The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-25
A TRIUMPH OF PUBLIC OPINION


When public opinion is aroused it be-
comes an irresistible force. The provi-
sion of the Dingley bill which levied q
duty of % per cent on works of art,
books imported for public libraries,
| books printed more than twenty years,
books printed in foreign languages,
philosophical instruments, ETC., aroused
public sentiment against it and so
strong was it that the Republican
committee have decided to amend the
! bill SO that it shall be the same in this
respect as the Mckinley bill was or
the present law is. The provisions of
| both are very much alike on this sub
| ject, though the present tariff law is a
f, little more liberal and hence its pro-
visions should be preferred.
That which decided the Republican
members to make this amendment was
undoubtedly the fact that all the lead
ing papers in the country protested
against the proposed barbarism and
the matter was being taken up by the
institutions of learning. President
Dwight and practically all the faculty
of Yale university sent TO the house Of
representatives of the United States
the following protest:
The undersigned, the president and
members of the several faculties of
Yale university, respectfully submit to
your honorable body the following con-
siderations against the proposed re-
moVal from the free list OF books, phil
osophical apparatus, ETC., specially I'M
ported for the use of colleges, public
libraries and other incorporated insti-
buttons Paragraphs Alb, $3.50:
O. Such action would be at var
lance with the uniform policy of the
government in the past. Under every
tariff act, from 1889 TO 1894 books for
such use have been admitted free. The
same is true of philosophical apparatus
with a single exception. A small duty
was imposed in 1864, during the stress
of war, and removed in the first gen.
eral revision after its close. There
would be, we submit, just ground for
surprise were this time-honored policy
TO be reversed now, at a time when our
industries. already revolutionized by
the recent discoveries and new appli-
cations of science, must look to her aid
for their further development.
Cd The government is now paying
to the colleges for agriculture and the
mechanic arts, established in the sew
eral states under the land grants of
1862, annuities which are to be perpet-
ual and amount in the aggregate to
81. 100000 a year. We find it impossi-
bic to reconcile with this praiseworthy
patronage of higher education the in
direct tax which the proposed legisla-
ton would impose both on the inStitu-
tions of the governments own creation
and those established by the free gifts
of generous friends Of learning.
90 Upon our free public libraries,
already among the most valuable of
our educational agencies and rapidly
growing in numbers and usefulness,
the increased cost of necessary books
would be serious burden. 1t would
abridge to that extent their capacity
to serve the public.
"a Within the present generation
our public libraries have received, in
gifts for buildings and endowments,
not less than $25, 000, 000-in the state of
Massachusetts alone 100000 Still
larger have been the gifts to our insti-
tutionS of higher education. Anything
which should tend to check the flow
and dry up the sources of these gifts !
would bring serious loss to the coun-
try, which is the common beneficiary |
of these mast beneficent charities We |
are not without apprehension that the |
effect.
90. Any possible benefit which could /
accrue to the treasury from the duties !
on books. etc, now exempted, would, |
in the judgment of your petitioners, be !
far outweighed by the injury inflicted |
on the cause of education
For these reasons we respectfully
ask that the provisions contained in
paragraphs 413 and $50 of the present
law may be left Uudisturbed.
1t is rather surprising that the Yale
faculty did not ask for the retention of
al the other provisions relating to the
Importation of books contained in the
present law, Those contained in sec
ion 40 of it are quite as important
Is those contained in the section Sc
ected.
The decision to amend the Dingley
dill in this one particular is the first
good news regarding the tariff that
has come from Washington May more
If like character come.