The Washington bee., 1897-05-29
WILSON VS.. DINGLEY
Author Of the Present Law o..
cises the Dingley Bill
Says 1t Is ''the Most Ultra Pro,..,
Tariff Ever PrOpOseds-Wm p
courage Trusts and Discour,
American Labor.

NSeAnASSSA NSACAd William ?
Wilson is credited with the autbo-.,t
of the tariff bill now in force ~
hands were tied so that he could
make the bill nearly as good as Ia :.
sired to make it, and the bill as Sn,T-
passed was not nearly as good as wI,!
it first passed the house. 1t was h0.-
ever, a great improvement upon theV,
Kinley bill and is a model as couna,,s
with the Dingley monstrosity. n.
quote the following from Mr.. Wuso,,,
criticism of the Mckinley and Dippl.,
bills in recent number of the ".
York Herald:
These bills are so nearly identicalb =
general structure and particular item,
excepting as to the sugar schedule tb,,
it may be well to consider the efec, !,
the first bill on the revenue of the com,
try. Both bills are vast and volumipor,
schemes of class taxation, the prodp,.
ton of public revenue being an incidsD.
and entirely subordinate to the purpou
Of taxing all the American people a,
the benefit of small part of the Ds-
pie.
The protectionist has but one remedv
which he applies whether the reveuC.
be redundant or deficient. II times a.
prosperous, and more money than /,
needed pours into the treasury, he il.
creases taxes by a scheme that turn,
the larger part of their avails into ur.
yate pockets, and this reduces pubB,
revenue. If times are depressed and len
money than is needed pOurs into Il.
treasury, he seizes the pretext Of in.
creasing public revenues by adding
enormously to the amount of pri7at
exaction.
The act Of 1890, whatever its Other
effects, did reduce revenue. From 4
large surplus it swept US headlong to
deficiency, although it weighted d.
people with heavier taxes and although
another law, passed in July, 1890
turned into the treasury as apartotths
general assets to be used for psyings1.
penditures a trust fund of more than
$4,000, 900, which belonged TO The ns
tional banks and had always been he'd
for the redemption of their notes
Even before the Harrison administrs
ton ended we should have been con.
fronted with a large deficiency but tr
the use of this trust fund and the tr.
ther fact that Secretary Foster, BY
change of bookkeeping, added to ihs
treasury balance s20,OOO,OOO Of token
and subsidiary coin not before treated
as treasury asset. With these extraOr
dinary additions, even, we woundupths
fiscal year, June 30. 1895, with a sur
plus of only s2,341,674 as against
surplus for the fiscal year June
1890, of over ss5,OoO,OO before L
above trust fund and subsidiary con
were touched. And during the fscal
year ended June so, 1894 through al
of which the Mckinley bill in force,
expenditures exceeded the revenues 70
the amount of $50 S6o, DOtwlt.
standing the fact tha: the expenditures
of the government were Sf5.9j2,6 ,674 s9I
than IN the preceding year.
This statement shows how absurd a1t
groundless is the claim constantly mad'
by the proteotionists that recent def
cts in revenues are due 10 the subSs-
tuition of the existing tariff for the Ne
Kinley bill. Nothing is more certain
than that if the bill had been in tOrS
during the last three years the ann1a
deficit would have been immenssI
swollen, while the people in a seasonG
depression and hard times would haze
staggered under much heavier burdss
of taxation. Even in this disastrousP
riod, customs duties under the exlslrg
law have increased from less than sl3Z'
100000 in 1894, the last year OF the Nc
KinIey bill, to over S152,OOO,0OO in la'
and to over 160,OO0,OOO in 1896.
In the sugar schedule alone the o.
ance in favor of the existing law ,
about S55,OOO,OOO. The customs r.
enue reached nearly S4O,OOO,O0O, SCARF
" any of which would have been r
ceived under the Mckinley bill.
That the Dingley bill, present con1
tions considered, is the most ultra Pi'
tectiVe tariff ever proposed 70
enacted in this country plainly aPPeE'
from Chairman Dingley's statens,
that if levied on the impOrtatiOns OF
last fiscal year it would have increa~
the revenues SIP, ,O0O, ,OOO-that is oa.
it would have gathered from an imP'
tation Of SITS, ,724, ,264 of imported NJ
chandise the enormous sum Of ~
100000, which is nearly SjO,JVO~
more than any customs revenue "a
collected in one year in this COUNT!
the past. And to say its rates w
probably check Gltiable imports 70 =
extent Of reducing the estimate 70 ~
100000 is only another way OF sa'-1
that to that extent such rates are p
hibitory. III
American consumers are shuF il -
home market to be preyed upon By ~
binations and trusts without Poss'
ity of relief from outside compel."-
Such combinations, by joining 70 Ast
up prices and to cuTtail pro41e-.l
wage more merciless war agaIns.
employment. the oppOrtunities al.
compensation of American LABOR =
any possible competition from aOl''
could do. III
The falling off of importation. -.
the present law dispels the A-5.
that the American labOrer is any W
deprived of employment By the IL
tation of foreign products. Ihs -