At the extra session which President McKinley called in 1897, almost the sole measure considered was the tariff act, known (again from the name of the chairman of the House Committee) as the Dingley Act.
This reimposed the Dingley duties upon wool, on most qualities at the precise rates tariff of 1897 .
After the raising of the duty on barley under the McKinley and Dingley tariffs that trade was practically destroyed and Canadian farmers were obliged to find other uses for this crop. Owing to the development of the trade with the mother-country in dairying and meat products, barley as a home feeding material has become more indispensable than ever.
Mr Nelson Dingley, an American member of the commission, died during the month of January, as did the chairman, Lord Herschell, in March, as the result of an accident, soon after the close of the sittings of the commission.
He greatly hastened the passage of the McKinley Bill in 1890, and of the Dingley Bill in 1897.