The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-21

The New IariH Bill.
The tariff apples which some Of the
southern senators held to the lips OF
their constitucncic. nave turned TO
ashes The sea island cotton planters
have been resalea with a Barmecide feast
They are not to have the promised 20
per cent. cotton duty paragraph in the
new bin Many experts in cotton matters
denied that such a paragraph would adj
vance the price of sea island cotton by
a fraction Of a cent per pound, and n
support of the opinion pointed out that
the prospect of the duty had not caused
mill men to buy one additional pound Of
cotton in anticipation OF the new tax.
Now, however, even the shadow OF pos
sible benefit TO be conferred has been
snatched away, and the cotton growers
have been left just where they were be-
fore, to depend upon the law of supply
and demand.
Not only have the long staple cotton pro-
ducers been denied the poor boon Of a
questionable protection" but the short
staple cotton producers have been once
more held up for the benefit of the bag
ging trust and the tie trust, No jute bag
ging is imported. hence the placing of
the article on the dutiable list is merely
for the purpose Of permitting the trust to
increase its price without running the
risk of having to compete with importa-
tons
Some few Of the democratic newspapers,
and nearly all of the republican newspa-
pers, are talking of the victory of the
people" over the sugar trust in the adop-
ton of the conference committees COM
promise sugar schedule. Just how much
of a victory it is may be judged by com
pairing the market reports for the past
few days Such comparison will not show
that the price of sugar shares mas been
much depressed; and it may be conf
IDENTIFY asserted that there would have
been a downward turn of the market if the
sugar trust had been hard hit. Wan
street knows precisely what the sugar
schedule means, although 1t is a Chin
ese puzzle to the average citizen. A good
idea of the effect of the schedule, how
ever. may be had from Senator Caffery
Of Louisiana, one of the best posted men
on the subject in the United States. SEN
ator Cafferey says: This sugar sched-
ule report by the committee of conference
is to all intents and purposes, so far as
can see, the same as the Senate sched-
ule when it went to conference. There
is precisely the same tariff upon the raws
as was carried in the Senate amendment
bin. The difference between the twenty
points given by the Senate bill and the
twelve and a half points of the confer
enee report may look like a reduction
against the sugar trust but the counter
vailing duty of thirty-eight points is
kept and this added to the twelve and
a half insures the trust against all com
petition" 1t thus appears that the trust
has been well taken care of by its friends
in the conference committee.
This friendship for trusts runs through
the whole bill, from the first page to the
last. There is not trust or a monopoly
in the country which has not been taken
care of, at the expense of the people. And
this is the law which the people must
labor under for the next four years, at
least. The prospects are that within
a few days now the act will be sent to
the President. and he will sign it at once.
Senator Morgan evinces a disposition to
talk the bill to DEATH" but it is not
likely that his purpose will be carried