Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-08-28
rARIFE REpucIIoNs,

va Maroh 3, 1879.
TARIFF REDUCTIONS.
That the Payne tariff bill
makes substantial reductions In
the duties on articles that
may be classed as necessities ia
borne out in signed article contrib.
iuted to Leslie's Weekly by Senator
Chauncey M. Depew. Senator Depew
says there were five hundred reduc.
tions of rates covering thousands of
articles, while the increases number
but one hundred. and are almost en-.
hrely on articles of luxury. Senator
Depew's words are quoted:
In agricultural implements, like
wagons, mowers, binders, harrows,
rakes, plows, cultivators, thrashers
and drills, there has been a uniform
reduction of 25 per cent. In red and
white lead for paint, in varnishes,
glazed brick, earthenware and china
In common use, and common window
glass, there has been reduction Of
IRON 10 to SO per cent. Bar iron used
by blacksmiths has been reduced so
per cent, and so have steel rails, while
on steel beams and Orders for bull l.
ings, hoop and bar iron, barb wire
for fences, bolts and nuts, knives and
forks for table use, spikes and nails,
horseshoes, mule-shoes, tacks, brads,
saws, screws, sewing machines, type
writer's. all Of which are necessary for
house building business and domestic
purposes the duties have been reduced
from IL to SO per cent.
"Oil cloths and linoleums for floors
have been reduced from 8 to 50 per
cent, and oil cloths for tables. etc. 40
per cent. The duties on bituminous
coal have been reduced SO per cent:
print paper. 81 per cent; hats and
bonnets, 20 per cent; boots and shoes,
40 per cent; sole leather and betting,
rs per cent; leather for shoe uppers,
25 per cent; gloves for ordinary use.
80 per cent: harness. saddles, ETC.. IS
per cent. In addition, we have let IN
Philippine and Porto Rican sugar
free, and retained the 20 per cent ad-
vantage for Cuban sugar. In lumber
necessary for cheap houses there has
been a reduction Of 80 per cent on
part, and from 80 to 81 per cent on
The rest. Fence posts have been
made free, and laths have been re.
duced 20 per cent. 1t will be seen here
that in everything which enters into
the life Of the farm and the building
Of the home and to It's furniture there
has been a very marked reduction
from the duties in the Djngley bill
Petroleum and all It's products have
been made free.
Summing up the whole matter. the
tariff under the new Payne bill has
been decreased from Dingley rate on
Imported goods valued in round num-
hers at $5,000,000.000, while the tariff
has been increased on goods others
than liquors and luxuries valued at
only s241 100000 in round numbers
II manufacturers. middlemen, whole
salers and retailers do not absorb
these reductions In the tariff, these
articles In common use should be
much cheaper to the consumer Now
what will be the effect upon the con-
Bumer? The National Clothiers' assc.
citation says that 1t must add three
dollars to twelve-doller suits and five
dollars to twenty-dollar suits. because
Of the increase in the cost of cloth on
account Of the tariff. There has not
been penny's increase in this tariff
either in wool or in the cloth. The
cloth in a twelve-dollar suit costs
three dollars, and the duty on the
wool would be seventy-five cents. The
cost of the cloth in tWenty-dollar
suit is five dollars. and the duty on
the wool is one dollar and twenty-five
cents. AS there has been no Increase
this year in wages, rentals, buttons.
thread or other things WHICH make up
a suit OF clothes, it is evident that if
an advance is made it must be an ad-
ditional profit to the manufacturers
and retailers of ready-made clothes.
The reduction on boots and shoes will
amount to from thirty to fifty cents a
pair to the manufacturer"
Another fact that Senator Depew
calls attention to is that at the time
of the enactment of the Mckinley bill
wheat was selling at IS cents bush
ell; wheat now brings 81 at the farm
ler's door. Corn was selling
then at 10 cents bushel:
It is now bringing rs cents. Beef
on the hoof was then selling below
the cost Of production; it is now sell
ing at TX cents. The supporters of
protection, he points out, believe that
these increases are due to the increas-
ed consuming ability of the laboring
classes in America-made possible by
steady employment at good wages.
The Des Moines Capital, comment
ing on the Depew statement, ex-
presses the opinion that the greatest
error in the new tariff law is the start
made for free raw materials. 1t
speaks of letter received by an oil
operator in the Pennsylvania field,
who writes that the Payne bill is
costing him 5000 month. He sells
his crude oil te the Standard Oil com
pany for 20 cents per barrel less than