The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-01


The public need not be disturbed if it
shall be discovered that the now no.
torious section % Of the Dingley law
is applicable also to ocean steamships
bringing merchandise to this country.
1t is claimed from Washington that the
enforcement of the discriminating tax
of 10 per cent upon goods brought into
this country by foreign carriers, which
are not the product of the country OPP
Grating those carriers, will prevent the
importation of merchandise in foreign
vessels, except where we have special
treaty arrangements that permit it.
The act of congress authorizing the
admission of goods by the steamers of
the countries with which we have
large commercial relations will not be
sufficient, since this same section in
geniousIy substitutes the word "con-
vention" for "act of congress-" Thus
congress has cut itself off from the
ability to remedy the evil, and it would
require special treaty with each ma
ton to authorize it to carry goods to
the United States unless upon payment
of the extra duty Of 10 per cent.
1t is just as we'll that this particular
abomination Of the tariff Of abomina-
ton" should appear for what it is, and
that it's iniquity should be displayed
in the strongest possible light 1t is,
indeed, great good fortune that the
people of New England and of the
Northwest, who are hit especially hard
by the application of this section to
railroad transportation, should have
called to their aid the importers of
the seabOard and the great mercantile
houses there that do business with all
parts of the world. We have observ-
ed in the newspapers of the East
disposition to smile at the dilemma in
which the Northwest has found itself.
The Philadelphia Press, for instance,
glories in the passage Of the act con-
tanning section o. and we can hear
the murmur of the Pennsylvania rail
road in its voice when it says that
these foreign railroad companies ought
to have been excluded long ago from
participation in the trade Of the United
States. 1t has no care for the in
terests of the people whose goods were
thus taken in and out at charges that
gave them relief from the extortions of
the trunk combination and the COM
mands of the Chicago jobbers. In full
harmony with the whole spirit of the
Dingley bill, it glories in a local bene
fit at the expense of any other section
of the country, or of the whole of if
We apprehend that the people of New
York and Of Philadelphia and of Ros-
ton and of Baltimore and of San Fran
cisco will strike another tune when
they find that the ocean freights unon
their merchandise will be correspond-
ingly advanced, because they will he
shut in to a few steamship COMPANIES
who can charge about what thew
please
1t . looks as if the as yet undiscov-
cred influence that secured the inser-
ton of section % in the Dingley bill
had overreached itself. Such influences
GpR0lly w. 11clQ II OSSu COul6nJ 10
tack on this discriminating duty to the
injury of the northern tier of states
dependent largely upon Canadian
roads for relief from the extortions of
monopoly, it would have been exceed
ingly difficult to secure its repeal It
would have been necessary to fight the
combined influence of the great East
ern railroads and the jobbers of the
East and central section. With the
enforcement of the law against ocean
steamship lines, they will be put at a
corresponding disadvantage, which
they are not willing to tolerate. There
appears for the first time the posi-
bility of relief by the immediate re-
peal of this section, if the treasury de-
partment determines, under the ad-
vice Of the attorney general, tc enforce
1t without fear or favor. That it is no
worse in effect and no different in kind