Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-05

bc had to look after Tie government
interests in the lower and higher court.
He declared that nearly every man who
showed great ability in the service of the
government had been taken into the SER
vice Of importers to prosecute cases
against the government. The existing
cotton schedule does not remedy the
method Of meeting such conditions. and
he added that the committee in another
paragraph would attempt to deal with
the subject. He had reference to an
amendment intended to prevent underval-
nations which the Senate has not yet
taken up. i.J<s4s
Aldrich said that estimates of ad
valorem equivalents of specific rates
could not be accurately figured when
the value of the goods range from
cents to 30 cents square yard. He
declared that there were high and low
| rates III the specific rates of the cot
| ton goods schedule and that foreign
manufacturers would change their
| methods of manufacture if necessary
| to take advantage of low rates. Aldrich
said the committees rates were lower
| than those intended by the Dingley
law, although they might be higher
| than the rates under which certain
goods are now admitted because of
misinterpretation Aldrich declared
| that nobody but the importers have
protested against the Senate bill rates
as being too high. He read a letter
from an appraiser in the New York
custom house stating that goods af-
| fected by the decision placing certain
cotton cloths under the paragraphs for
cloths assessed according to the ac-
| count of threads amounted to 10 to
| IL per cent. of the importations He
| compared this statement to that made
| by those who criticized the Senate
| rates on the assumption that these
| goods came in in only neglible quaint
ties. The letter stated that the goods
which We're assessed at 45 per cent. ad
| valcrem were now assessed at from Is
to 40 per cent. as the result of the de-
cison.
Declaring that the menace to the
American cotton goods industry will
be the manufacture of those goods by
Japan, Aldrich said that Japan today
has four large cotton manufactures in
operation and said it would be hard to
say what would be the result if in the
next 10 years Japan should go extern
SlVcIy lIlO lEe IdHuIdCIuIe VI Cot-
ton He called attention to the six
| cents a day labor in Japan and to the
ability OF japanese in declarative work.
He predicted, however, that the United
States would become the greatest pro-
Queer and manufacturer of cotton
goods in the world if it's interests were
properly protected.
He reviewed the process of the
Southern states in the manufacture Of
cotton goods, declaring that South Car
| DINA has become second only to Massa-
chusetts. that North Carolina is third
and Georgia fourth.
1T is not for me to say how the
senators from the South shall vote on
this schedule said Aldrich. He de-
clared that the stake of the South was
greater than that of the North and he
predicted that when another bill is
drafted the South would have three
fourtlls of the cotton mills. Indicating
that he was as vitality interested in the
progress of the South as in the pro-
gress Of his own section, Aldrich APP
pealed directly to the Southern sena
tors to meet the question fairly. He
said:
Il appeal to You directly, not to vote
for this bill, for | know that this you will
not do while l am in the Senate, but to
look at this Question as affecting the
prosperity of your section. The time
viii come when the South will be found
standing shoulder to shoulder with the
North in an effort to perpetuate the great
industry"
Aldrich said that the time is near when
the industry would be far more import
ant to the South than it is to the North
He declared that the New England sem
ators had proved themselves to be the
South's best friends.
Aldrich read the following letter, dated
June 4, signed by four of the general ap-
praisers, including William H. Parkhill
whose figures were quoted by Senators
Dolliver and La Toilette:
I'VE all agree that the average rates
imposed by paragraphs 3l3. 3l4. 3l5. 316 and
317 of the bill, as reported from the Sen
ate committee on finance, are not great
err than those imposed by the act of 1897
as originally construed upon the mer-
chandise now in these paragraphs in the
Senate BILL
Aldrich then concluded his speech and
the Senate adjourned at 1920.