The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-03-24
Democratic Minority Ar
raigns the Payne Bill.
CRUDE, SECTIONAL, PROHIBITIvE
Declaration That Farmer Gets Nc
Relief and Laborer and Pro-
ducer Have Greater Bur-
dens Put on Them.

Washington, March %. That the
Payne tariff bill will increase the cost
of living, that it Is crude, sectional and
prohibitive and that it is an open chal-
1enge to trade war with every other
nation on earth are some of the criti-
cisms Of that measure made by the
Democratic members of the ways and
means committee in the minority re-
port submitted to the house by Minor
ity Leader Champ Clark.
The report is severe arraignment
Of the revision which the Payne bill
proposes. The countervailing duty pro-
visions for coffee and petroleum, the
maximum and minimum features, the
Cuban reciprocity clause, the wooden,
glass, agricultural and sugar schedules
are bitterly attacked. The report says:
"The whole maximum and minimum
tariff scheme as set forth in the Payne
bill enables foreign countries to force
us to raise the rates Of the Payne
schedules 20 per cent, which would.
after making ample allowance for all
reductions in the Payne bill, increase
our tariff rates on the average much
above the rates of the Dingley law.
"The bill is in many respects crude,
indefinite, sectional and prohibitive.
On the whole, 1t increases the cost Of
! living. For example, 1t will increase
the price Of hosiery about 80 per cent,
and certainly nobody will claim that
hosiery is a luxury in this day and
generation. In numerous instances the
| IN ay,tfro 10 hnr nnct
Of production.
"The treatment of the farmer by
this bill is along the same lines as have
characterized Republican methods in
the past. He gets practically no relief
and the laborer and producer have
greater burdens imposed upon them.
Every article Of food the laborer must
have to live comfortably is heavily
taxed. Even the salt on his table Is
not exempt.
"The Standard Oil company is as
handsomely cared for in the Payne bill
as in the Dingley bill, and by reason
of the provisions in paragraph 637,
popularity known as the Joker con-
tinues to be protected by tariff duty
Of 90 per cent, which enables it to
dominate and exploit the American
market and to levy tribute upon the
public, thereby piling up millions Of
dollars of i'll gotten gains"
The report further contends that a
similar "joker" in the paragraph pro-
viding for the free entry of coffee
places a duty on coffee equal to the
export duty imposed by the country
from which it is imported and that the
consumer must pay both the export
duty Of the other country and the i'm
port duty of the United States.
The tax on tea is also attacked, the
claim being made that the $T,000,000
which it is proposed to raise by i'm.
posing a duty on tea represents the
amount by which the cost Of living
will be increased by this tax.
Criticism is made of the metal sched-
ules, and it is contended that, hides
having been placed on the free list
the duty on leather, shoes, harness and
also be removed.
A severe arraignment Of the wool
schedule is made. "The only notewor.
thy change in the rates on manufac'
lures of WOOL" the report states, sis
that in the Payne bill lower rate is
put on tops than upon yarn, as II
should be-"
Claiming that this change will moi
affect the consumer, the report de
clares mo man, woman or child will
ever have cause to thank the trainers
OF the Payne bill for cheaper and more
abundant clothes and blankets"