The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-04


moditieS abroad and impressed into their
service all of the available merchant YES
sells and filled the warehouses of the coun-
try with millions of dollars worth Of for
eign-made products and commodities. there
by displacing, to large. extent, similar
articles of domestic production and de-
frauding the revenues of the government
to an amount estimated at about $40,0OOOOO.
The importationS of wool and sugar were
farmers of the United States to a large
amount-an amount difficult of accurate
computation. After the Dingley law be-
came operative importationS largely di-
minished for several months because of the
large anticipatory importationS made dur
ing the last few months of the life of the
AS an illustration, the importations dur
ing the last three months of the Wilson
law were:
May 1897 ...................... SIG, SS5 oil. 80
July, 1897 1885, SO1. 90
and during the first three months of the
Dingley law
August, 1897 ....................$6 9S7, 702. "a
September, 1897 .................... 7943, loops
October, 1897 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 9,713 49462
Duties under the Dingley law were made
specific wherever possible, while the ad
valorem system was recognized in the Will
son law. 1t is well known that specific du-
ties cannot be avoided, while al valorem
duties permit the importer, in large meas
ure to defraud the government by under
Valuing the articles imported. The impoSi-
ton of specific duties under the Dingley law
has already resulted in saving to the gov
eminent a large amount of money which
would have been lost to it under the lax
provisions of the Wilson law.
DingIey Law and Revenue.
1t has been claimed by the authors and
defenders of the Wilson law that the Ding
ley law did not and would not produce reve-
nue. sufficient to meet governmental necessi-
ties. This statement is untrue. 1t is per-
fectly obvious that the law, in a time of
peace and normal conditions, for which it
was enacted. would yield revenue sufficient
to meet the current national obligations.
The secretary of the treasury reports that
during the first nine months of the Wilson
law the deficiency under it was Stab 081,
that during. a like period under the Dngley
law the deficiency was $57, 561, 523 but it will
be borne in mind that the loss to the reve-
nue. under the Dingley law because of the
anticipatory importationS was quite $4,000
Geo. and that $l3,540.O00 were expended in
April last on account of war preparations.
Taking into account the loss to the reve-
nue. because of excessive anticipatory i'm
pOrtatiOnS and the extraordinary increase
of war expenditures, it is perfectly obvious
that the revenue arising from the operation
of the law at the beginning of the war was
ample to meet the normal peace expendi-
lures. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
Howell says, in statement published by
the Associated Press to-day, that during
the last five months of the fiscal year end
ing June 80, our receipts exceeded our eX
penditures on a peace basis over nine and a
half millions; or, to express it in another
way. the tariff law of 1897 produced during
the last five months of the fiscal year
revenue which exceeded our ordinary ex-
penditures by over nine million dollars.
One of the direct and immediate effects
of the repeal of the Wilson and the passage
of the Dingley law was the confidence Gre
ated and stimulus given to our commercial
enterprises and undertakings. 1t opened the
mills throughout the country and the marts
of trade assumed old-time activity, and the
army of idle workmen was rapidly engaged
industry and countless homes. which had
known the pinch of want, soon felt the
touch of plenty Mckinley had. indeed,
claimed as the cure of our disorders al
though our political opponents had serious
ly professed their belief that prosperity
would only return by opening the minis.
Cuba and the War.
Great as was the tariff problem, there
was a still greater one which met us at the
threshold of the administration. The Island
of Cuba, which rests at our very DOORS was
harassed by war and drenched with blood.
Her people, long oppressed by Spain, had
gone to war to free themselves from her
domination and cruelty. The cry of distress
filled our land The opposition early intro
duced into Congress a resolution recogniz-
ing the beligerent rights of the insurgents
and forced it through the Senate, but it
failed in the Republican House. The effort to
icy in this grave matter was urgent and per-
sistent. The recognition of the rights of
belligerency could afford the Cubans no
substantial relief. The act would have seri-
ously embarrassed our commerce by SUBJ
jecting our vessels to the right of search,
and the war and suffering would have con-
tinued indefinitely and without abatement.
IL seemed to the administration that grave
duty devolved upon it. 1t was required by
the ST. Louis platform to attempt to re.
store peace and secure the independence of
the Island of Cuba; and Furthermore, it
was commanded by the law of humanity to
take some positive, affirmative steps to
bring peace to the disordered island.
Acting in accordance with well recognized
international usage and in harmony with
the President rendered the good offices of
the United States to the Spanish govern
ment to effect an enduring and honorable
peace He wished Spanish territory. He
did not desire war; he wished to avoid it
No one knew better than he what war
meant-what it meant in blood and treas
service were learned upon the battlefields
of the Republic. His sole aim was to in
duce Spain to relax her iron rule,
her oppressed subjects. All the powers of
diplomacy and of moral suasion were in
yoked to end the strife. Much Roadway was
made The cruel Weyler was recalled by
Spain, and Blanco, more humane ruler,
was substituted in his place. American pris-
oners were promptly released from prison.
The reconcentrado orders of Weyler, the
most cruel and severe which the genius of
brutality could conceive or invent, were
modified or annulled by BlancO. Before
their annullment hundreds of thousands of
Cubans had been driven from their farms
and estates into human corrals, where death
reaped its mighty harvest. Helpless women
and children and other noncombatants were
literally starved to death. This, in the
nineteenth century of our Christian civili-
zation. and at the very doors of the great
Republic whose corner stone is liberty and
whose people are always the most consider
ate and humane.
Tragedy of the Maine.
The administration was sharply pressing
upon Spain its demands for further con-
cessions in behalf of the Cubans, when,
on the night of the 18th day of February,
the civilized world was startled and shocked
by a tragedy the like of which was I'M
known to history. The annals of the past
had no fellow to it. The Maine. the pride of
our navy. strong and majestic. manned by