Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1891 — Why the Ship Rolled. [ARTICLE]

Why the Ship Rolled.

A protectionist traveler just returned from Germany has the following to say in a high tariff organ: “The best thing I heard was on board the steamship Lahn of the North German Lloyd line on my way home Among the passengers was a German gentleman of wealth, who is a manufacturer of cutlery near Cologne. He was accompanied by his wife, and while on deck one day was engaged in wrapping her up in a rug in her steamer chair. It proved to be a very difficult undertaking, as the ship on a light sea was rolling heavily from side to side. Some one remarked about his predicament, that it was a curious thing for the steamship to bo rolling so heavi’y, when he replied in distinct English: ‘it is not at all curious. It is that McKinley bill does it There is no freight aboard ocean steamships, going to America any more, and the ship is light in the hold. That is why she rolls so badly.’ I thought that was a pretty good illustration of the protective tariff bill.* Yes; a pretty good illustration. We are now exporting enormous quantities of whea‘, and many ships even sail here empty from Europe to load with wheat, thus making it necessary for our product to pay a higher freight to get into the European market, and thus in a measure hurting its sale. But how long can trade of this kind continue/ Where much goes out and little comes in tl e balance must be made up in money. But no nation can be drained of its money; for as money grows scarce it becomes dearer. In othor words, the prices of .commodities fall, and when prices have fallen there we cea e to send our products there. One-sided trace cannot long exist This is admitted evon by the organ of ton American Protective Tariff League. In >* issue of April 3it said: “Prcba-

biy no economic law is more rigid than that a nation’s imperts must, in the long run, be paid for by its exports.” From which it follows that the more we buy in Europe the greater will bo the demand there for . pur products of farm and fa tory; and in order that we may make a foreign mrakotfer “another bu-hel of wheat and another barrel of pork,” wo must lower our tariff wall to let in more foreign goods. A Merry Monopolist. Tho pcckot-knife trust, which calls itself iho American Pocket-Cutlery Association, lias been gradually moving up prices ever siuce the McKinioy law was passed. One of the leading spirits in this trust is Thomas W. Bradley, of the New York Knife Company, W’aiden, N. Y. In a letter to the New York trade journal, Hardware, lie writes in a merry way about the pood things that tho McKinley law is doing for the pocketknife monopoly. He says: “American manufacturers of pocket cutjory have, under tho McKinley tariff, au opportunity to sell their product in an American market such as they have not had for years. * * * American makers are extending their works,'increasing their output, ar.d getting slightly bettor pike 3. * * * Life is a sight more worth living since Major McKinley and his co leagues A protective tariff to protect.” How much this merry monopolist and hisfiiend3 have advanced prices may be seen from the following statement made by a prominent New York dealer in a recent interview: “Here,” ho said, “is a three-blade knife which has had a very largo sale in the West, retailing at 75 cents. A year ago we bought ! this knife at £4.25 a dozen, but on Oct 18 the price was raised to £5.20. January a further advance to £G was made, and I see here that we bought it in June at £<5.70. At this latter price, after the knife has passed through the hands of tho jobber, the retail merchant will net be satisfied with less than a dollar as the price to the final purchaser. ” These higher pricos are the natural result of ra'sing the old duty from 50 per cent, to a McKinley duty running/ all the way from 74 to 110 per cent. The knife trust simply takes what McKinley gave it; and the thousands ot consumers all over the country must pay more for their knives.