The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-26
DINGLEY,s CONVERSATIONS.

Tariff taxes have to be adjusted TO
the intricate relations of the various
industries whose products are affected
and this involves bringing into the
schedules other articles only remotely
related. We have a fine illustration of
thls' the compensations of Dingleyism,
in the tax Of cents a square ward
proposed to be laid upon that common
article Of household use known as IN
dla mating, now on the free list. At
first sight the connection between. mat
ting and wool, a vegetable and an
animal fiber, is not perceptible. and
still it is because wool is taxed that
mattings must be, under the oompen-
satory law Of taxation that requires
that losses in one quarter shall be
made good by taxes in another. IT is
always thus when men attempt to i'm
prove on the order installed by the AL
mighty and to substitute their arti-
fatalities for its naturalness.
Class Of wool in the schedules
embraces imports Of those coarse and
cheaper woods used principally in MAX
ing carpets. None are grown in this
country, and they come chiefly from
those warmer climates where a shorter
and coarser wool meets the REQUIRE
ment of the sheep for warmth. A reve-
nue. tariff would tax them because thew
DO not compete, while protective tar
III should free-list them for the same
reason. But the Ohio shepherds rage
admits of no discrimination: it anathe-
matizes Unfortunately, all foreign
wool. To justify itself it alleges that
there are frauds; that class 3 woods
are used for clothing, and that woods
Of the combing and clothing classes
are invoiced as class 8. So they de-
manded a tax of cents a pound on
third-class woods, and get one of 90
per cent ad valorem if the wool is
valued at Is cents a pound or less.
and 90 per cent if over 49, Another in
stance, by the way, of a handsome
premium Of Is per cent upon an under
valuation that will bring the wool
INSIDE the 81 per cent line.
But this increases the cost of the
material of the carpet maker, and he
must have his compensatory tax on
imports of his products, so, on i'm
ports of the cheaper grades, the COM
mon "two-ply" carpets, such as this
class wool goes to make, tax
OF IA cents yard is put for ''protec-
tfon," and an additional 40 Der cent al
valorem tax is imposed to "compen-
safe" the maker for the raw wool tax
The present law gives him his ma
terial free of cost and taxes imports
80 per cent for revenue and whatever
incidental protection it may give. In
cidentally this tax gives makers of
these grades of carpets a practical
monopoly of the home market. 1t is
quite plain that this increase in cost Of
material will raise the cost to the max
er and, consequently, the price to the
consumer of these carpets, a prospective
warning Of which was sent out to the
trade by the leading carpet house of
Philadelphia some time ago.
But these carpet makers have learn
ed in the school of experience what
is not taught in the theoretfcs of Ding
ley-McKinley economics, that increas-
ing the cost and, Of course, the price
Of an article does not enhance the ca
pacity Of those who need it to buy it
They have learned, as so many other
producers Of things, anthracite coal
nabobs, for instance, that when the
price of a needed thing advances, in
times when the capacity to buy is re-
stricted, cheaper substitutes are sought
for and found. When carpets advance
buyers descend from costlier to cheap
err grades, and those to whom two
ply was the limit Of acquisition be-
take themselves to vegetable fiber