Mexico weekly ledger., 1910-10-06

some a duty OF IS per cent, and Il
would further administrative conven-
fence IL the duty should be made uni
form so as to rsmove the difficulty Of
computation.
Rubber Tariff.
Consumers OF manufactured rubber
goods-and their name is legion
would have preferred, Of course, that
this uniform duty should be lower, but
Senator Aldrich saw fit to increase It.
and stated, furthermore. in his reply
to Senator Bristow, that the company
In which he and his son were inter-
ested did not handle manufactured
rubber goods, but dealt In crude rub
Der only, which under the late tariff
law is free.
A 80 per cent duty on manufactured
rubber Seeas would have greatly light
ened the work OF the customs house
officials, who are said in this case to
have been the all-powerful influence
for the advance. 1t is not difficult.
however. to see that a 35 per cent duty
on manufactured rubber goods will en-
able the manufacturer to pay higher
prices for the crude rubber, and would
also, thereby, gain the good Will OF
the manufacturer for the man who in
creased the tariff on the manufactured
product, who was, of course, Senator
Aldrich. and he had crude rubber to
sell.
The man in a position OF public
trust who permits his official acts to
be influenced by his private interests
and is not guided solely by the well
legislator, and is unworthy Of public
trust.
The Payne-Aldrich tariff law, how.
ever, increases the average duties on
manufactured cotton goods from
ASA per cent to 5062 per cent.
Senator Bristow said he could not
understand this action OF the ways
and means committee until some
months after the bill went into eff
feet. Then in his Topeka speech
he said: ."These increases were not
made for the protection Of any Ieeitt-
mate manufacturing enterprises In the
United States, but to boom the stock
market. Last year there were issued
$780, 100000 additional cotton and wool.
en- stocks-se4,ooo,ooo that had been
previously authorized, but not issued,
and $26,o0o,oo0 of new stocks"
1t would seem unnecessary to fol-
low further the schedules of the law.
AS | have said before. it was framed
by experts in the employ Of interested
benefciaries and is so formulated that
it is incomprehensible except after
careful study. The extent Of the pro-
lection granted is determined by tho
influence Of the industries benefited.
The sugar schedule has been attacked
SO often that its iniquities ought to
be known to every onsuner 1t is al
together in the interest of the sugar
refineries and one would think Il
would have been materially revised
downward after the exposure Of the
great sugar frauds perpetrated by the
Sugar Trust.
Furthermore, many Of the changes
in the tariff made by the Payne-Al
drich bill are framed so as to increase
the duties on articles of inferior o.
ordinary quality, such as are used BY
people Of small means, and thereby
have imposed greater burdens on the
plain people.
!. Squeezing the Consumer.
One of the necessities on which
the P~ayne-Aldrich law increases the
duties and adds to the burden Of the
common people Is hosiery. which is
classified into six grades, viz:
First, hosiery costing under 81 per
dozen.
Second. hosiery costing over 81 and
under $1.50 per dozen.
Third. hosiery costing over s1.5o
and under 50 per dozen.
Fourth, hosiery costing over 50 and
J under So per dozen.
Fifth, hosiery costing over SO and
under SIS per dozen.
Sixth, hosiery costing over IS per
} dozen.
, The tariff on the first grade under
the Dingley law, SOC per dozen and IL
per cent ad yalorem.
The second grade, Coo per dozen and
Is per cent.
, The third grade, zoe per dozen and
Is per cent.
The fourth grade, s1.20 per dozen
] and Is per cent.
The fifth grade, $3.50 per dozen and
t Is per cent.
The sixth grade, 90 per cent ad val
orem.
The Payne-Aldrich law increased
the duties on the first and third
J grades 20 cents a dozen, on the second
grade, rs cents per dozen, while on
the three higher grades no change
| was made.
In the fiscal year ending June 30
+ 1909 Cater statistics not a~vailable)
hosiery of the grades mentioned were
imported as follows:
] First grade, 2,914,9S2 dozen. I'm
creased 20 cents per dozen.)
Third grade, 995,s21 dozen. Qn
! creased 20 cents per dozen.)
; Total S,S1O,SO3 dozen increased q
cents per dozen.
| Second grade, 1,056,005 dozen. Tin
/. creased rs cents per dozen.)
Reciprocity.
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