The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-08
MIR. ROOSEVELT'S PLEA FOR
TARIFF REVISION.

Our readers have seen a good deal of
late in the press dispatches from
Washington in reference to a bill now
pending in congress providing for the
reepal OF the tax on denatured alcohol.
To those who have not paid much at
tentiOn to this matter we will state
that the bill, which has passed the
house and is now pending in the SEN
ate, repeats the tax On alcohol which
has bmeen denatured; that is, submit
ted TO a process which. hakes it useful
cnIy j the arts and manufactures and
as fuel (fcr MOTIVE power, for instance),
and deprives it of all use as the basis
for manufacture or cOncoction of bev-
erages. Because Of the excessive cost
of alcohol, made SO by the high tax i'm
posed by our government, it cannot
be used for the purpose contemplated
in the pending bill. Because Of the
cost its use for fuel is impossible.
Material cheaper than it's present cost,
but far more expensive than it would
be were this bill to become a law. has
to be substituted to the great disad-
vantage Of those engaged in this kind
of industries where such fuel is needed.
The use as fuel is only one Of the many
in which this denatured alcohol would
be employed to the saving of thousands
upon thousands of dollars to our people
if the heavy tax were taken off and the
article could be purchased at it's
market value. On this subject we find
the following article by Nahum
Bachelor in The. Southern Farm Mag
azine for May:
From what I have stated it is plain
" manifest that the removal of the tax
from denatured alcohol would at once
rtate an enormous demand for that
material. For lighting, motOr-fuel and
household alone there
should be a demand for at least 100,-
100000 gallons of alcohol in the near
future, and with the steady increase
in the use of the farm engine and
the alcohol lamp the quantity used for
these purposes would soon greatly eX-
ceed this great amount This would
mean a very large additional domestic
1IIcINSl ioI GULL, pOtdlOtS, SOISIu1Il,
beet sugar, mOlaSSeS and other farm
products from which alcohol can be
distilled, with consequent direct bene-
fits to the agricultural interests of the
country. AS alcohol will keep for an
indefinite time, large stocks of it could
be distilled III years of abundan crops,
and thus serve as a sort of balance
wheel to maintain an equilibrium in
the price Of the materials used. You
are familiar with the present severe
~uctuatiOn in those pieces. Anthing
that viii help absorb the surplus
which is what always depreSses prices,
viii be of great financial heneGi to the
farmers.
These are not the only ways in which
the farmers will be benefited. The
manufacturers in the alcOhol-using
Industries, who now find their sales
limited because of the high prices of
their products. due to the excessive
cost OF alcOhOl, would be able to great
" increase their sales consequent on
the reduction which they could make
IN prices. Many new industries which
cannot now be profitably carried on
because OF the high price Of alcohol
would be established in this country,
thus benefiting the workers by Great
additional opportunities for en-
pioyf2ent. 1t has been estimated hat
IN a very short time after the enact
ment OF an untaXed denatured-a1coho1
law new industries employing 10000
workers would be put into operation.
These workers would all buy American
farm products of various kinds, and in
this way also the farmers would profit.
The Importance of this bill and the
great benefit TO result to the people
from its passage are emphasized by
President Roosevelt in his special mes
sage sent to congress last Friday &C
comparing the report of Commission
er Garfield on his Investigation into tae
manner Of conducting its business by
the Standard Oil Company. Cheap de-
natured alcohol would take the place of
the more expensive products of this
great monopoly.
It is very significant that the leader
Of the party which stands for protec-
tive tariff should declare in an official
document to the congress that "it is
highly desirabue that an element Of
competition should be introduced by
the passage Of some such law as that
which has already passed the house.
putting alcohol used in the arts and
manufacturers upon the free list"
The president here admits that by rea-
son Of the peoples inability to secure
this article CT prime necessity at any
thing ike its market value because of
TIE governments prohibitiye tax, to
the interest of a company clothed with
~monopclistic privileges which give that
company the power to force on the pub
lie a substitute article at arbitrary and
exoEbitant prices, the American people