watch cases, glasses, parts OF watches anu
watches complete has been but 20 per cent
This was the rate in the Mckinley act, In
the Wilson act, and in every other tari1r
we have had since the war, but the ways
and Means Committee has raised it TO an
extortionate sum and made the conditions
possible for the organization of another
gigantic trust in the manufacture Of an
article that has come to be necessity 10
the poor as well as the rich.
The statistics of the Treasury Depart
rnent show that in the manufacture OF
watches. under this rate OF 20 per cent,
the United States has grown TO be the
largest manufacturer OF watch movements
and watches of any country on the globe
The output OF the American factories is
greater than that of the remainder OF The
world combined. This statement cannot
he disputed, and in the face of so startling
a fact the House Committee raised the
duty to an unusual extent, and the House,
acting under the spur OF the whip OF
Speaker Reed, gulped down the schedule
without a word OF protest.
In 1873 the manufacturers of the United
States exported but $4,000 worth OF
watches. Since then they have grown
into immense concerns, and, standing the
test of competition, have supplied The
market OF this country and expanded their
foreign trade until, last year, their eN-
portations for the foreign trade aggcc-
gated more than half a million OF dollars
Meanwhile the importatons or This c'aSS
of goods from abroad have fallen Off
enormously. Remembering that all the
time the rate Of duty--25 per cent-has g.
maiued unchanged, our importation Of
watch movements has fallen from $50
600, in 1873, to S173, 900, in s96. In
1885 we imported only S1S2, ,l73 OF these
things. and the highest we have reached
since was in 1888, when the figures ian
up to S436, PAS. This was an exceptional
wear, however, and from 1884 to 1896, was
not again approached by atleast 500, ,ooe.
In 1895 the importa tons decreased TO as
little as S143,043.
In 1870 the United states imported, in
compiete watches, an amount aggregating
S2457 900. Last year such importations
had shrunk to $4,000, which has been
about the average amount for the past
twelve years. The watches thus imported
are of peculiar character, such as are
brought in 10y the great jewelers. who want
something in the shape offorctgn novelties
for the wealthy. The great watch manu-
facuurers of the United States make about
three standard Kinds of timepieces, but
the trade has grown so, and he prices have
been reduced, until the demand has made
it possible for them TO compete with Tor
eigu makers in turning out novelties, sc
that this trade with foreign manufac-
turers is fast losing the ground it has main
tanned so firmly for years in the United
States.
If the experience of the past quarter OF
a century has shown that 20 per cen'
is sufficient duty on these things, the
question may well be asked why the neces-
sity for a change at this day? At the same
time the committee appears to have over
hooked the fact that in making what is
practically a prohibtive tax and fostering
what is bound TO result in trust, II has
opened the door for the smuggling Of an
article that can be easily smuggled.
watch can be slipped into the States over
the border as easily as diamonds, ond the
action of the House, if sustained by the
Senate, viii result in an almost total loss
of revenue from this source.
For some inscrutable reason, the House
committee fixed a compound duty on
watches and watch movements. In add
ton 10 the 20 per cent, which, as has
been said, has stood for years. they have
added a specific duty, based upon The
number OF Jewels in each movement, rang
ing from SO cents in SeveIl-jewele1 move
rnents to 81 % on movements having ron
fifteen to seventeen jewels. If having
more than seventeen jewels, the duty Is
fixed at So each, TO all of which the %
yer cent is, Of course, added.
To make this clause the more absurd
Ehe succeeding clauses should he analyzed
'rhe duty on complete watches, watch
cases parts OF watches, clocks and part'
of clocks. etc, whether separately packed
or not, are made dutiable at 40 per cent
ad valorem. Then, to add to the abSurdity
of the whole thing, a general clause is
thrown in making all jewels used in th'
manufacture of watches duiable at IL
per cent.
This compound rate, based on the num-
ber OF Jewels in watch, makes the duty
on the cheapest kind of a timepiece close
to 90 per cent There is not in this
cornpound rate on watch movements any
duty that is less than 80 per cent at tn;
most conservative way Of fixing the duty,
e whereas if the complete watch is brought
in pays a duty of but 40 per cent. The
word watches" which appears in the
bill. was not in it when reported to the
House 1t was asserted by the commit
tee as an amendment when the measure
was under debate, and was inserted Sc
hurriedly that no effort was made to as
certain what effect its insertion as a par
of an omnibus clause would have on the
rest or the paragraph 1t, therefore, has
the effect OF not only making the rest oi
the paragraph imperative, but absolutel,
ridiculous
For years watch Jewels have been oT
the free list As jewels they are exceed
ingiy small and their value attaches t.
them by reason OF the labor required tc
cut them They are not made in thi
country and never viii be here so long "a
labor is paid here at anything like presen
prices. Every one of these jewels is mad
by hand. and there are not more thal
three or four communities in Europe wher
they are manufactured. Labor is paid bu