The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-16
MAKE HIDES FREE
The Story of the Duty and What
 It Means
POWER OF THE BEEF TRUST

TO"6n UT lHE DEBT InO0l The Few Chief. of the Beef .Trust
 Making . Strong Fight Against the
 Welfare of the Shoe and Leather In-
 Austries, the Cattle Raisers and tho
 People Who Use Leather.
 No civilized country on the face of che earth breeds enough cattle to fpy- nish sufficient leather for domestic use. In this respect the United States is not different from England or Ger many or France. We do not raise half enough leather for our shoes and belt ing anf dress suit cases, for our har- ness and upholstering and q world of other things.
 Industry Grows With Eree Hides.
 This leather Is called neat leather. It is the thick hide from the backs of beeves and is byproduct of the siauGhtering business. Hides have all ways been on the free list in our tar ifs except during the civil war and up to s1S72, because it is by all means best to have enough raw material to give Employment to our citizens, as shoeu1akers and harness makers and beltma1rers and saddlers. All along all sorts of hides were on the free list. Nobody ever wanted them off; no statesman ever wanAeE them off; no farmer or tanner ever wanted them off, Of course it is most advisable to give employment to as many workers as possible by bringing in as easily and cheapIy as possible as much raw product as is needed to enable the workers to be put to work and provide for their families. We have greatly increased the wealth of the country by putting superior American brains and skilled American fingers to manufac- turing all types of leather goods not only for home use, but for consump- ton abroad.
 Tho Duty cripples Shoemakins.
 It was because hides were on the free list all along that the making of American shoes has kept so many thopsands at work and made the sup port of hundreds of communities. If hides had been on the tariff list the-i in creasede cost of the raw material would have more than counteracted the eff cheney of American labor, and foreign countries (none of which has a tax on. hides) would have secured the stronghold in shoemaking that has been ours for Years, a stronghold so great that we have been able to be- come the shoemakers of the world, fearing no competition anywhere.
 The Beef Trust Gets the Duty.
 But this result was obtained before 1se7. when the Dingley tarin was passed. The Dingley tariff did not <J,1yc I,f the house of representatives Dingley never put them in the schedule. The farmers did not ask to have them put there. The shoemakers did not ask it. The tanners did not ask it.. But, at the last moment quietly and without warning, somebody with sufficient power and pull managed to sneak in 25 per cent duty on neat hides just be- fore the senate passed the bill. Through the best opposition that could be made at short notice this was cut down to 15 per cent.
 1t Has Cost the People Millions. Thus the beef trust, for which the trick was done, by influencing certain ssenatofs, imposed a great burden on the American people This 15 per cent duty has added only about $2,- .IO00. 900 a year to the revenues of the sgovernment. but it has cost the people untold millions. 1t has cut off thou. sands of men from employment, be- Eause: through the duty on sole leather, Efhe American shoemakers could only finish the uppers of millions of dollars worth of shoes which they have been xorced to send abroad, where they fould put so1eS on them much cheaper Than we could.
 It Wipes Out the Tanneries. Through this duty on hides, put on by senators to add to the profits of the Beef trust, we have all had to pay more
 or our shoes and everything else made
 f neat leather. The farmer has had Ho pay more for his harness, the ranch man more for his saddles, the manu- facturer more for his betting, and ev- cry one more for trunks, satchels and furniture We are handicapped in get ting leather from outside. The control of tho leather supply at home is en- trely in the hands of the beef trust The tanneries have been greatly in- jured. and many have been forced to either go into bankruptcy or to sell their plants to the trust. Thus the trust has been getting into a position where 1t could not only dictate the price ofNraw hides, but also on the tanned leather as well, through its com mand of the leather finishing business.
 The Payne Bill and the Trusts.
 Now, through the pressure of aroused public opinion, the Payne tariff bill, as feported to and passed by the house 6 representatives, makes hides free Of duty. A determined attempt was made fin the house on the day the bill (as, passed to impose duty of 10 per cent on hides. but it was voted down. The beef trust, however, is not yet Reaten- It's greatest strength is in the senate, where the destructive duty on hides was put on in 1S97- And it is Eo the senate that the Payne bill now