Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/361

 THE MCKINLEY TARIFF ACT 339 subjected to a specific duty. A duty, for example, of so much per pound upon all silks wo'uld be very heavy upon the cheaper grades of silks, and very light on the finer grades of silks. The same difficulty arises with regard to woolien goods, which shade by gradual gradation from very expensive to very cheap. High ad ralorem duties, however, present such temptations to fraud and under-valuation that they are almost sure to be demoralizing, as has been abundantly proved by our experience with the duties upon silks. A general ad valorem duty upon woolien goods would certainly meet these same diculties of under-valuation. On the other hand a uniform specific duty would bear too heavily upon the cheaper goods. Hence this device, not new in the McKinley Act, but applied more widely than ever before, of grading the duties according to the value of the goods. It has been applied not .only to woolien goods, but to cottons, to gloves, and to a considerable nmnber of other articles. Obviously the diculty of under-valuation is not really got rid of. Thus, if dress goods are worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of fifteen cents per yard, the temptation upon the importer to invoice theIn and value them so as to bring them under the fifteen cent line, and so to. escape with a lower duty, is enormous. It is safe to say that the extension of the graded valuation system in the McKinley Act will be followed by repeated attempts to escape its provisions by under-valuation of goods. It is true that a separate administra- tive act, which goes by the name of the McKinley Administrative Bill, attempts to meet this difficulty by more stringent provisions as to appraisal and valuation, and by heavier penalties for fraud and under-valuation. But the ingenuity of importers, stimulated by the premiums on dishonesty offered by the new tariff rates, may be relied upon to put the business of importing into less and less scrupulous hands, and to counteract more or less completely the efforts of the government officers. The changes in duties upon other textile manufactures can be disposed of briefly. The general policy in regard to them is similar to that which we have seen to exist on woollens; to leave unchanged, or even to decrease, the duties on those goods which are not imported, and to increase thein on those whose importa- tion continues. Thus the duty is reduced upon the cheaper quality of cotton goods, such as ordinary shirtings and sheetings; goods of which the United States already export considerable quantities and of which a still larger exportation may be expected as the economic conditions of the United States develop in the direction I have already hinted at. But on the finer cottons, such z2