The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1897-03-24
The NEW TARIFF LAW.
Protection OF the CROWN. Industries
of Amerfcn.


of America.
The admirable quality of the new tar
i'll is its catholicity. 1t is not, as Mr..
Ella said it would be, "a business mans
tariff" il is not lumberman's tariff,
not farmers tariff, not a manufacture
er's tariff, in the sense of an act con-
structed for the special benefit of any
one of these subdivisions of the indus
trial community. 1t is an industrial
tariff; tariff in which each trade, each
art, each condition of commerce, labor,
agriculture and manufactures find ade-
quate protection. 1t is also a tariff de-
signed for the production of revenue
sufficient for all the expenditures of a
government economically administered.
1t is described in it's title as IAN act to
provide revenue for the government,
and to protect the industries Of the
United States" An act of this kind
was passed by the first congress of the
United States, and was signed with JOY
by George Washington. Under tariff
acts devised for the double purpose OF
revenue and protection this country
always has prospered exceedingly; I'M
der tariff acts devised for revenue only
this country has sailed with difficulty
and disaster through troubled seas.
In the main, the new tariff is the Nc
Kinley tariff. The sugar duties are
changed to meet the changed condition
in which the country has no surplus of
revenue to eXpend on bounties, but
rather has democratic deficit to be eX
tinguished by republican economy.
The lumber duties are like to, and near
ly identical with, those of the McKin-
ley bill, except that the duty on timber
hewed and squared and used for spars
and for building wharyes is changed
from specific to al valoNm, and that
hemlock and white pine are classed with
the two-dollar per 1 900 foot woods. On
no class of lumber do the new specific
duties exceed the proportion of 20 per
cent. ad valorem. The wool duties are,
iii effect, those of the Mckinley act, and
the Infamous shoddy-free under the
Wilson bill-goes back into the dutiable
rate of 30 cents per pound. This is
good morals, and therefore good policy.
The duties on tobacco are much the
same as under the act of 1890, except
that the duty on leaf for filters is in
creased.
In some details the bill may undergo
modification in congress, but as whole
it is likely that when signed by the pres
ident it will be very much as it was
when it left the committee on ways and
means.
A tariff change is imperative. We
cannot forever go on borrowing to meet
our current expenses. The new law
will add at least $6O,OOO,OOO to the an
nual revenue of the country. We can
not forever stand idly by and witness
the gripping or extinction Of our home
manufactures by foreign imports. The
new law protects the industries that are
weak, and leaves those that are strong
to battle for themselves. We cannot
forever placidly behold the decrease
of the purchasing power Of the nation
keep pace with the eternally decreasing
rate of wages that eternal competition
with the cheap labor of the old world
enforces. The new law makes the diff
ference in the European and American
wage rate the basis of tariff duties. We
need greater facilities for enlargement
of our foreign trade. The new law ex-
tends the operation of that principle
of reciprocity by which our foreign
trade was enlarged during the admins
tration of President Harrison. 1t is not
given to human skill to produce per-
feet work, but the new tariff law APP
proaches perfection as nearly as any
work of man may.-Chicago Inter
Ocean.