The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1909-08-10
Tariff Bill
tCoutinued from Page onc.)

this duty is ON the short ton. which
would make an equivalent OF about
fifty-one cents on the long ton. That
Is mistake. At no stage OF the bill
w1as any other ton mentioned In 1t
than one OF eighty pounds to the
bushel and twenty-eight bushels to
the ton. making ton Of 2.2i6 pounds.
1t Is believed that this duty will afford
fair protection to West Virginia coal.
even that produced In the southern
par. of the State which goes 10 the
coast and finds its market largely in
New England in competition with
Nova Scotia coal.
1.-THE whole West Virginia ,lelega-
ton stood and voted for a duty on
petroleum.. The effort to obtain this
turned out to be hopeless because of
the assertion that such duty would
be In the interest of the Standard Oil
Company. That seemed to be enough
to scare almost everybody into voting
against such a duty. although no one
could explain how it would help the
Standard.
The Lumber Duty.
"Thc duty fixed. ON rough lumber: OF
one dollar and n quarter per thousand
was the result of n compromise. and
Is believed to be fairly satisfactory to
West Virginia lumber interests.
"As nrotectionlsts. the West Vir-
giuia delegation voted for n duty on
hides when separate vote was had
on that question. because we felt that
the farmer was entitled TO protection
just as much rs the miner. manu-
factnrer or operative. At first there
was a claim that free hides would re-
suit In making gooM boots and Shoes
cheaper. This claim was soon ADAM
doned, and It wns said that with free
hides leather of 4 better quality would
be put into boots and shoes. The
clamor for free hides came largely
from New England boot and shoe
manufacturers. They succeeded In
getting free hides. but the duties on
boots and shoes, whether made Of
sucir hides or not. was also reduced.
There Is some curiosity TO see how
this thing will work out. and whether
boots and SHOES will be sold any
cheaper or made OF any better leather.
1.-THE Iron and steel schedules were
cut more severely than perhaps any
other. especially on scrap iron i'm
ported to be used In making pig iron
and on sheet iron. These experiments
in cutting duties mas be OF some value
In showing how mucil truth there -
in the proposition that the tariff Is IL
tax paid by the consumer where the
article Is one that can be made IN
this country. There will not be much
left to that argument If In these cases
where the duties nave been SO rad
ically reduced. the price to the pur-
chaser should not be any less. Some
of lie believe that the imposition of i
duty, may AFFORD protection to the
manufacturer and by increasing home
production let tine purchaser buy with
out any increase OF cost. These cuts
will give us change to see whether
the price OF iron and leather products
are reduced by the amount Of the duty
which has been taken Off.
1--WE find n more cheerful side to
this legislation when We come to con-
sitler some other great West Virginia
Industries.
... Wool Protection.
''Then production OF wool. which
nearly ceased under the operation OF
the Wilson bill and has been increas-
ing under the operation Of the Dlngley
law, will under tine now law continue
to have the same protection and en-.
coura cement which the DlnEley law
has been giving 1t.
'aThe great and growing pottery in
aMstry is again protected by the same
rates on duty which the DinGley law
imposed BY the way there are only
two congressional districts in the
country In which the amount OF pot
terry made exceeds the amount made
in tails district. 3 +. y
! ga cut OF twenty per cent was made