Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 182, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1913 — Importers Get Ready. [ARTICLE]

Importers Get Ready.

The New York Sun states that foreign made products to the value of $70,000,000 are in bond at the port of New York preliminary to being thrown upon the American market immediately upon the enactment of the new tariff. It is expected that by the time the law goes into effect the value of goods in bond will have increased to SIOO,000,000. The importers will save a great deal of money in the tariff to be paid upon these articles, and what is the government’s loss will be their gain. The goods are consigned not to consumers, but to importing houses; these In turn wilt .sell them to the jobbers, the jobbers to the wholesalers, the wholesalers to the retailers and the retailers to the consumer. Who will get the advantage of the reduction in cost price? Will it all be benevolently passed on to the consumer? That is contrary to human nature. The various factors in the process of distribution will all take their toll. Goods will continue to be sold to the consumer for what the traffic will bear. The difference between the old and the new way, principally, will be that where heretofore an American purchaser meant work for an American consumer, this will not so often be the cas’e hereafter. We wonder why It is always assumed that if the jobber can buy goods at the importing house somewhat cheaper than at the American factory door, the saving will necessarily be passed on the ultimate consumer. A big and increasing* gap already yawns between the factory door price and the price paid by the merchant. The faith that prevails in the benevolence of all the middlemen is sublime, but time will tell whether It has any real foundation in fact.