The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1912-09-13
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"JOKERS" HID
REVISION UP
Actual Raising Of Duties Effected
by Payne Bill
COTTON AND WOOL SCHEDULES

Both Indefensible, and President Taft
Knew It-suppression Of Facts by
the Tariff 5oard-statistios Employ
ed to Mislead the Public.
BY ROBERT KENNETH MAC LEA.
Formerly consulting expert of the tarlff
board.l
New York, Aug. ON not a single
one of the nnety-dve all cotton sam
pies Of fabric taken as the basis of the
tariff boards investigations Of the cot
ton schedule was there an actual re.
ductlon of the tariff by the Payne
Aldrich law.
The samples were selected with great
care by the combined judgment Of the
boards experts, indorsed by the lead
Ing jobbers of the United States as
being representative of all classes Of
fabric in use in this country. each
sample being chosen because 1t was
typical of the most used material of
its particular weave or class. Ninety
five all cotton and five silk and cotton
samples comprise the 100 that appear
in the tariff boards cotton report.
Forty-seven of the ninety-fve in the
all cotton class pay 1890 per cent high
er duties under the Payne Aldrich
than they did under the Dingley tariff.
Payne -Aldrieh "Jokers."
OF these forty-seven classes of ma.
terial on which the tariff was in
creased nine are the fancy weaves
made in three or four New England
mills commonly grouped as the Lip.
pitt-McColl interests" This is the
clique of New England manufacturers
politicians who were permitted by Sen.
ator Nelson w. Aldrich to write the
cotton schedule to suit themselves,
OF the nine Lippitt-McColl fabrics
the Payne-Aldrich law lacked up the
average duty from 1867 to GO.33 per
cent. In other words, the promised
revision downward" on these goods
was really a revision nupwardamounting
to 64.97 per cent Of the Dingley rates.
The remaining thirty-eight classes Of
all cotton fabrics on which the duty
was increased were not generally the
product of the favored New England
ring. Under the Dingley law these
thirty-eight fabrics were assessed an
average duty Of 1886 per cent. Under
the Payne-Aldrich law they pay 44.5S
per cent-a revision upward equal to
2G.07 per cent of the former rate as
compared with G4.97 per cent increase
on manufactures of the favored few.
On just three among the 100 samples
was there a decrease in duty. These
were the silk and cotton fabrics silk !
mills) that pay more than 100 per cent
duty. On these three samples the re-
duction averaged 5.G6 per cent on the |
former duty-a reduction from 11G.7O |
per cent under the Dingley law to |
110.44 per cent under the Payne-Al- |
drich law. On one Of the silk and cot |
ton samples there was an increase |
to 21.99 per cent. The fifth |
of the silk and cotton samples was left |
On the forty-fve of the ninety-fve
all cotton samples there was no change |
in duty
On the three remaining samples
completing the total Of 100) no COM
partson is made because Of apparent
lack Of authentic foreign prices.
And still President Taft said in his
speech at Boston, April 20 last:
at Ghe Payne-Aldrich bilD was
question; congress could make its own
The official explanation
for refusing to publish the table show
vastly better bill than the Dingley
bill. II 1 had refused to sign the Payna
bill it would have maintained the Ding
ley bill with higher rates than the
Payne bill"
When Mr.. Taft made this statement
he must have known that it was un-
true. AS for the wool schedule, he
knew that the rates were not higher
in the Dingley law than in the Payne.
Aldrich law, for right after signing the
latter bill did he not denounce its wool
rates as "indefensibleY And, as for