The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-24
wILSN ON WOOL DUTIES.
DINGIlrx RATES PLACE GENUINE
WAOLENs OUT OF LABOR's
REACH.

high TixatiOn of Sugar, Wool and
Woolh Goods Barbnrism Pure
and sMpIe-Of What Crimes Have
Wear9s of WOODEN Goods Been
Guilty Chat Heavy Fines should BE
inflicted Upon Them
Ex.CongreAsman w. L. Wilson In New
York Herald.
II seems Incredible that in this era of
civilization Any government claiming to
he Christian Nr humane should select such
a plain necessary of life as the woollen
cOthing Of it's people for chief source of
me revenue NEEDED for its support.
Aside from the immeasurahle injustice
NJ throwing so arge a part of the burden
., government IN the backs Of the people,
and with aggravated weight on the backs
of the laboring masses and the poorer peo-
ple, the Dngley bill win place genuine
woolen goods beyond the reach of many
hundreds of thousands of the latter and
compel them to face the rigor and cold of
farm and factory work, of the mine and
the lumber camp, and the wintry sea- in
garments chiefly composed of cotton and
other adulterants, yet taxed as if made
entirely of new wool.
In the estimate of revenues from the du-
ties proposed in that bill, on the basis OF
last wears importations, Mr. Dingley
makes sugar produce S51, 645OOO, and wool
and wooden goods $67Sl3,0O0-more than
one-fourth of the entire revenue TO De ue-
rived from tariff taxes and nearly one
sixth part of all the revenue to be raised
Nv taxation for the running of the Uni
+ed states government on its present pro-
Aigate scale Of expenditure. No other ar
ticle save spirituous liquors alone, among
all the possible sources OF taxation ana an
the aggregated wealth OF the country Is
rnede 10 Weld so large part of the public
income
This is barbarism pure and simple ana
M other civilized government in the world
Is guilty of like injustice and like merci-
less eXaction.
,eonIe is one of the minor interests Of the
co,ntrv The value of all the sheep, ac-
cordine TO the estimate of the secretary
Of the National Wool Manufacturers AS
tociation adopted and asserted by Mar.
Lawrence before the Dingley committee
As only $50 900 900, and of the wool product
on the farm less than 81 100000, Even for
the wear 1892, with the Mckinley tariff to
nron M it's price, and with an estimate of
AZ OfO O00 mounds more of wool product
than that made by the department. or ag-
riculure. the farm value of the wool clip
was put by the same authority at on4y
$l7O00O.
the total annual product of all our 7S, 100000
people, which, by the lowest estimate, cam
nor be less than So, 600, 100000, and we see
how insignificant is the interest that DOM
mates our legislation and exacts its fear
full tribute from all other interests.
The proportion, taking the figures for the
fe tn
of people Interested in sheep raising for
wool, now that it is becoming so largely
ranch industry on the cheapest lands IN
the country, and often on the public do
main, is so steadily diminishing that IL
cannot be more than one in several nun
dred. Yet this is the fraction of the peo-
Die who demand that they shall be taken
into partnership with the government, and
shall be permitted to WELD the sovereign
power of taxation over every man, Wo-
man and child in the country, in order that
they may be always guaranteed the most
ample prices to reward capital invested
and services rendered in wool produc-
ton"
In the report with which Mr.. Dingley
accompanied the presentation of his bill
10 the House he omits no statement winch,
from the point of view of this small ana
privileged class of taxgatherers, can exag-
gerate the disaster which has come, as
untaxed wool to the American people.
= Some of these statements cannot be recon-
ced with the authoritative statistics of
the government, or with other states
ments made by the authorities to whom
he refers, in the hearing before his own
committee.
Thus, he declares that the sheep raising
Industry of the Farmers" meaning there
by chiefly the great flock masters of the
cheap ranches or public domain-have
Il been seriously injured by cheap wool, our
aocks having diminished more than one
fourth since 1892" Now, tho number of
sheep in the country in 1892, as given by
the department of agriculture, the statis-
ueal digest of the treasury, and by Mr..
Lawrence and Mr.. North, was 1888, 70S.
Mr.. Lawrence, who would certainly not
Il oyerestmate the present number, says at
page 1,3i9 of the hearings: There are in
the country now S6, 464, 405 sheep, producing
G2,674,7OS pounds of raw wool, or 1924.
G9 secured pounds"
diminuton in numbers of one-fourth
since 1892 would be 112S4.591 sheep. The
actual diminution, accepting Mr. Law
rence's estimates of the present number,
has been S,473,960 which, so far from be-
Ing more than one-fourth," as Mr.. Ding
ley asserts, is, by more than half a million,
less than one-fifth, but, 1t may be conced-
ed, even such a dimunition in four or five
years would be serious thing If chargea-
bic to tariff changes alone.
Yet under the wool growers own tariff
OF 1861 the number of sheep dropped from
4Os5S,OOO in 1870 to 31S5l,00 in 1871, or $780,
700 in single year, due, doubtless, TO the
transfer or sheep raising from states east
OF the Mississippi, where it was unprofit-
able on high-prlced lands, to the waste
lands west of that river.
But when Mr. Dlngley attempts to cipher
out the loss" to his farmers" last year
from the release of taxes on wool and the
reduction Of duties of manufacturers of
WOOL he is still wider in his "hggers." He
says: our farmers lost a market for So
$4,000 pounds of wool which they raised in
1872 In excess OF what they raised in 1867,
as Wen as nearly 10 cents a pound In price,
CO., '0S'VNV'
without stopping to comment on the
iact that this alleged loss to the farmers
was not In fact loss on wool, but loss
on privilege Of taxing their countrymen
- may be well to test these figures by gov
HTntnEnI AZ r