The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-01
CHEATING A RACKET.


 ing San Francisco and other California cities. and The New York Post says of the proposition:
 This plan, we are assured: should not disturb the most fanatical of the stand patters. But we are unable To Iollow that line of reasoning IF stSsa eel ana enr suffering San Franciscans, why not TOT Philadeiphians or Bostonians who have been burned out? Are we not all equal and Representative Madden want to see the lumber market of San Francisco aIutted with the pauper products of the hearts of these statesmen no longer heat for the redwood of California and the fir and cedar of Oregon and Wash ington? Ballard; close to Seattle, any other place in the world. Yet this feeble infant industry Is to be stran- gled merely because California Is in hard luck. Senators Lodge and Aldrich must see that the huge sawmills of Puget Sound are as sacred q vested in- terest as the Massachusetts and Rhode Island factories for creap jeweiry. of the steel works of Pittsburg. The Colorado Fuel ana Iron Company must cry aloud for the aid of it's friends In the United States Senate.
 Already there has been much nut- tering among the tariff lords because of this proposed assault on their dear est privileges. And In the first place, there are good lawyers, in Congress and out. who assert that such sus- pension would be in direct violation of our Federal Constitution. That instru- ment gives Congress full power to levy n tariff, but declares in unequivocai language that ''all duties imposts and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States That point seems to the lay mind to be we'll taken. If an article must pay duty in New York and be admitted free in San Francisco 1t Is not uniform" ere would say. But on the other hand. those who favor the suspension say that such an act Will not be unconstitutional. They argue that the intent and meaning of the clause is that higher duty shall not be imposed in one part of the Union than in another, and that total tenn porary suspension would not be con- trary to the spirit of the Constitution. All that is a matter for the legal gem tlemen to work out for themselves, only mentioning that in more than one in- stance building materials have been admitted free of duty where city has suffered from T great calamity, and we don't know that any great, harm or injury resulted. That, however, is not where the trouble is likely to come in, for the stand -patters" are opposed to hat ho ha n interfering with the tariff. and the tar if beneficiaries oppose anything that is likely to interfere with their profits. The Iron Age, for example, claims that the iron and steel mills of this country can supply all the material that will be needed, and The Iron Trade Review takes the same view. both contending that all the building material needed can be supplied from our own mines, | mills and fourdries. and. as we have quoted from The Post, the producers and dealers in wood may also be ex- pected to be up in arms against any thing likely to interfere with their bus | mess.
 But that is not all, by great deal I
 suspend all duties on structural steel
 and other building material intended
 to be used in rebuilding anywhere in
 California where the earthquake caused
 damage. The phrase other building
 material" is capable of very broad ap- plication. Like charity, It covers
 multitude of things. Not only steel ! int daru htfi1 d.
 ing, but stone. marble, brick. plaster, cement. wall paper and everything else
 that can be used in construction can
 be covered by the language used.
 And there Is another eonsideration that must not be overlooked in this
 connection. It Is true that the bills
 only contemplate the suspension of
 duties for one year. as we understand their import, but that will be totally
 inadequate It is not even to be inn
 agined that all the material used can
 be laid down in San Francisco within
 one year. even if there were room to
 store it, which there is not. If the pre-
 cedent is fixed by this Congress the
 next will be called on to renew 1t and | extend the tlH1e, anu thNS aN AiAS"i SO
 on for five years.
 And theee is still more of 1t, for a
 California member has introduced a
 bill providing that "all imported pro-
 visions and other supplies used by or
 through the military or civil author
 ities for the relief of the sufferers from
 the recent earthquake and fire in San
 Francisco shall be exempt from duty ," Right here is another blanket that will
 cover about anything that the other one omits. The words provisions and oth-
 CT supplies" can be made to include ev- , erything that people eat. drink or wear,
 or feed to the chickens If the people
 can or will need anything not included
 in these bills 1t would be difficult to
 point 1t out. Plainly, there is an in-
 tention to crush the very life out of many of our infant industries. as well 1 as those of larger growth, and it is no wonder that We are hearing some lusty squeals from the trust beneficia- ries. who see a manifest design on the ! part of certain Congressman 10 take the bread out of the mouths of the ) trusts and monopolies which are fat
 tening on their robber tariff system.
 It seems hardly possible that any such matters as these can get through