Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1888 — FREE RAW MATERIALS. [ARTICLE]

FREE RAW MATERIALS.

How They Cheapen Goods and Increase Labor. W e constantly receive letters from workingmen asking us to explain this, that, or the other effect of tariff reduction. Here is a question which one of them has asked: “Will the Herald tell me what will be the result to men who work for a living of putting certain raw materials—wool, for instance—on the free list?” Well, first of all, the duty on raw wool is a tax which the man who uses the finished product, the cloth, must pay every time. The manufacturer doesn’t bear the extra cost—why should he? If he can buy his mixing wool at a low figure he can afford to sell whatever he makes at a correspondingly small price. On the other hand, if his raw material is dear, that is your misfortune, for he will have to charge you more or he can’t do business. The duty, or tax, 67 per cent, duty on woolens, is paid by you whenever you buy the manufacturer’s goods. Again, if the cost of raw materials is high the production from them is limited. That is serious. There Is no sense, however, in producing a great deal when only a little can be sold. A man would be an idiot to keep his manufactory running night and day when there is no demand for what he is making. High prices mean a small demand and smaller number of peoEle to buy. Poor folks would like to buy, ut they can’t afford to. They get along without what they need in order to be really comfortable, because their money must go for flour and potatoes. Then, again, when a manufacturer is doing a small business he only wants a few workmen. The moment.you limit his market by increasing the cost of his products you cut down his pay-roll. On the contrary, if he can get bis raw materials so cheaply that everybody can afford to purchase his goods he wants a bigger building; there is work for carpenters and masons; he requires more looms; there is work for machinists; and he wants more hands in his mills every day in the year; then you have good wages and steady work. Prosperous times for laboring men depend on the popular demand for what manufacturers turn into the market. Choke off the production by a tax on raw materials and you not only lessen the number who have work, but you increase the number who are seeking for it and can’t find it— New York Herald.