Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-12-23
Four Schedules That President
Roosevelt Is Said to Desire
Revised
STEEL, HIDES, GLASS, PAPER
Towering Of the Duties On These the
President Believes Would Be
General Benefit, According to
Reputable Washington correspon-
dent.

washington. Dec. 2s.-w. w. Jer-
names special to Minneapolis jour
nal:
There are four schedules which the
administration would like to see in
cluded in the amendment of the tar
lft
Steel and metals.
Hides.
Glass.
Paper and paper pulp
A lowering Of the present duties on
these. the president believes, would be
q general benefit to the consuming
public. He would like also to see an
application Of the principle OF the
..maximum ana minimum" tariff, con-
gress to fix the minimum and to give
discretion to the secretary Of the treas
ury to raise or lower the tariff by ex-
ecutive order within the prescribed
limits.
This would permit the American gov
eminent to meet retaliatory duties inn
posed by foreign countries and to make
special inducements to foreign nations
to permit the entry Of American goods
at lower rates.
Steel and Iron Duties.
The demand for reduction Of duties
on iron and steel is due largely to the
fact well known that the steel railmak-
ers are selling to foreign consumers
cheaper than to the home market Even
after adding the cost Of freight, the
price to the foreigner is much less than
to the man in the United States. This
applies also to structural iron and to
steel used In other ways.
There is a difficulty presented in the
proposed removal of duty from the
metal manufacturers like steel and
iron. 1t is not a simple case Of swat
the trust" The statistics of the bust
ness show that s. per cent of the metal
manufactures are made by independent
manufacturers, and the presumption is
that they would be the ones to SUI
fer most by q removal Of the duties
from the manufactured steel and iron.
The trust has $50,000,000 or more put
away as a reserve fund to protect them
against any such contingency as the
one in prospect; they would be better
able to weather the storm than the
proprietors Of the small mills and foun-
dries.
The question Is. and the president is
thinking about 1t. whether it would not
disturb business at this time to expose
this IS per cent Of the steel and iron
industry to the competition of England
and Germany.
Wood pulp. and Paper.
The case presented by the paper and
wood pulp tariff is rather peculiar. The
paper making industry is controlled alb
Solutely SO far as the United States is
concerned, by the combination OF the
two big concerns making the trust. AS
every newspaper publisher in the coun-
try has learned to his cost the paper
makers control the supply and fix the
price to suit their convenience. And
during the last two or three years, they
have put a crimp'' into about every
newspaper in the United States. II a
paper was making moderate margin
of profit the increase in price Of
white paper just about wiped out the
profit.
The removal of the duty from wood
pulp would have the effect, first OF
opening UP the great spruce forests OF
Canada to our market and letting In
tnat pulp without the payment of duty.
But 1t is known fact that this would
only increase the profits Of the trust.
since that provfdent organization has
Haken pains to get control, thru their
Mr.. Oaks, of all the spruce forests of
Canada. They could make their paper
more cheaply, and would still control
the market. The situation might be
sslieved in part by removing white pa
per altogether from the protected list
and permitting and encouraging the
importation Of foreign paper. But the
difficulty Is that the American paper
makers are supplying not only the
home market, but a large percentage
OF the foreign consumption.
Tawney's Relief Plan.
There may be some relief in the
plan Of Representative James A. Taw-
ney of Minnesota, who has framed
bill to let in woodpulp from the Alaska
forests. In that country there is
practically inexhaustible supply Of the
spruce timber which could be brought
by water to Seattle at very cheap rates
and made into paper on the coast by
independent mills. Hitherto there has
been law which prevented the i'm
port of this wood from Alaska to the
United States. If this legislation OF
Mr.. Tawney passes this session-as il
promises to dot has been suggested
that the publishers unite to start
paper mill of their own to make UP this
pulp.
Duty on Hides.
The removal of the duty on hides or
the reduction of that schedule would
1t is said, greatly stimulate the indus
tries in this country which need hides
as their raw material. America leads
the world now in the production OF
shoes, but there are many other forms
of manufactured leather in which Ger
many and France are far superior to
u.s. It is to stimulate this line of man
ufactures that the free hides are wan
ted. They would come in from Ar
gentirle and South America and some
from Australia.
The Glass Trust. I
The glass trust is a very offensive
monopoly. Practically all the glass
making is controlled by one combina-
ton, and they have been holding up
the builders in high-handed manner.
There is no getting away from them as
the tariff. which is high, keeps out all
foreign product. If the tariff on glass
were lowered or removed there would
be some competition, and the cost of
building would be materially cheaper
ed.
Only Four Changes.