The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-29
TAKE UP NEW TARIFF
 BILLS IN THE DUMA
To Encourage Manufacture
 of Farm Machinery
DIsCLOsES ATTITUDE
MOtOvitOff Insists That Some Tangi- ble Protest Be Made Against AbrOgation of Treaty of 1892.
 Resume Debate Today

St. Petersburg, February 2S.-The bill prepared by the minister of commerce embodying measures to encourage the manufacture of agricultural machinery In Russia was taken up in the duma today. The draft of this bill was sub mitted to the cabinet in August, 1911. It proposes to permit the entry, duty free, of certain machines and machine parts, to offer manufacturers credit on easy terms and to reduce taxes in their favor. Tn addition to these provisions the bill now proposes temporary re- duction in the tariff on the whole range of farming machinery after July IA, 1912. the date of the expiration of the present tariff
 May Offer Bounty
 The duma financial committee pro- posed as an amendment that the re- duction be prolonged only until the expiration of the Russo German com mercial treaty. It also proposes to ask the government to introduce in the
 immediate future bill providing for vesters and binders.
 The debate. in which the minister of commerce participated, disclosed the at- titude of the various Russian parties in respect to Russo-American trade re- lations.
 The constitutional democrat, NJ. Shig- azeff, declared that the measures were quivi protective, The International Har- vester company, an American concern, had built immense works near Moscow. The bill, he said, favored this company at the expense of smaller Russian manufacturers. Therefore the constitu- tional democrats would support that part of the bill dealing with the pro- longation of the reduction in the tariff on agricultural machinery but would oppose industrial bounties and re- duction of the industrial taxes.
 Foreign Supply Might Fail
 The minister of commerce, M Timas- choff, said cheap machinery from abroad was not always available as difficulties arise in foreign trade re- lations. For example, he continued, tho present difficulty between Russia and the United States might lead to a temporary cessation of trade rela- tion between the two countries and create obstacles to the supply of for eign machines. The government refused to encourage home manufacture by taxing foreign machinery but the sys- tenn of bounties and reductions of taxes would produce the same resui,
 NJ Motovitof, a member of the duma and large land owner, one of the speakers at the nationalist party meet ing February 22. held in protest against the attitude of the United States in denouncing the treaty or 1882, referred to the injury done to Russian pride by this act insisted that some tangible protest must be.
 Difference in Reduction
 During the debate the minister of commerce defined the difference be- tween a reduction in the tariff on whole machines and on parts, saying the government must guard against encouraging the special industry of putting together in Russia machines the parts of which were manufactured abroad.
 posals of the financial and agricultural committees the duma adopted that of the financial committee which coincided with the wishes of the minister of commerce. This provides for discrim- ination in the reduction in the tariff on parts brought in, with or without the machines. The proposal of the ag- ricultural committee was that the re- duction should be applied indisorim- inately. The debate will be resumed tomorrow.