Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-07-29
Champ Clark on the Tariff.
THE NINTH DISTRICT CONGRESS.
MANS OPINION SOUGHT BY
THE N. Y. WORLD.
Champ Says the Morrill, Bill Was
Bad, the Mckinley Bill Worse
and the Dingley Bill is
Worst of All.

VOkot VI E2As
From the New York World.
WASHINGTON, July 19.-Al protec-
tive tariff bills may be properly divided
into three classes-bad, wors and
worst. The Morrill, bill was bad, the
Mckinley bill was worse and the
Dingley bill worst.
Gov. Dingley has been raised to
ssthat bad eminence" of having his
name fxed upon the most monstrous
tax law that human greed has sue
ceeded in placing upon the statute
books Of the United States.
Congress was convened in hot haste
and with a great flourish of trumpets
in extraordinary session for the
avowed purpose of providing money
enough to run the government. The
Dingley bill was introduced ostensibly
to ssraise revenue for the govern
ment." AS a matter of fact, this bill
will not raise as much revenue as the
Wilson bill.
MANY RATES ARE PROHIBITIVE.
In many instances the rates Of the
Dingley bill are wholly or partially
prohibitive.
Take the carpet schedule, for exam
pie. 1t is prohibitive to one-half the
consumers in the United States. There
are something like thirteen million
householders in this country. To say
that one-tenth Of these can afford to
use Administer, moquette, chenille,
Brussels or any other high-pricsd car
pets is a very liberal statement. The
other nine-tenths must use cheap car
pets and mattings or none at all.
In late years cheap mattings have
been gradually taking the place of car
pets among the bulk of the people.
They are no longer considered luxur-
les, but necessaries, in the humber
American homes.
Now, to the one-tenth who can
afford to use high-priced carpets, 8 or
10 cents a yard more or less makes no
difference, but to the ~nine-tenths who
must use cheap carpets Or mattings s
or 10 cents added to each yard makes
the difference between using these
things and not using them at all.
In this bill the rates on high-priced
carpets are comparatively low; upon
cheap carpets and mattings they are
sky high. On carpets and mattings
costing 15 cents or under wholesale
there is a specific duty of 5 cents per
yard and 35 per cent ad valorem.
Now, on a carpet or mating which
costs Is cents per yard Wholesale, the
specific duty of 5 cents, added to the
So per cent adj valorem, makes the
whole tax 1925 cents per yard, or 6s1s
per cent.
TAX INCREASES ON POORER GOODS.
AS the quality of the carpet or mat
ting grows poorer the ubiquitous tax
increases; for on a carpet or mating
costing 10 cents per yard wholesale
the 5 cents per yard specific duty,
added to the IS per cent ad valorem.
amounts to sk cents of tax on a yard,
or So per cent; and on acarpet or mat
ting which costs only 8 cents per yard
wholesale the 5 cents specific, added
to the 35 per cent ad valorem, makes
a total tax of 7.s cents a yard, or 97.5
per cent.
Now, can any sane man for one
moment doubt that these rates will
prove absolutely prohibitory to at
least one-half the people nov using
cheap carpets and mattings and make
cheap carpets and mattings cost
the other half who will still use them
from $50 to 97.5 per cent. more than
they otherwise would?
Yet the authors of this bill will ex-
pect these millions of people TO kneel
on cold, bare floors and pray for the
success of Mark Hanna and his gang.
Again, a majority of American fam
lilies live in houses costing less than
$500. Now,the difference in cost price
of 1926 in building a house will deter
mine whether thousands of people will
build homes or not.
The Mckinley bill levied 81 per 1000
on pine lumber. The Wilson bill put
it on the free list. The Dingley bill
claps a tax of So per 1000 on pine lum-
Der, which is prohibitive of house
building in thousands of cases Such
laws prevent marriage and home
making. The great historian and
philosopher, Thomas Buckle, stated a
great truth years ago when he de-
clared that marriage depended more
on the price of the necessities of life
than on love.
A hundred years ago, when our
grandmothers and fathers had biscuit
and coffee only on the Fourth of July
and Christmas day, sugar may have
been a luxury; but recently we have
so cultivated our "sweet tooth" till
we have become the largest consum-
ers of sugar in the world. Yet the
conference report gives the Sugar
Trust IS $40 cents IN every hundred
pounds of sugar which goes down the
American throat. For this outrage on
the people there is no excuse except
Mr.. Havemeyer's confession that the
Sugar Trust contributes literally to
the political party likely to win. 1t
contributed largely to Mark Hanna's
war chest, and Mark won, and Mark
and his supple tools are paying the
trust back.
1t is the most outrageous revenue
bill ever proposed in or passed by the
American Congress. 1t will be a dread
full burden to the people, but the con-
ISOLATION in it is that the Dingley bill
will retire half the Republican Con-
gressmen to private life. There viii.
be hardly enough of them In the next
House to call the ayes and hayes.
CHAMP CLARK,
Ninth Missouri District.
A VIOLATION OF Law
Every law provides a penalty for
those who disregard it. Sickness is
the penalty that nature ipficts on