The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-05

kinley's committee between a tax on
hides and no tax was one of the anus
ing features Of the delivery Of that
wonderful combination of selfishness
and sickly sentimentalism. Hides were
one day on the dutiable list, under the
demands Of the hide growers ostensi-
bly,, under that of the beef combine
actually, and the next day, when the
New England tanners and shoemakers
had rallied to a fresh assault, they
went back onto the free list But, in
spite of the imprisoned Hepburn, of
the broad plains of Iowa, hides, as fair
ly a subject of revenue as anything.
will stay among the few things of daily
use that any American citizen who
wishes may buy when and where and
of whom he will, at the lowest price
that any one anywhere will make him.
Then the millers had their inning.
They discovered, to their alarm, that
a tax of so per cent ad valorem-the
committee having temporarily laid
aside their contempt for ad vaIorem
taXes-On their boiling cloths. Bolt
cloth is not made in this country, never
has been and never will be, perhaps,
anyway not as long as it can be made
abroad as cheaply, comparatively, as
it now is 1t is made of silk in Switzer-
land, costs from $3.50 to 81 yard, and
mills use from several hundred to sew
eral thousand yards of it. To add from
70 cents to 81 to the cost of each yard
Of their boiling cloth merely for reve-
nue. purposes, was quite too much for
the patriotism of the millers, who had
been before the committee to express
their Willingness that their fellow citi-
zens might be allowed to have some
things they used cheapened, asses
skins. for instance, if the committee
would authorize the president to swap
reductions in our rates on ginger ale
and chickle for reductions in their
rates on our -four which demonstrates
that our millers are quite as self-sac-
rificfng and philanthropic as are the
New England shoemakers. So the
committee heard from the miIIers, and
the committee veered round, turning,
like one of the old d0ubIe-enders Of
the navy, in its own length, and
changed the 50 per cent duty into a
5 per cent one. The incident has the
real value of showing the committees
idea of a revenue and protective tar
/ If. When they thought they were pro-
tecting some bolt cloth maker the
duty was 50 per cent, when it is mere
ly matter of revenue the duty is 5
per cent
Then, there is the tax on scientific
instruments that went onto the duti-
able list at 25 per cent and off again
after the professors had been heard
from. And Education sighed with re
lief at its narrow escape. But Mr.
Dingley's committee could not make an
unconditional surrender to these doc
trinaires Of the closet They must be
permitted to retire with their side
arms, at least. So they stipulated that
scientific instruments, the like Of which
are not made in this country may be
free Of tax. Now, excepting certain
glass implements Of the laboratory
which have to stand an intense heat
during scientific experimentation, and
the secret Of whose making our MAX
ers have not discovered, there is hardly
a scientific instrument that is not made
in this country. On all such the tax
of rs per cent will fall, while the glass
ware will have to pay, as a rule. the
60 per cent on that ware, because it is
free only when imported by some edu-
cational institution. and not for sale
again. Few laboratories can afford to
import directly, and the dealers in such
instruments will have to pay the tax
that averages 60 per cent. SingularIy,
no maker Of scientific instruments in
this country asked the committee for
protection, one Of them, and a Chicago
man at that, declaring, with some heat.
that not only had his firm not asked
it, but that they would regard such a
tax "as an Infamous provision Of which
we could never approve" Really it
looks as if the Dingley bill were an
instance of avatism, and the old tariff
Of denominations" of 1928 is being rein
carnated.