Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-09
OF BRITISH UNIONISTS
Birmingham Age Outlines Program
for Tariff Reform.
DUTIES UPON ALL IMPORTS
RAW Materials Alone are 60 Come In
Free-TRxes on wheat, Corn
and Meat-Preferences
for Colonies.

LONDON, Dec. S.-The Birmingham Daily
Post will tomorrow publish an article from
inspired sources outlining the tariff .eform
proposals which are likely to be proposed
by the unionlst government II the unionlsts
are successful at the elections, prefacing
It with the remark that the country's finan
c!al necessities are much greater than they
were in 1906, when Joseph Chamberlain
started the movement. The article proceeds:
1T is proposed to establish a general
tariff, placing duties on practically oil
goods tina are not deemed raw material,
with the object, first, of raising revenues;
second, OF assisting the home producer
against foreign competition; third, Of giving
preference to colonies; fourth, Of securing
better terms from foreign countries; and,
finally, OF mitigating unemployment by en-
couraging the home producer.
THE tariff will be Of the simplest possi-
BILE form, not protective in the sense that
that is understood in Germany and the
United States. There is no intention Of
having multifarious rates which would
throw open the door to parliamentary In
trigue. The plan favored Is to allow raw
materials duty free and to Impose a 5 per
cent duty on partly manufactured goods,
10 per cent on articles nearly completed
and Is per cent on completely manufactured
goods. There will be no variations in this
scale, unless in very exceptional cases.
There may possibly be, however, a slightly
lower duty in favor Of the colonies and a
slightly higher tariff against countries
seeking unduly to penallze British goods.
Duty on Grain and Meat.
Foreign wheat will be liable to a duty
of 2 shillings per quarter, with preference
a. ~ -zY.-g.~ h,N v-,N Nhg rrw.nva1 80 4hn
whole duty. Flour will pay a higher rate
in order to encourage home grinding, while
bacon and maize will also be excluded
from the free list. Important raw materl-
ais, such as cotton and wool, will enter
free.
"A tariff framed thus, It is estimated.
would produce q revenue from 1900, 900 to
2O,O 100000 pounds. If the unionists are re-
turned, every possible effort will be made
to embody the new duties in the budget of
1910, or at the latest, 1911, but the maximum
duties will be withheld for two years in
order to give time to negotiate commercial
agreements with foreign countries"
The Right Hon. George wyndham, mem
Der of the House Of Commons, for Dover,
speaking in London tonight also intimated
the intention Of the unionists to propose
a ~ per cent uuly Oh hululdCAAIto
articles and 2 shilllngs On wheat.
Cotton Men for Free Trade.
Charles Wright Madara, head of the
Cotton Federation of Great Britain, in an
interview today on the political crisis, re-
vealed himself as a strong advocate of
free trade.
Il have been struck" he said, by the
feebleness of the arguments by those who
would seriously ndanser the cotton trade
by changing our fiscal policy. In fifty
years Lancashire has doubled in popuIa-
ton, doubled it's cotton spinning and manu-
featuring machinery and built up an ex-
port trade three times bigger than It's
home trade. This enormous growth has
been maintained by the cheapness of pro-
duction. Tax food and mill requisites and
our pre-eminence would be endangered;
protected America, where two-thirds of
the worlds cotton crop grows, only ex-
ports 10 per cent of its manufactured
goods, against England's 70 per cent.
Hitherto other nations have discounted
to some extent the handicap which pro-
lection imposed upon them, by working
longer hours, out next year the mills OF
Massachusetts and Germany Will by
statute, have the working hours reduced
to nearly the same level as England. Let
the cotton industry by imperilled and every
other industry suffers. The teeming popu.
latlon of Lancashire are among the biggest
consumers of agricultural produce"