New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-08
pROGRESSIVE INDUSTRY.

The one objection 10 the Dingley Tarin Dill
which has a semblance Of sense, and which mas
we,ghr in the minds Of some Republicans,
ia that on higher classes Of goods in various
branches II imposes heavier duties than those
NJ the Mckinley act, while on all the medium
and lower classes its duties are either the same
mr. lower than those Of the act Of 1890. Yet
this is exactly what an intelligent and progress
sive system of protection should do. 1t should
lower duties where our own industries have
become so established as 10 sustain themselves
with less defence, but on branches not yet so
far developed here but really to be so developed
by adequate protection, II should make the du-
ties high enough to attain that result quickly.
II was this very principle which rendered the
act OF 1890 so effective. Duties were lowered
On bars, beams. rails, the coarser sheets, and
other forms Of manufactured iron and steel
which could be produced here successfully with
lower duties but were raised on tnplates in
order to substitute thoroughly protective for
mere revenue duty. and thus create n new
branch Of industry here.
No man can think intelligently about the tariff
who does not keep constantly in mind as the
basis Of all his reasoning on the subject, the
progressive character Of our industries Tween
~ wears ago they could with difficulty compete
even in the coarser and cheaper products with
the manufactures Of other countries. or pig
iron. for instance, great quantities were import
ed and a larye share Of the rails used. and most
Of the steel and wire and all Of the tinplates.
Step BY step the development Of the home in
dustry has wrested from the foreigner the home
market for one product after another, steadily
advancing from the coarse and loose products
IN which the difference in cost Of labor was
relatively least TO the highest and most costly
products In the iron industry there remain few
branches In which the home market has not
been captured But the same process has been
going on In textile and other industries.
When the Mckinley act was passed. the ad-
vance Of duties on some forms Of woolen and
cotton goods not yet made in this country. was
severely criticised. But within year the adj
vance had secured large share Of the home
market to American industries, which advanced
to finer and better work and produced in great
quantity goods never made here before. The
contrast between lower duties for cOarser and
cheaper products AMI advanced duties for the
highest and most costly was regarded by some
az inconsistent, and by others as sheer dema-
eogy, but was justified by Protectionists on the
ground that 1t had come to be possible to pro-
that duty previously serving only for revenue
should be rendered protective. The results pre-
c,sely answered the hopes Of the trainers Of that
measure In 90 many respects that the highest
general prosperity yet known was realized.
It 10 In application Of the very same principle
that the Dingley bill retains the greatly reduced
duties Of the present tariff on many of the prod
ucts Of which the manufacture here has been
well established. and imposes the duties Of the
Mckinley act but no more on other grades
which still require the defence then given, but
advances duties on some finer and higher prod
ucts In which the foreigner has had complete
control Of the American market. Most iron and
steel products are put at rates far below those
Of 1890, and yet on a very few higher rates are
imposed. The great bulk Of cotton goods is left
at exactly the rates imposed by the present
Democratic tarin. averaging about 20 per cent