The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-15
JACKASS DINGLEY.

1
No one who is familiar with recent tar
iff experience in the United States can !
read without impatience the arguments
given by Mr.. Dingley in support OF MS |
tariff bill. If he were to defend it as |
protective measure only, as one ntendea
to give a greater share of the home mar
ket to domestic manufacturers, trusts
ana combinations no objection could be
made. Inquiry made in any line OF I'M
porting business where new rates were
imposed by the Dingley tariff would re-
veal examples of disturbance, of the crea-
ton of new conditions, and even of prac-
tical extinction of imports. 1t is when
the financial leader of the House Gor the
Chairman of the Ways and Means Com
mittee holds that position) defends the
bill as a revenue measure that it becomesf
necessary to enter protest, not against
his hopefuiness, for he may enjoy that to
his hearts content, but against his ignor-
ance, for that is becoming a public men
ace as well as a laughing stock.
In preparing estimates ofsrevenue to be
obtained from a pending measure 1T is
essential to find figures that are Gefensf-
bic in the light of facts. To give "a wild
guess, supported by strong language is not
reassuring argument, yet this is what
Mr. Dingley did in Introducing his meas
ure and in demanding the unQuestH Honlng
support of the House. Heels still eeking
to employ the same tacticsAto hoodVyink
conf1ding public. A schoolboy could have
seen that the wool manufacturers had for
two years luxuriated in free wool, and had
increased their importations to suchA an
extent as to make any comparison WI In
the movement of raw woods under tine
Mckinley or any other rates of duty inl-
possible, save in one direction-to prove
the blessings or advantages OF free raw
material. When MIR. Dingley took the
imports of free wool for 1896, clapped. ON
extravagant rates of duties, and stoutlys
maintained that imports would remain thes
same, any schoolboy could have poinstedi
out his error. So in every article of I'm
port, it was purely mechanical multpsi-
cation, without regard to actual or possi-
BILE conditions of trade that led Mr.. Ding
ley to assert that his bill would produce
upwards of $27S,G00 900 in an average year.l
The Treasury records show that The
highest amount Of revenue obtained frPm
075 This was in the fiscal year ending
with July 80, 1880, year not of 4x-
cessive import, for the succeeding three
years gave higher total imports, but, ull-
lower receipts from duties. What makes
that year remarkable is that the
value of dutiable imports was larg er
than had ever before, or has since, been
reached. The threat of coming tariff
legislation with higher duties led to UNI
usual importations, just as has always
happened when tariff bill is in pros
pect. Hence, the whine about the vii
lany of importers rushing in goods to.
anticipate higher rates is silly, as the
fact is not unusual, but just what might
have been foreseen.
In 1890 the two leading sources of
revenue We're sugar and manufactures
of wool, and the same articles are ex-
pected to make the revenue features of
the law of 1897. AS no one denies that
sugar is a proper revenue object and
that the duty should produce the full ex-
pected revenue unless offset by the domes-
tic beet-sugar industry, we need not stop
to consider that item further. OF wool
len manufactures there We're imported
in 1890 a value of s54, 165, 423 which paid
an average duty of 69.12 per cont. yield
ing a revenue of S37, ,440051. In 1897 the
values of imported woollens was S4S,-
S7e555, which paid $22, sos, 627, or 46.44
per cent.-7a revenue only SO per cent.
as large as was obtained in 1890 Yet
Mr. Dingley asserts that the inaportations
of 1897 were excessive and anticipated"
his. efforts to obtain a revenue. His own
estimate of his woollen duties places
them at an average of 1864 yer cent.
VIII any one familiar with the workings
of tariff duties be bold enough to as
Sc per cent will be as large as U nder one
of 48 per cent.-the Wilson rate when the
largest movement was SIS, 1872, s. 8, under
the encouragement of trade held up
by tariff legislation for more than q
year? We import, in a norm 81 year,
about S35, ,000,o00 in manufactures of wool,
and at the D5ngley rates this Fill yield
was obtained in 1890
Iron and steel of foreign ma ke have
found less opportunity each yea r to en-
ton 4,~fyOf 4I1 i
died in consequence of the abilit of our
own iron industry to meet com petition
In 1890 the imports were $43,49S, G75, and
gave q revenue from customs of SIS 5S4.-
17e the average rate being S54 . er cent
In 1897 the imports were only s. s,361, IN,
yet enough to mark the moveme mt of a
ports, and the revenue at Dingle v rates
would have been less than $500 0000-or
about 600 less than were c objected.
in 1890 One more item Of manuf actured
goods may be cited, as the new rs ties ap-
plying to them we're SO framed as to
suppress the trade in an i'm portant
branch of the cheaper goods, an q must
result in a decreased import n 1890
the manufacturers of silk importe d gave
to the Treasury SIS, 94o,9 ,9o9, on value
Of SsS, 246 7S7. This implied an average
the Wilson law were a fraction le SIS (46.S
per cent?, yet the imports in 1891, when
goods were brought in to escape tihe pro-
posed duties. were only $26517,092 Even
at Dingley rates t53.4 per cent? thi s would
have produced sl4,160, ,o00--or 1850 600 less
than was collected in 1890. The d uties on
breadstuffs. so effective for camp; lign use
in the country districts. have ce ased to
be productive of revenue. although in
1890 they gave more than s1,0000o0 in Gus
toms.
What has occurred in these classes
has occurred in other directions. The
growth of home production ren nders the
country less dependent upon foreign
supplies, and notably in manufactured
goods. Where there is no homie produc-
tion, as in tea and coffee. the imports
Increase each year with the increase of
population. But these are precisely the
items Of import which Mr.. Dingley re-
fused to tax. and so he missed what
would be a certain revenue now, and one
Of steady increase in the future. To
compensate for this primary blunder, he
increased duties all along the line on
classes of imports which are declining in
Importance, and whose Importance must
increasingly decline under the burden
of duties nearly prohibitory. He is tax
ing diminishing quantity, and all his
shouting will not blind one to the fact
that he can never get the revenue he
counts upon having