The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-10-01
Washington Correspondence.
WAsHINGToN, D. c., Sept. %, 1891


upon the prOmptness with which tn
Dingley law got upon the statute books.
UNExAMPLED PRoMPTNEss.
That it did become law more prompt
ly than any tariff measure since Washing
ton has been already explained in thi
correspondence. Canvass the history o
all administrations and all tariff laws,anC
you will find none since the original tarit
act which became a law so promptly afteI
the Inauguration of a new president.
WHY THE FARMER SHOULD REJOICE.
But the purpose of the opening remarks
as to the farmer was to call attention t(
the raid which was made on him in the
closing days of the old law, and the adj
ness of republican legislation which put
a stop to that raid.
DODGING THE NEW DUTY ON FARM
PRODUCTS.
The chief ambition of the importers in
the closing months of the Wilson tariff
seems to have been to ''gouge' the farm.
er out of the last penny possible by rush.
ing in all the farm products they could
rake and scrape the world over.
Take the matter of live animals for in
stance. The value of the live animals i'm
ported in the month of July, 1897, amount
ed to $354, 100000, while in july 1896, they
amounted o only $4,000, 900.
The cattle imported in July, 1897, num-
bered 27,740, while in. July, 1896, they
numbered only 3,O71. This was the last
chance of the importers to gOuge the
farmers by rushing in Mexican cattle at
the low rate of the Wilson law, and by
undertaking them, bringing them in al
most free of duty
The number of sheep imported in July,
1897, was 39,9S4, against 4,07S in July of
the preceding year.
The impOrtatiOns of raw cotton during
July, 1897, amounted to 6,596,908 pounds,
against l ,764, 100 in July of the proceeding
year, this being due doubtless to the ex-
pectation that the duty on cotton which
was placed in the bill by the senate would
be retained by the conference committee.
The duty placed upon hides of course
stimulated the importation of this article
during the closing days of July, before the
new law went into effect. The total i'm
ports of hides, other than fur skins, dur
ing the month of July, amounted to 21,-
responding month of 1896. The imports
of hides during the entire seven months
OF the calendar year amounted to 150,5 ,55S,-
450pounds, against rs, ,392, All pounds in the
corresponding months of the preceding
year.
The last shot that the wool importers
and wool producers of foreign countries
could get at the American farmer under
the fieeswool clause of the Wilson law was
showrin the imports of wool during July
1897, being over 23,000,000 pounds, as
against 5,45S,Q00 pounds in the correspond
ing month of last year. For the seven
months of 1897 ending with July the i'm
ports of wool amounted to 316,000.0G0 lbs,
as against 107, 0000lbs. in the correspond
ing months of the preceding year
The increase i'll the duty on vegetable
tibres, such as flax, hemp, etc, stimulated
the dealers in that class of goods to unus-
ual activity, the July imports of this class
amounting to 81, 100000 against 100000 of
the corresponding month of last year
NO OPPORTUNITY NEGLECTED.
The importers neglected no opportunity
in that closing month to either put money
in their own pocket or take away from
the Dingley law its earning capacity dur
ing its first few months The importation
into the United States in the month of
July, 1897, amounted to S53, 700, ,407, of
which a very large proportion was made
up of articles which could come in at low
er rates under the Wilson law than under
the Dingley law, which they knew would
go into operation by the close of that
month.
FREE RAW MATERIAL.
One special feature of the Wilson law
was its effort to bring in free of duty what
materials in crude condition for use in
manufacturing. The July, 1897, importa-
tion of this particular class of articles was
double that of July, 1896, while in the
seven months ending with July, 1897, the
increase in free raw material amounted to
500, 900, or an increase of over fifty per
cent for the entire seven months of the
year 1897.
1t will thus be seen that while every in
terest was ''raided'' by the importers in
the last months of the Wilson law, the far |
mer was the greatest sufferer. That he is |
already feeling the benefit of the Dingley
law, however, is shown by the general adj |
vance in prices. Nearly every production |
Of the farm has increased in value, while /
silver has been steadily falling in price I
The latest farm product to hear from is
cotton seed and cOttOn-seed meal, which |
have advanced very rapidly of late, South |
ern newspapers reporting high prices and |
that every4consignment is eagerly seized /
by buyers, and wool which sold in Septem-
Der of 1896 at seventeen cents a pound is .
selling in September of 1897 at twenty-sev-
IN cents an advance of about sixty per
cent; yet silver is falling twenty per cent
II more meantime.