New-York tribune., 1899-07-11
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.,,, considerable increase Of imports has oc-
c,,rred and II will be seen that fifteen of these
.re raw materials Of industry, most of them free
~ duty The exceptions are hides. which outy
of IL ner cent was certainly not intended 10
prohibit; coal tar dyes. on which there was
slight advance from - TO 30 per cent ana cruue
opium on which the duty was only 81 pound
in contrast with Sc a pound on opium pre-
pared for smoking and 81 an ounce on salts OF
opium and other preparations, the duty oelhs
clearly not intended for prohibition Tne IN
crease in these items shows that such materials
have been governed by the same law which al
fected the movement Of others free OF duty ana
-bat these have not been excluded 1t was OBJ
viously not intended to exclude them The IN
crease in the list of fifteen materials Is S4SZ'o'-
600 In the second class are found five food
products. of which bananas and crude cocoa are
free while the duty on sugar was restored by
the act of 1897, though omitted by the Mckinley
act because the revenue had then become
necessary In this food class the increase was
S14 100000 Finally there are four arucies Oh
luxury laces and embroderes or COTTON the
beached cotton goods, in which class are rouho
the finer and more costly products; dlainohus
ord other precious stones, and jewelry manu-
featured including stones set. In these classes
an increase Of S13.550,000 appears, mainly IN
precious stones and jewelry which there was
nlain,v no desire TO exclude by such duties as
were imposed On the laces and other articles
of luxury the duties graduated with
view TO revenue.
These twenty-four articles. OF which only
ruear. laces. bleached cotton and jewelry are In
env sense manufactured and of which not
one bears duty designed TO prevent importa-
tions and cut off revenue, show an increase
from 1896 to 1899 of S16,666,613. and yet the
total imports were smaller under the Dlngiey
act by 1S5 than in 1896, under the Dem
uocratic tariff Deducting the above articles OF
(which imports have Increased it appears that in
all other imports there was decrease OF slot'-
SAT S5S or more than 80 er cent. Evidently the
decrease in other articles must have been very
general as well as large in most imports Of i'm
,portance. But the next table specifies seventeen
iclasses in which great decrease in imports has
apparently resulted from duties. 1t will not be
denied by any candid man that these were pre-
,cisely the classes in which the tariff was In
tended 10 restrict importations for the encour-
agement of home industry. The wool duties
averaging Al per cent in place Of free admission.
the duties on woOllens raised from AZ 10 II per
cent average. the duties on cotton goods raised
,on the higher numbers and on most Of those not
Included with aces and beached goods above
mentioned the duties earthenware raised
from "a to 80 per cent average glassware
raised from 45 to 81 per cent, on gloves from
344 TO 495 per cent. lumber from nothing to
50 a 1000 feet, on tnplates from IL to 15
cents on cutlery from 40 10 go per cent, and on
art works from nothing to 20 per cent, all are
perfectly we'll known to have been designed TO
check importations. and. however may dis
approve Of some or all Of them The Tribune
did disapprove of the duty art works. one
can deny without palpabe untruth that these
were the classes which IL was mainly desired 10
reach by advance of duties.
The ten chemicals. of which only the total
imports are given for the sake OF space. soda
caustic nitrate, sal soda, soda ash chorate Of
potash. argols. glycerine. chorate OF lime.
alizarine and logwood. on most of these duties
were advanced but while nearly half the i'm
portation of these articles was cut off, imports
OF all other chemicals were only S24 ,667.754 in
value. against $25,775.656 in 1896 Equally
striking contrasts appear in cotton goods. Of
which about half were OF the two kinds classed
as luxurIes. imports Of which increased from
sl5OOOOOO to $2OOOOO0O while other cotton
goods. in value $15.6OO.OOO in 1896 decreased
about third, 10 100000. Nor will any forget
how strongly the duties designed TO restrain Inn
nortation OF buttons and button FORMS Of bur
laps and other fibre manufacture. were opposed
hut these also have evidently accomplished in
large part what was intended. though ne"
classifications Of the fibre manufactures make
nm exact comparison impossible az yet. The
duty on oranges was designed to help growers
but the duty tea was intended to improve
quality rather than 10 reduce quantity. and has
had that effect. Thus the imports in these sew
enteen classes, as the table shows. have been
reduced $1O5 100000 more than the increase In
all the articles of which imports increased az
all. leaving but $5s.9OO.O00 further decrease 10
be explained by returns from all other articles
imported.
But nearly half OF this large decrease. about
e27 100000. is found in a single article. coffee.