The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-05-15
DINcLEY's STATEMENT.
Chairman Of Ways and Means Coma
mittee ON senate Amendments.


mittee. whose name is borne by the new
tariff bill. has consented TO make re-
garding the bill since il was amended
by the senate finance committee, was
made by him on Tuesday. May IL. Mr..
Dingley was requested TO give some
statement rs to the probable additional
revenue that would be yielded the first
year by the senate tariff bill. as we'll as
10y the house bill. and he spoke as fol-
lows:
III must be borne In mind that there Is
no senate bill as yet What IS improper
~ spoken OF as the senate hill Is the house
bill reported TO the senate by the finance
comnttcc. with certain amendments rec
ommeudcd. What the senate bill VIII
be when that body shall have made IL no one
can as yet say. While the amendments OF
the house nil. recommended by the sem
ate finance committee (about 1901 appear 20
be multitudinous. yet about 200 Of them are
mainly verbal. such as amending the SPELL
ing OF "asbcstus" by substituting for u.
leaving aDout 600 which change rates. This
Is about the number OF amendments 10 the
Mckinley bill adopted by the senate in 1890.
and to these remaining 900 a large pro-
portion Involves nothing OF consequence
There arc. however. many amendments
which are important not only on revenue.
to speak Of these proposed amendments
except as they AFFECT revenue.
'''rhc effect OF these amendments as
whole, outside OF the amendment imposing
duty on tea FOR two years and half.
and the amendment increasing the inter.
nal revenue tax on beer a cents per bar
rel 10: the same period. and the increase
proposed on tobacco and cigarettes, Is TO
produce less revenue than would be yielded
by the house bill For example. the amend
mrnts returning TO the free list argols.
certain acids and oils, painting and stat
nary for private use. and reducing the
duties on liquors. tobacco precious stones,
etc. lose more revenue than could be OBJ
tanned by the duty on tea. Amendments
reducing the duty on clothing wool and
increasing the duty on carpet wool would
also diminish the revenue The amend
ment increasing the duty on opium from
six dollars 10 eight dollars per pound
would not Increase the revenue I'm the
judgment OF the administrators OF the
law who informed the ways and means
committee that six dollars was the point
which would yield the largest revenue
The proposed duty on hides and a few other
amendments would increase the duty
somewhat
"Of course the estimate OF an increased
revenue from sugar through an abrogation
of the treaty with Hawaii. has nothing to
do with tariff legislation. for this could be
done by action OF the house sugar sched-
ale as The sugar schedule proposed The
ways and means committee did not even
consider the question or abrogating this
treaty, because they took Il for granted
that IL IL was considered desirable TO alb
rogate this or any other treaty Il would be
done In the straightforward manner pro-
vided by the treaty itself. The fact that
the senate finance committee recommends
an al yalorem duty on sugar apparently
"a little higher than the specific duty of the
house bill does not insure larger revenue.
as past experience with ad valorem dr-
ties has shown In our judgment the rev.
enue from sugar under the house sugar
Fchedule Setting aside the question OF abb
rOeating the Hawaiian treaty. would he
larger than under the senate amendments.
The proposed temporary duty on tea
would increase the revenue, although not
so much thet first year as estimated, be-
cause OF the large stocks on hand and the
short stocks that would be maintained
with the knowledge that tea would soon
so back to the free list and the proposed
increase OF internal revenue taxes would
also Increase the revenue TO the extent es-
timated. But the other proposed amend
mcnts would as a whole diminish rather
than increase the revenue
"Some criticism has been made on the
estimates of the ways and means commit
tee as TO the revenue that would be pro-
duced by the tariff bill as IL passed the
house. These criticisms overlook the fact
that the ways and means committee es-
Inmates Of the revenue that might be ex-
pected the first year were based on the
assumption that the bill should become a
law on or before May ]. The commit
tee I'm their report expressly said that while
there would be no question that the house
bill would I'm any event yield sufficient rev.
enue to carry on the government and
leave surplus the second year Of it's OPP
eration-which nobody even now contra
dicts-and probably sufficient for the first
year. II IL could be promptly put into force
yet N there should be delay In It's enact
ment beyond May 1, anticipatory importa-
lions would inevitably cause a serious in
road In the prospective revenues for the
first year. Hero is what the committee
said on this point:
What the actual revenue would prove
10 be In the year following the enactment
OF the proposed measure into law Is, OF
course, dependent upon contingencies
which cannot he forecasted with any APP
proach TO certainty, and viii therefore be-
subject TO varying estimates. Undoubted-
ly the contingency which would ex-
ert the largest influence In dimin-
ishing the estimated revenues woult
be delay IN the passage OF the
proposed bill. In consequence OF which
there would be large importations OF such
articles as wool. wooden goods sugar, etc ,
on which IL Is proposed 10 increase tho duty.
III the ways and means committee had
supposed when they made this statement,
March Is. that the bill would be delayed as
long as now seems probable. they would
have said that such delay would inevitably
result IN largely multiplying the revenue
qualities OF the bill the first year. through
importdtiOns OF wool. sugar and other arti-
cles before the new duty should go into
force. unless such "A retroactive provision
as was placed ia the bill by the house could
be maintained. The anticipatory importa-
tiOns OF such articles already arrived and
on their way exceed the fears OF the ways
and means committee when they urged
prompt action by the house 10 prevent
loss OF revenue fOr the first year"
GyWhat the entire country is inter-
osted in just now Is the republican par