Evening journal., 1913-10-04

After being under consideration in
congress for nearly six months the
new tariff bill Is a law. and for the
frst time in nearly a quarter Of a cen
tury the country has u tariff law orig
mated by the Democratic party. The
bill will doubtless be known as the
Underwood-si Simmons bill, taking the
title from Chairman Underwood OF the
ways and means committee Of the
house and Chairman Simmons Of the
finance committee OF the senate.
The sponsors for the bill say that II
will raise ample revenue. Chairman
! simmons has been advised that IL will
Weld a surplus OF at least S16,0o0oo0
a year above current expenses. II It
does not meet the expenses OF running
the government the expenses will be
reduced.
one remarkable thing about the pres
ent tariff bill, a precedent, In fact Is
that the senate cut the average rate
Of duty carried by the bill below that
fixed by the house Heretofore in the
making Of tariff bill the house has
slashed the rates. while the senate has
then taken up the bill and readiusted
the rates on q higher general average.
The house bill carried a general nv
erage rate slightly below 80 per cent.
/ This the senate cut little over per
4 cent The conference committee has
raised the general average duty but
slightly. The average ad valorem duty
carried by the bill as perfected is
about % per cent. The average under
the present law is about 35 per cent.
Many Changes Considered.
The conference committee had tc
deal with 676 paragraphs on which
there were disagreements. Some Of
these involved only the change Of {
word or a question OF punctuation, bu
majority Of them represented diff
ferencea in rates and few we're fun
damental
The house conferees also acceptel
the senate amendment fixing date
when the wool duties shall 90 into ei
feet, which was one OF the final stun
o bling blocks.
Raw wool will 90 on the free list o
Dec 1. and the reduced duties cal
ried by the present bill will become ei
feotive on Jan. /. The house bill prt
b posed to make the wool duties efectiv
+ Immediately on the bill being signe
5 by the president. The final action wa
\ an important concession TO the man,
y facturers.
The senate won over the house ais
on controverted paragraphs In II
schedule relating TO cotton cloths an
yarns. BY this agreement slight
r. higher duties are given TO certai
coarser grades Of cotton cloths an
b yarns by changing the classification.
Fur hats and frames, forms and otl
er parts for the manufacture OF sue
hats received a rate Of As per cen
This matter affects the hat industry
Connecticut The house fixed the raj
/. at 40 per cent, the senate made II As.
The silk schedule also was reopene'
and the rate on silk partially manufa'
tured from cocoons or wastes, not ful
ther advanced in manufacture tha
n n carded or combed silk. and silk noil'
was reduced from 30 TO 20 cents pc
ar pound
The Metal Schedule.
nd Probably no single industry covere'
by the tariff bill suffered such reduc
tons in duties as did the iron and stee
al- Industry. The house cut duties ur
ny sparingly. and then the senate follow
ed by making still further reduction
and increasing the free list.
M The house. for example, placed
duty Of S per cent on pig IRON. spiere
he sen, scrap iron and scrap steel an
Ike products and made ferro-magane.
a drnable az Is pei cent. The sena
free listed both OF them, and the co