Show TALK ON THE TARIFF i The Report of the Minority on Mills Bill IIII 1 PURELY PROTECTION PAPER Strictures ou the Majority Report Ttie Quotations of Wool and Steel tCaila OtberNotes Iho Minority Report WASHINGTON April 2The report of the minority of the ways and means committee submitted to the House today to-day is about twice as large as that prepared pre-pared by the majority It opans with a severe criticism on tho action of the majority in so compiling the bill that the minority was not given information of tho fact that it was in preparation It denounces tho refusal of tne majority to hear manufacturers workingmen and Congressmen on proposed reductions L snd charges the majority with sectionalism section-alism in that its bill reduces the tariff on but two articles of southern production produc-tion sugar and rice and these very slightly while it mttke3 a wholesale slaughter of everything produced In the north and northwest The bill the report says is a radical reversal re-versal of the tariff policy of the country which for the most part has prevailed since the foundation of tho government If enacted into law it will disturb every branch of business busi-ness retard manufacturing and agricultural agri-cultural prosperity and seriously impair our industrial independence It is marked with a sectionalism which every patriotic citizen must deplore The American farmer will apprecia e the vicious charac er of the bill wnen he is apprised of tbe fact that while the products of land and labor are shut off from Canada by the protective tariff imposed by the Canadian government the Canadian farmer can send many of his products here without payment of duty Nowhere No-where in the bill is tne ultimate purpose of the authors more manifest than its treatment of wool It places this product pro-duct upon the free list and exposes our flocks and fleeces to merciless competition competi-tion from abroad In this ro pect the bill is but an echo of the Presidents message nnd gives emphasis to the 2 settled purpose of the mojoritv to breakdown 6 break-down the most valuaole industries of the country Why have the majority put wool on the free list The purpose IS to bring down the price of wool If this should be the lesnlt we inquire at whose expense and loss Itmust be at the expense ex-pense of the American grower and to his loss who at present prices and with the present duty is being forced Out of the business by ruinous foregn competition The injury by the confession of the majority will fall upon the American wool > growers The bill will greatly increase the imports of the foreign product and I diminish if not wholly destroy our own production It should ba borne in mind that our wool producers cannot I I compete wiU > coun riej where no winter feeding iiac hut littlesummor attention is required ad where labor is so cheap unless their industry has just and adequate protection The majority inquire in-quire in their report If Congress grants the request of Ute wool growers what aro the people to do for woolen clothing We bee to sngg st that the people of this country who woro woolen clothes during the existence of the tariff of 1867 and the tariff proposed by tha wool conference is substautialy that tariff were never bettr clothed and never better able to buy them Placing wool npon tbe free list is a deadly assault upon the great agricultural agri-cultural interest and wiil all with terrible ter-rible severity upon a million people It will destroy investtd capital unsettle established values wrest from the flockmasters their lifetime earnings bankrupt thousands of our best and most industrisus farmers and drive them into other branches of industry already overcrowded Under the head of steel rails the report re-port says If the majority desire to insure the handling of our steelrail market by our English rivals the proposed pro-posed duty of 11 will accomplish this purpose The supply of steel rails to the Pacific Coast is now in the hands of foreigners because of the cheap transportation trans-portation by water from foreign ports the existing duty of 17 not being sufficient suffi-cient to unable our manufacturers to compete for that trade It is stated that the Atchison Topeka Santa Fo Railway Company had lately purchased 10000 tons of foreign rails to be delivered de-livered at San Diego California and it is mentioned that anather lot of 2500 tons of foreign rails had recently been sold by foreign makers for Pacific Coast railroads In proposing to seriously seri-ously cripple if not to destroy the 7znanufacture of steel rails in this country the majority probably do not realize the full significance of the results re-sults which they invite The report states that from 1866 to 1888 the control of the House has been equally divided between the two political parties each having eeven years During the eleven years of Republican Re-publican control the revenues were reduced re-duced estimated 3G2 504569 During the years of Democratic control the I revenues were reduced 6 368935 After devoting several pages to the subject of the Treasuy surplus and the t failure of the President to call in and I I cancel the bonds tbe report concludes by saying We regard this bill as a A direct attempt to fasten upon this country a British policy of free foreign trade So viewing it their sense of obligation ob-ligation to the people and especially to working people employed in manufacturing manufac-turing and agriculture impel them to resist it with all their power They will assist the majority in every effort to reduce the redundant income of the government in a direct and practicable way But every effort of fiscal legislation legisla-tion which will destroy or enfeeble our industries will be met with the persistent persis-tent and determined opposition of the minority represented in tho House The report was prepared by McKinley and is signed by all the Republican members rf the committee L |