The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-12
MIR. DINGLEY,s STATEMENT.
How the Senate Amendments Would
ARect the Revenue.

WASHINGTON, May 1.-THE first state
ment which Chairman Dingley, of the
ways and means committee of the House,
whose name is borne by the new tariff BILL
has consented to make regarding the bill
since it was amended by the Senate finance
committee was made by him to-day TO the
Associated Press. Mr.. Dingley was re-
quested to give some statement as to the
probable additional revenue that would be
included the first year by the Senate tariff
bill as well as by the House bill and he
spoke as follows:
1T must be borne in mind that there is
no Senate bill as yet. What is improperly
spoken Of as the Senate bill is the House
bill reported to the Senate by the finance
committee with certain amendments recon-
mended What the Senate bill will be when
that body shall have made it no one can as
yet say. While the amendments of the
House bill recommended by the Senate
finance committee (about seven hundred)
appear to be multitudinous, yet about two
hundred of them are mainly verbal-such
as amending the spelling of asbestus' by
substituting % for u, leaving about five
hundred which change rates. This is about
the number of amendments to the McKin-
ley bill adopted by the Senate of 1890, and
Of these remaining five hundred a large pro-
portion involve nothing of consequence.
There are, however, many amendments
which are important not only on revenue
but other grounds L do not propose now to
speak of these proposed amendments ex-
cept as they affect revenue.
The effect of these amendments as a
Whole-outside Of the amendment imposing
a duty on tea for two years and a half,
and the amendment increasing the internal
revenue tax on beer A cents per barrel for
the same period and the Increase proposed
on tobacco and cigarettes-is to produce less
revenue than would be yielded by the House
bill For example, the amendments return
ing to the free list argols certain acids and
oils, paintings and statuary for private use
and reducing the duties on liquors tobacco,
precious stones, lose more revenue than
could be obtained by the duty on tea. The
amendments reducing the duty on clothing
wool and increasing the duty on the carpet
wool would also diminish the revenue The
amendment increasing the duty on opium
from s. to IS per pound would not increase
the revenue, in the Judgment of the ad-
ministrators of the law, who informed the
ways and means committee that Sc was the
point which would yield the largest revenue.
The proposed duties on hides and few
other amendments would increase the reve-
nues somewhat.
''Of course the estimate Of an increased
revenue from sugar. through an abrogation
of the treaty with Hawaii. has nothing TO
do with the tariff legislation, for this could
be done as well by accepting the House
sugar schedule as the sugar schedule pro-
posed by the Senate. The ways and means
committee did not even consider the ques-
ton OF abrogating this treaty because il
took for granted that If it was considered
desirable to abrogate this or any other
treaty il would be done in the straightfor-
ward manner provided by the treaty itself.
The fact that the Sentae finance commit.
tee recommends an ad valorem duty on
sugar apparently little higher than the