The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-14
DingIey Bill Is
UindiCating Itself

Washington, Feb. y.
~ OMETHING was said in this corre-
Nu spondence short time ago of the
~ Dingley law as relates to revenue
Wy production. 1t was SHOWN that
the receipts of the treasury depart
ment have rapidly increased since the
new law went into effect and are now
reaching almost a million dollars a dag,
which average sum, when fully realized,
will Ec sufficient to meet the running
expenses OF the government. There is
another feature of the workings of the
new law which is equally gratifying and
! interesting. 1t was insisted by Its oppo-
nents during the time of its considera-
| tion that it would be disadVantaGeous
| to our foreign trade. The assertion was
made over and over again in the de-
bates in congress that high rate of pro-
| lection must result in disadvantageous
| trade relations abroad. Foreign coun-
| tries, encouraged by this assertion on
| the part of Democratic members of con-
gress, II shed in a series of protests
| against the Dingley bill much more nu-
mefous and threatening than had ever
| been known before in the consideration
! of tariff measure.
| o
Now let us see whether the threats
which were jointly made by the Demo-
| Gratis in congress and the people who CO.
| operated with them abroad In their at
| tempt to prevent the adoption of the pro-
| tective system have been carried out.
| The new law has been six months in OPP
| Grafton. The detailed figures relative
! to five months of international commerce
! since IT went into effect have just been
| made public by the treasury depart
ment and they show a very gratifying
condition of our foreign trade during
that period. They show that the asser-
tions that the adoption of the Dingley
Il Htyat Aflrg
ously were not well founded our foreign
| sales of American products of farm, fac
! tory and mine have been much greater
| In the first five months operation of the
| new law than they We're i'm the corre-
| spending months of the Wilson law In
| 1896. Our sales abroad during the five
months in question under the DinGley
law have been nearly fifty million dollars
in excess of those of the corresponding
months of last year under the Wilson
law. "Oh," says the objector; this Is
due to the unusual demand abroad for
American grain, brought about by the
shortage in crops in other parts of the
world. What was really claimed by the
opponents of the bill was that the adop-
tion of the prote ective system would close
foreign markets against our manufac-
lures" O.
| Let us see about this assertion. The
figures of the treasury department show
that in the five months in question the
expectation of manufactured articles has
| been greater than the expectations of
manufactured articles during the CORE
| spending months of 1896 under the VIII
son law. The total expectations of our
manufactured articles during the Ave
months from August l to December 81
were $l13, 3,0S9 500, which was considerably
| in excess of the total of the eXportat tons
of manufactured articles I'm the CORE
spending months of the preceding year
o
Another especially important and in
teresting fact which is shown by these
recent figures relating TO our commerce
since the new law went into effect is that
practically all of the countries which
made protests against the Dingley bill
during its discussion, and by implication
at least indicated that its enactment