Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1909-03-25
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(FROM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT J
WAsHINGToN, ID. c., MARCH 2OTH.

WASHINGTON, ID. c., MARCH 2OTH.
The new tariff measure which takes
it's lame. the Payne Bill, from Chair
man Payne of the Ways and Means
Committee, taken aS whole, makes
provision for a material reduction OF
the duties imposed hy the Dingl Y
law. and exp rts predict that it Will
at the same time produce an import
ant inrr aSc of revenue. 1t Is 's'l-
mat, Il, hy tn" fram rs Of thu hlll,
that it, r"v nu pr ,dn'i0g power VIII
be S:3,35. .ND.OU from Imports, and
S275, % 10000 from internal v'nlr',
making an iicrras' in the gov M
ments annual r.v"nu Of SO, ,UW)iWo.
The provision for graduated mh ri
tanc,. tax, similar to that of \ W
York. is the most striking INN ..vatlon
and the system of maximum and
mininum duties whrrr y tn" prlici-
pie Of rrciprrcity i to BE- carried out
practically automatically, Is an"th. +
| innovation. 70 make up tn" n'" Il Il
rev l,u =, among other p'nvi~'ni>, B.,
| luxuri.< have been tranSf TT 1T - tn
dutlubln nst. such ~ p rEum"s AMI
highly p"rfum Il soaps, and IA Ii. 6
| list ni spices hay. brm taken from
tine fr,r lit and put upon tn" dntIa-
blr >rh'Iul :.
Ii is exp rt,'l that general drhat =
on the Payne hill will b.Gin in tie
lluu,r on Tuesday next. a. thr mia
ority nl,nIrS of the committee on
WAYS anl III, ans hay" been given un-
! til that day to file their reports. and
| the present Indications are that party
lines will b. eliminated during the
consideration Of the bill. Each mem
her of the House will look after the
interests of his own district during
the fight, with but few exceptions.
Secretary McNcagh of the Treasury
Department rXprrs, d satisfaction
with the 'neral features of the new
tariff bill. From the viewpoint Of
the Treasury Department the maxi.
mum and minimum feature of the
bill is one Of its most important pro-
visions. BY this provision the gov
crnmrnt is given Il weapon by which
it is in "A position to r''taIlatr for amy
discrimination sought to be practlcrd
by a foreign government, and 1t Is
considered that in this way the IN
tereSts Of American exports will be-
conserved and promoted.
Another feature of the bill com
mcndrd by the Treasury officials Is
the paragraph providing an improved
way of establishing market value
for imports. The new bill provides
that in the absence of a home market
in the country of origin, the market
of such imports is to be determined
by working backward from the sell
ing price in the United States. Tn
der this plan Il certain prrcentag,
will be- allowed for profit on the goods
and to this will he added freight, cart
age, and other charges. Under the
method now in force, the so-callcd
German agreement, the market value
of imports from that country, of
goods which have no sale there, Is
determined 10y taking an average of
the export pr.ce Of such goods sold tu
all other countries.
Senator Aidrich, Chairman of the
committee on Finance, intends t.
push the consideration of the tariff
bill in the Senate committee with all
possible dispatch and il is exp ctcd
that, beginning with Friday, the
committee will be in continuous ses-
sion. In this way the delay incident
al to the usual method of committee
consideration will be avoided. The
Senate leaders will engage their own
experts in tahulating information and
preparing comparative tables so that
all senators may have abundant data
bearing upon every schedule.
The Central American situation, in
all its phases, was discussed Will
Secretary Knox by the various repre-
sentativcs from these republics, al
the State Department on Thursday
of this week, the regular diplomatic
day. From adviccs received at tn,
State Department, military activities
in Nicaragua still continue, and she
is blamed with being the cause and
the sole cause of the unsettled condi.
tions il Central America.
Official announcement is made that
the 6O) foot tower, which the govern.