The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1911-09-27
ROBBlNG TIE FARMER
THEY ARE TAXED tOR THE BEN
EFT OF THE TRUSTS.
One of Those Infant Industries That
Some People Favor Taxing the Far

mer For.
Mr.. Taft appears to rely for tariff
revision upon mis- tariff board. This
is a commission selected for the pur-
pose of furnishing congress with ac-
curate informatian upon which. it
may base future action. Mr.. Taft,
however, does not make clear what
basis he has for believing that con-
gress will make use of this informa-
ton. On previous occasions re-
publice congress has had uncon-
tradicted facts before it relating to
pending schedules, and utterly ignor-
ed them in fixing the duties.
Take the cotton bagging item, for
example. Before the ways and means
committee at the 1903 hearing the
fact was adduced that the manufac-
ture of this necessity of the cotton
planter is controlled entirely by three
companies that have an egreenen
among themselves whereby all COM
petition is eliminated between them
and prices are fixed. This informa
ton was before congress, uncontra.
dicted, but it was ignored.
The rate Of duty on this bagging
which is used for covering balet
cotton, is six-tenths Of cent
square yard, which is. Is per cent
ad valorem. This rate is the same
was contained in the Dingley law
Each year the cotton planters of the
country use an average Of 10000,
900 square yards, of which amour
all but 100000 square yards is
made by the three big concerns in
America.
The total duty collected on this
material in 1910 was $4,000 an
Insignificant sum when compared
with the fact that it is the very in
strument by which the bagging takes
from the cotton planters over a halt
million dollars a year. To state il
in other words by reason Of tariff
on cotton bagging the planters are
compelled. to pay s616,000 more pei
year than would otherwise be the
case, of which sum the government
takes approximately 100000 ant
permits the bagging trust to collect
s516, 1000.
A little history Of this schedule al
so gives the interesting information
that when it first made its appearance
in the list Of import duties it was
/! higher than the facts adduced BY
the ways and means committee o,
that session.. the Forty-eight con
gress, justified. The first reques
was preferred by a man named Mar
shall who stated a duty of Is PEI
cent ad valorem would be suf6cien
and would furnish all the protection
needed for it as an infant industry
Yet the Mckinley bill shows a tariff
Of 1.6 cents per square yard, which
was then an ad valorem duty Of 81
per cent.
That industry, under the rate:
that have prevailed, has developed
into an arrogant and burdensomt
trust. It will be recalled that thu
original plea for protective dutie:
was that by shutting out the foreig1
manufacturer the home manufactur
ers could develop to the point where
competition between them would
make it of no moment what the dut!
was, since that competition would Fl,
the price at as low a point as coult
be possible
A beautiful little bunco game tina
was. Behind the tariff wall it wa:
proposed to erect-and which wa!
erected-home industries were t
grow and expand, furnishing Ameri
can labor a living wage and stead!
Job and the American farmer home
market wherein he could sell higt
and buy low. The industries did de-
velop, but within a short time after
they reached the point where compe
tition between them had tendency
to lower prices, they were combined
| into trusts "a system under which
they could boost prices to the full
extent of the tariff barrier reared
against the foreigner. The cotton
bagging industry is one of these, ye;
the tariff remains the same.
The cotton planter is also at the
mercy of the steel trust by reason o
a totally unnecessary tariff on cot:
ton ties, the metal bands around
bales. These are made principall,
Ivy the Carnegie and the Pittsburt
steel companies, which fix the price
The $40 of cent duty, figured OF
the amount used last year, was 1924,
900, which represents are excess price
paid over what would have been PAID
if they had been free, as under the
Wilson bill. OF this artificial ad
vance in cost, the government go:
S1,49S in the shape Of revenue upor
imports, while the remainder wa: