St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-10-08

The New Tariff Law -.
The tariff law has finally been
enacted and Mr.. Underwood, who
has had more than any other man to
do with the shaping of it, says the
law gives the lowest taxation of any
tariff bill in the last three quarters of
a century, the aveIa age rate of duty
being twenty-six per cent. The
average rate of the Payne
Aldrich bill he claims was
over forty per cent. The present law
he claims will yield a surplus of
$1S,OOO,OO0 over the estimated gov
eminent expenditures for 1915. In
the passage of the Jaw he claims the
democratic party has fulfilled its
pledges to the American people. 1t
is Mr.. Underwood's belief the new
tariff will work no injury to the
great producing interests OF the
United States and that industry and
finance in this country will move
onward.
law as prepared for the Senate fol-
lows:
Average percentage of tariff rates
as compared TO the value of all i'm
ported merchandise-old law 81 per
cent; new law 81 per cent.
Value of annual imports added to
the free list $147, 100000.
Estimated revenue from all i'm
port rates-old law 100000;
new law $249,OOO,OOO.
Estimated revenue from corpora
ton and income taxes-old law $751;,
100000; new law $122, 100000.
The Democrats claim these feat
ures for the bill:
A reduction of nearly One-half in
the average tariff in foodstuffs and
farm products.
The placing of raw wool on the free
list, and a reduction of nearly 2-3
in the tariff on wooden clothing, es-
pecially of the cheaper grades. /
A reduction of one-third (average) !
on cotton clothing.
Reduction Of the sugar tariff and |
it's ultimate Adjustments in 1916.
A reduction of one-third (average) |
in the tariff on earthenware and
glassware.
Adjustment of all tariff on meats, |
fish, dairy products, -four, potatoes, |
coal, iron ore, lumber and many |
classes of farm and Office machines.
General tariff reduction on all i'm
portant articles in general use.
If the new law proves to be all it's
friends claim for it there is little |
doubt an era of unprecedented pros
perity is before the country because |
another of the things the law is sup |
posed to do is to reduce the cost of !
living. But there are those who can
not see quite so many beneficial eff
fects from this law. If the bill pro-
Vides the necessary revenues for the |
government it will do it through the |
income tax and not through the de-
creased tariff duties, and incomes
are more likely to be reduced than
increased under this law. So the
revenue may not be so great.
The first effect of the new law
will be the emptying of the bonded
warehouses of more than 100000
600 worth of goods at a saving to |
the importers of over $1O,00O,0OO |
in duties. In other words the gov
eminent will lose over $4,000, 200 |
revenue and the foreign producers
will pocket that amount. This does
not look like a real benefit to Amer
lean industries or American labOrers. /
OF course it means a continued influx
Of goods manufactured abroad at
less cost to foreign producers and
increased idleness of American labor.
1t may be the democrats have de-
vised a scheme by which the Ameri-
can laborer can enjoy life better
with less income, the government
can pile up a surplus by decreasing
its revenue and American producers
can thrive with idle factories here
and American producers paying their
money to foreign manufacturers and
tradesmen but we doubt it. While
the administration has changed the
laws of prosperity have not and we
predict that the only one of Mr.. I'm,
derwood's claims to prove true will
be the redemption OF the democratic
pledge to reduce the tariff. 1t is ac-