Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1890 — Protectiou and Prices. [ARTICLE]

Protectiou and Prices.

The following from the Dry Goods Economist of Oct. 4 is instructive: “It will be interesting to watch the effect of higher prices upon the popularity of the new tariff which has caused them. We shall soon hear from the consumer, and, in fact, already there are loud murmurs on ©very side- As a rule, ladies are proverbially indifferent to politics, but when they find out, as they are now doing, that something has been done by the politicians which results in adding from 20 per cent, to 25 per cent to their dressmaker’s and millinery bills, we fancy that we shall hear from the disfranchised sex in tones that no judicious man will be likely to ignore.” So it seems from this protectionist paper, which is, however, fair in its spirit and tone, that the tariff does raise prices. The best representatives of the school of protection to which this journal belongs do not deny this. But the politicians, and demagogues, and “fat friers,” and boodlers do deny this, and they have insisted upon their peculiar theory so strenuously and for so long a time that many voters who have given this matter little thought will be surprised at the upward movement of prices which has already begun. We read, for instance, in this same number of the Dry Goods Economist, of a meeting of the pearl button men “for the purpose of defending the interests of importers and the trade, and to do justice to tho present and future condition of the market in this article, which.affects every large and small manufacturer, every woman and child in the United States.” It was decided to Increase the price of the stock in hand by 25 per cent On all future importations 50 per cent, is to be added to the price of these goods. The firms represented at this meeting do a business amounting to millions of dollars, and virtually fix tho price for pearl buttons all over the country. The old duty on .these vbuttons was 25 per cent. The new duty is “2% cents per line, button measure, of one-fortieth of an inch per gross, and in addition thereto 25 per edntum ad valorem. ” And the hypocrites who did this thing give as the reason for their action: * “The change from ad valorem to specific rates is intended to be an increase for the protection of tho domestic industry against the competition of foreign convict labor. ”

So, buttons go up—and the consumers suffer. The same thing is true all along the lino. Wanamaker has issued a circular advising his customers to buy now, as, he says, the manufacturers have had their way, and prices, especially on tinware and kitchon furnishings, are sure to advance shortly. On drugs, the increase will be from 10 to 33 per cent., so that a man cannot be “puked or purged” without paying smartly for it. It cannot bo insisted on too strongly that In all this business there is not a thought given to the consumer. And if the consumers do not wake up and take some thought for themselves, they are going to get left. It Is to bo hoped that the tariff-raised prices will arouse in them a realizing sense of the blessings of protection. In the meantime it is comforting to know that the tariff is a tax, that it Is added to the price, and that it is paid by the consumer. And we are further consoled with the assurance that the McKinley administration is, in the main, satisfactory to the manufacturers.