The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-03-25

| least IN part, for the ills which have for
so many months overshadowed the coun-
| try.
1t is a condition and not a theory that
| confronts us. Our problem is to provide
ADEQUATE revenue from duties on imports
| to carry on the government and impose
duties to secure this result, adjust them
| so as to secure our own protection for
the manufacture of such articles as we
can produce or make for ourselves with
out natural disadvantage, and thus pro-
vide more abundant opportunities for our
labor.
No economic policy will prove Il success
| unless it shall in some manner contribute
to opening up employment to the masses
OF our people at good wages. When this
shall be accomplished and thus the pur-
| then, and not until then, will prices cease
to feel the depressing effect of under
consumption and the prosperity Of our
people rise to the standard of 1892.
The past four years have been enlight-
enlng, especially to candid investigators
OF economic problems. We have been at
| tending kindergarten on gigantic
scale. The tuition has come high, but
| no people ever learned so much in so brief
time. Hereafter theories, preached in
| however captivating language, will have
| to give way to the teachings of expert
| ence.
1t has been the fayorite assumption of
some theorists that revenue and protec-
ton in the same tariff schedule are i'm
| possible. But we have had in the past
seven years, in the contrasted working of
| the protective wool and woolens sched-
ules of the tariffs of 1890 and 1894 a
most striking demonstration otherwise.
Mr.. Dingley then gave some statistics
| relating to importations and tariffs on
woolens, and said that by placing wool
| on the free list the treasury lost SOL
| 600 900 in revenue and the farmers $780,
100000 per year, and that this country
had not been able to increase it's exports
of manufactured wool. 1t had been
claimed, he went on, that the price of
| clothing had been reduced, but this was
been deprived of work and wages and
found it harder to buy clothing than be-
fore. The new schedule would aid the
wool grower, increase manufactures and
ultimately increase the revenue.
Speaking of the sugar schedule, Mr..
Dingley said that the increase on flax and
hemp was made both in the interest of
| revenue and because there was great
promise of home production. AS to the
! other increases of duties in the bill to
Mckinley rates, Mr.. Dingley said
For the most part otherwise the in
crease of duties in the pending bill to the
figures of the tariff of 1890 have been in
the schedules of paragraphs covering
luxuries like tobacco, liquors, silks, laces,
etc, which, being articles of voluntary
| consumption, are always regarded as OBJ
jects which will bear the highest duties.
The exceptions are the earthenware and
| glass schedules and the agricultural
schedule on which the duties have been
| placed the same as in the act of 1890,
| because no ether rates seemed to be pro-
| tective"
Mr.. Dingey then briefly touched upon
some schedules which had not been ma
| terially changed from the present law.
These included iron, steel and cotton.
IN all other schedules" continued Mr..
Dingley, "the rates proposed in the pend
| ing bill are between the rates of the
| tariff of 1890 and the present law.
There have been transferred from the
| free list of the tariff of 1894 to the duti-
able list of the proposed bill not only
wool, lumber, salt, bags, cotton baggng
and ties, which never should have
been made non-dutiable but also argols,
| crude opium, asphaltum, painting and
statuary, except when imported for free
| exhibition by an established institution;
straw ornaments, etc, which, under eX-
listing conditions, ought to contribute
something towards the much additional
| needed revenue.
'As far as possible, the aim had been
| to avoid exclusively ad valorcm duties on
articles which have been VIGOROUSLY I'M
dervalued and thus failed to pay the
| duties intended-a loss of revenue which
has been more serious than ever under
| the present tariff, in which, outside of
| the metal and cotton schedules, almost
exclusive ad valorem rates prevail. The
| better class of importers have united
with manufacturers and administrators
of the law in asking for this"
Mr.. Dingley next discussed Mt some
| length the ad valorcm and specific sys-
| tens and presented figures showing how
disadvantageously the ad valorem system
worked. He then presented the esti-
| mates as TO the probable revenue that
would be raised by the bill, which were
given in his report with the supplemental
statement that the second year the bill
would yield 500, 100000 increased reve-
nue..
When Mr.. DlngIey finished, mt the end
of about an hour, the republicans APP
plauded for fully minute, the galleries
joining in the demonstration.
Gen. Wheeler of Alabama, the old
| cavalry leader of the confederacy, opened
for the opposition. Mr. Wheeler began
with the statement that the bill had been
secretly prepared by the eleven republican
| members of the committee on ways and
means and framed almost in the language
of the petitions presented by protected in
terests. Since the star-chambcr meas
ure came to light on last Monday, he
| said, the conservative press of the coun-
try had denounced it in unmcasurcd
terms. The bill increased the duty on
many articles far above the Mckinley
rates and in some instances exceeded the
Mckinley rates by from 80 to 100 per
cent. Nearly every paragraph was
changed from the ad valOrcln rates under
the Wilson bill to either specific or COM
pound rates, the effect of which was 10
increase enormously the duty upon cheap
or articles that are purchased by the peo-
pie who work and lessen the tariff upon
the expensive articles that are purchased
only by the rich. BY transferring an
enormous quantity of wool from class 3
| to class l. the duty on raw woods was
increased far beyond any bill ever pre-
scented to an American congress. Woods
that paid 80 per cent under the Mckinley
bill would now. he said, pay an additional
ad valOrem of between 200 and 300 per
cent, and possibly more. The duty on
cOrduroys. used by the poor. was increased
to about 1913 per cent, prohibtory. The
bill revived the duty upon burlaps from
i,,+n lo 70 prnin nd