The evening times., 1897-04-27
WILSON ON THE DINGLEY BILL.
Wool Duties Advantage the Rich
and Masses Pay High Rates.

Hon William l.. Wilson, in communica
tion to the New York Herald, reviews some
of the leadingfeatures Of the Dingley tariff
bill, and gives his Impressions OF the re
suits that would follow the enactment into
law of that measure He says
Mr.. Dngley Justified tile high rates on
foreign goods under the tariff of 1890 and
in his own bin on the ground that imports
are mainly goods worn by the well-to-do
who think it the thing to wear foreign
made cloth, and who are willing to pay
duties upon it,
There appears some support for this asser-
ton ii one examines only the import ia
| bleS, for, under such duties as are pre-
scribed in these bills, our importations can
| be only OF the best and most expensive
fabrics. But it may wen be doubted
whether the vast majority OF those who buy
them do SO merely because ''it is the thing
to wear foreign-made CLOTH They know
that, with the command OF untdXed wool
| from all the world, and the skill in blend
| ing and working it that can come only from
| years OF such command, English and other
manufacturers can produce fabrics more
| satisfactory as to wearing qualities and
more certain to be of genuine material.
| But the chief reason is that the rates Of
| duty imposed in those bills rapidly increase
as the price Of the article decreases, until
they hecome prohibitory, and none of the
| cheaper grades can appear in our table Of
imports. Thus the general average OF
duties collected on manufactures of wool in
the fiscal year 1898, under the Mckinley
| bill, was 1888 per cent. Articles were
thus, on the average, doubled in cost to
| the consumer as they passed through the
custom house
But woolen and wOrsted yarns, valued at
not more than 80 cents pound-the aver
age value OF such as came III being II
cents a pound-paid 278 per cent. shawls,
valued at over 80 and not more than
40 gents pound-the average value Of
such as ca me in being 80 cents a pound
paid duty OF $50 per cent Shawls val
ued above 40 Cents-uhe average value Of
those imported being 81 Ia per pound-paid
"a duty OF So per cent.
This clearly shows thatthe general aver
age Of the schedule fell TO 98. 53 per cent,
only because cheaper grades could not be
imported a all In fact, some Of these tat
Ger were dutiable at 800 per cent andmore
To show how unevenly duties under The
Dinrley bill win operate, as between diff
ferent grades OF goods, and how they will
favor the weI-tG-do AnglomaniaCs, let us
try TO work out an example promising that
the values used are not recent market quo
tations, but approximately correct, and en-
tIrely correct SO far showing the in
equality.
A yard of broa dCloth, Weighing seven
teen ounces 10 the yard, and costing at
the factory So. 90 per yard, will pay duty
per pound as follows: Forty-four cents
compensatory on the wool; 21 cents plus
As cents specific and 81 cents az valoreIu,
for the protection OF the manufacturer-in
all, S1.T0 per pound. or 81 so per yard,
which is 50 per cent.
A yard OF common blue Cheviot coating,
weighing twenty-five ounces to the yard,
and costing At the factory SO 12 cents
per yard. will pay per pound 3S 1-2 cents,
and X cents, plus cenJS-in all, Oh 1-2
cents per pound. or SO cents per yard,
which is SO per cent
a yard OF Cotton warp reversible cloth,
made in imitation OF better goods, weigh
ing thirty ounces to the yard, and costing
at the factory 45 cents, Will pay per pound
23 cents, and cents, and cents and 8
mills, or 50 cents per yard, which is lS2
per cent.
or, to put the example in a simpler and
more concrete form On an Importation Of
SO worth OF goods, the buyer Of bruadcloth
willpay 50 so duty, he buyer ofthc che viot,
will pay S13. 60 duty, and the man who is
able to buy only the cotton warp goods VIII
pay SIS 20 duty, under the Dinglny bill.
Under the present law duty on the brad
cloth would he So, Oh the Cheyiot anu cotton
warp, 81 each; that is to sa on n importa-
tiun of SO worth the duty on yard Of
bUadcioth would be 81 53; the duty On a
yani of cheviot, % cents; on a yard of
cotton warp Is cents
This mUnstrous discrimination in taxing
fine ana cheap products under the Dinglcy
bill is not mere wantonness, contempt for
the poor and favuritism for the prosperous
it is protection.
Mr Lawrence, in his address before the
pingley committee, quoted these utterances
Of Mr. DingIey Y from a newspaper interview,
which, not being diSavowed by the chair
man, must he accepted as authentic: Pro
lection to American industries will he the
actuating motive in framing the bill, and
that projection which is needed will he
given 1t matters not whether the duties
necessary to give that protection be high
or low; that has nothing to do with it. 1t
is protection We are after"
Now protection spreads its net for the
man 9 not for the few. WearerS Of broad
cloth are thousands, and protection cares
ittleabOu them Consumers OF cheviot and
cotton warp fabrics are the millions, and
it is these millions that Mr. Dingley has
undertaken to drive into the nets of the
protected manufacturers.
He NAV say that those who will have
West of England bToadcloth must pay 50
per cent duty to the Government; while
thosp VIM arenOt abieto buy bruaGcioth or
even cheaper fabrics, with the duty added
can supply themselves with domestic fab
RIGS; that, therefore, he is doing them no
larIn in prohibiting the import Of foreign
goods by such duties He may even lapse
into the old protective arguments that
the duty is paid by The foreigner, and pro-
lection cheapens the article to the home
consumer He will hardly find any foreign
willing to pay S13.60 for
the privilege Of receiving 81 O for SO
worth Of Cheviot cloth from an American
ItiZen.
And MF DingIey is too near the wool
duties to deny that the object Of his
tariff is to increase by substantially the
of the duty the sum which one
American citizen must pay to another
citizen for homemade article over and
above what he could buy the same article
from foreigner for.
The avowcd purpose Of the tariff on wool |
is to increase the price OF home wool as
with free imported wool by |
The amount of the duty imposed. Mr.. |