Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-05-23
THE DRAWBACK DECEPTION.
Congressman Stevenson Exposes
Scheme to Fool Farmers.

Washington, May 22.-RepresCnta-
tive Stevenson the other day injected
little tariff speech into the house on
tn" rivers and harbors bill that touch
ed the skin of some Republicans like a
fir brand. Representative Phil Camp
bel of Kansas, sought to interrupt,
but the incisive South Carolinian cut
him short, for he was determined to
drive home his point without hind
rance
Mr. Stevenson attacked the pending
tariff bill in the senate from a new,
most vulnerable angle, that is what is
known as the drawback provision of
th' bill, especially as il relates to
wheat, lonG staple cotton, lumber and
other materials imported from abroad,
manufactured in this country and sold
abroad. He showed that the tariff paid
on these imported materials and then
refunded on the products made from
them and exported abroad was not u
protection, but sheer fraud on the
farmers and the American consumers.
Mr.. SteveRson's remarks on the tar
iff on long staple cotton as provided in
the emergency tariff>act and rcembod-
led in the pending bill gives to the
long staple cotton growers no protcc-
tion as statistics show. This part of
his speech is especially interesting 10
the people of his district. 1t Is quoted
as follows:
you put tariff on long staple cot
ton and they are maintaining it. What
about that? Practically all of the pro-
ducts of long staple cotton are export
ed, except in sewing thread. They are
,t,,fr a ;.t. int
are mills there that do not spin any |
thing else. They're paying S. bale
import tax on cotton; they spin it and
export the goods and get $3.50 back.
Let me show you what effect it had on
the long staple cotton importations to
this country. During the first eight |
months of the cotton year of 1921
that is from August TO April, and that
was just before the emergency tariff |
went into effective imported OF
Egyptian cotton 70,145 bales. During |
the first eight months of this cotton
year, during those corresponding !
months under cents a pound tariff,
we imported 214,071 bales. What effect
did it have? Is that the direct result
of your Z cents tariff? Yet we have
that and we have this drawback, and
it is an Illustration Of the fraud that
you perpetuate on the farmer when you
try to fool him into beliveing that
protective tariff on cotton or protective
tariff on wheat, the surplus of which
goes abroad for sale, is something to
raise the price on him.
Another feature of the drawback
provision relates to lumber imported
ships in American yards, the ships be-
NJ fn
Mr.. Stevenson said:
- hey are asking us for ship sub
sidy here in order> that we may build
up ships that can compete with the
ships of the world, and yet they are
carrying in this very bill a provision
that our manufacturers when they
for the foreign ship own
lrs shall have an advantage Of the tar
ff on the imported materials over the
man who is manufacturing a ship for
the home shipowner In other words,
If there is 100000 of tariff paid on the
that go into ship, the steel,
the lumber, the other materials, the
the engine, and so forth, II
the ship be sold to a foreign purchas-
ar, the manufacturer can get the
drawback, but if the manufacturer
sells it to our great merchant fleet that
they are expecting us to tax our con-
stitucnts to build up. then you cannot
get any drawback. Therefore, we have
to tax our people more and more to pay
heavier overhead charges because of
the original cost of our ships. Is that
dealing squarely with the American
people? / say that it is not"
Mr.. Stevenson will show in another
speech on the drawback provision how
the big meat packers are to come in on
the drawback provision in the use of
imported salt for meat products and
also now the New England fish indus
try will be taken care of in the same
way.