Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1893 — IN SPITE OF TARIFFS [ARTICLE]

IN SPITE OF TARIFFS

PRICES ittfiCtlNE BECAUSE OF IMPROVEMENTS. Some 'Demonstrating that There Are Far bore Potent Influences than the TaMff "Governing the Prices of Commodities—Must Be No Delay.

Same Plain Facts. In'&'lftnantiaV' artide the New York Tribune states that “in a whole generation of continuous protective dutiesl here and continuous free trade in Great 'Britain prices of American products -have ’ been reduced almost exactly as much,- in spite of the addi-tion-of duties sakl to be intolerable to consumer, as prices have been reduced in Great Britain during the same time.” -This fact demonstrates that there are far more potent influences tharf the tariff in governing the prices of commodities—a truth which the protectionists • obstinately refuse to recognize. 'ln a well-known work Mr. David -A. Wells, the eminent ■ economist, has ■ reviewed the causes * that have produced the great revolution in trade, the results of which are recorded in statistics of prices. Chief among these causes are inventions and improvements of labor- • saving machinery,’ discoveries of new materials of manufacture, better or--ganization bt labor, and the cheapening and extension of means of transportation by land and sea. These mighty agencies for supplying the wants and increasing the comforts of mankind havcovercome in great degree the obstructive methods of tariffmongering legislation. It would be tedious to recount the labor-saving inventions and discoveries within this generation that have multiplied the products of the factory and field, and vastly cheapened their cost throughout' the world in spite of jealous tariff restrictions upon trade. In further comparing the statistics of prices, the Tribune finds that “greater cheapening of products has been realized by Americans than by the people of Germany;” and it concludes: “Though Germany has prospered greatly under protection, it has neither made such, progress in industries as this country, nor realized as great a cheapening of products to consumers.” In certain lines of industrial progress, notably in the application of chemical discoveries to manufactures, the Germans have not realized as cheap prices as have people of this country and of free-trade England. Germany has been subject to a corn law system (somewhat mitigated recently) which has much enhanced the cost of breadstuff’s and provisions to her consuming millions. In Great Britain, on the other hand, these commodities are free of tax; while in this country the McKinley duties on them, for the sake of protection, are mere futilities. This Is what serves to explain the statistical phenomenon in regard to Germany mentioned by the Tribune. It is not pretended that other commodities besides food supplies are dearer in Germany than elsewhere. Let the duties be taken off the bread and meat of tbe Germans, and the phe-nomenon-would disappear For the rest, the fact remains that the tariff makes the cost of textile fabrics of nearly every description, of many manufactures of iron and steel, of earthenware and glassware, and of various other articles too numerous to mention, much greater in this country than in Great Britain, or in Germany. While under the influence of potent agencies of modern civilization the cost of commodities has steadily declined for thirty years or more, the American people do not receive the full benefits of the industrial revolution to which they are entitled. While they supply the world with cheap food, they are obliged to pay exorbitant duties on many of the commodities which they receive in exchange. It is the mission of tariff reform to correct this evil.—Philadelphia Record.