Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1898 — GRATIFYING RESULTS [ARTICLE]

GRATIFYING RESULTS

IMPRESSIVE STATISTICS AS TO THE AMERICAN POLICY. Eor the First Nine Months of Current Year Our, Exports Have Increased #100,000,000, While Onr Imports Show a Falling Off of $100,000,000. Protection works a double benefit and produces some surprising results. An increase of over $100,000,000 in exports and a decrease of over $100,000,000 in imports is the record .of our foreign commerce for the nine months ending Sept. 30, 1898, compared with the corresponding nine mouths of the preceding year. No corresponding period in any year of the country’s history has shown such a record. No other country in the world has ever equaled this record.

The total exports of the nine months ending Sept. 30, 1898, are practically twice as great as those of the corresponding nine months of 1888, while the impQrts show a reduction of 12% per cent., as compared with 1888, despite the growth of our population in the meantime. The imports of fnerchandise in the nine months just ended are less than in any corresponding period since 1885, when the consuming capacity of the country was but little more than half what it now is. The gains in all classes of production have been enormous during the pa3t decade. The exports of the product of the mines which for the nine months ending Sept. 30, 1898, are in round numbers $20,000,’000, have increased more than 33 per cent since 1888. Exports of the productions of the forests, which were $18,775,141 in the corresponding nine months of 1888, are in the nine months Just ended $30,775,578. Agricultural products, which In nine months of 1888 were $304,717,362, are In the nine months just ended $571,294,955. Exports of domestic manufactures, which in the nine months of 1888 were but $99,842,972, are in the nine months of 1898 $227,822,045. It thus appears that the manufacturers have in the period 1888-’9B enjoyed a larger growth In exports of their productions than any other class of j»ur great producers. The great gain In the ratio of exports to imports that has taken place in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year under the operation of the Dingley taTiff Is apparent In the following table showing the total imports and total exports for nine months ending Sept. 30 in each year from 1888 to 1898;

Nine months of year ending Sep- Total Total tember 30. imports, exports. 1888 $544,511,034 $445,355,250 1889 582.879.612 529,558,161 IS9O 625,821,959 563,468,545 1891 627,145,819 627,670,414 1892 630,106,009 053.836,020 1893 625,331,972 587,040.111 1894 503,589,571 562.278,557 1895 600,981,988 540,424.359 1896 522,088,289 650,950,354 1897 588,743,315 732,508,805 1898 475,300,893 854,203,502 A Matter of Patriotism and Good sense The United States stands sixteenth on the list of twenty-five wine producing countries, with a production of 30,303,470 gallons in 1897. This country will stand better than that just as soon as the American people are cured of the delusion that the grade and value of a wine are determined by a foreign label. American wjnes, like many other articles of domestic production, whih are unfairly handicapped by popular ignorance of their trne value, must fight their way to the front by sheer force of merit. They are doing this very rapidly, and the time is not far distant when a large proportion of the millions of dollars now sent abroad to pay for foreign wines will be kept at home, and when Americans will spend their money on American wines because they are the cheapest, the most wholesome, the purest, the most palatable, and in every way the best. Patriotism and good sense are on the side of the American wine-growers.

What Is Expected of Congress. The Republican party will undoubtedly be in control of the next Congress, the sanguinary hopes of the Democrats to the contrary notwithstanding, and upon the shoulders of its statesmen will fall the mantle of responsibility. The ability of the Republicans to satisfactorily decide great public questious has already been amply attested, and the country will have no fear of the result In this case. Shipbuilding and oceau commerce are more Important at this time to national prosperity and independence than anything else we know of. Therefore the measure of protection which Congress will give with the object of promoting American ship-building interests and restoring the American merchant marine will l>e of such a character as to be entirely effective In Its purpose and give the assurance of being maintained for a loug period of years.—New Orleans Item.

Mnlntain the Standard. The policy of the United States being to maintain a higher standard of comfort and happiness In the Uulted States, through higher wages than obtain abroad, that standard must he maintained under the American flag nfloat ns well, and It is for this reason that protection Is needed In order to equalize the conditions under which American ships may compete with foreign ships In the foreign trade without lowering the American standard of wages and of living.—New York Commercial. Sentiment v». Common Sense. It Is apparent that the United States Government can not afford for the sake of reciprocity with a little country like Canada to wreck a home Industry Kblch support* as many people aa the

entire population of Canada. There jurJ about five million people in those prov-> inces, and there are three million people In the United States supported by the lumber industry, without including those which the shipment of the products and the working of the by-prod-ucts employ. It costs $3 a thousand feet more in wages to produce lumber in this country than in Canada, and the present duty complained of by the Canadian dealers is but $2 a thousand. The present tariff has revived the American lumber trade and should not be disturbed for the sake of largely sentimental considerations in dealing with a foreign couutry.—Topeka Capital.

Protection and Prices. It is not possible to say with even the semblance of truth that the cost of commodities has been appreciably enhanced or even enhanced at all by the Dingley Tariff during the first year of its operation. It has indeed helped the revival of many industries and the employment of multitudes who had been idle and thus has created a much broader demand for the products of all labor, while enlarging the working force. On the other hand, it is equally obvious that scarcity of mouey has not enabled anybody to establish monopoly prices for commodities or to maintain unnatural rates of interest for money. The instant the current rates here have advanced above the low rates prevailing in other countries, gold has poured into this market.—New York Tribune. A Noble Industry. Now the extension of our navigation laws to Hawaii, Porto Rico and other islands will create a new and increasing demand. When American ships have the monopoly of American trade with the islands they will pick up incidentally a volume of other trade, and double activity in our ship yards will follow. It is a good thing to see this noble industry advance.—New York Commercial Advertiser. A Canadian View. There can be no disputing the fact that if Mr. Fielding should adopt the tariff views of Mr. Dingley it would result in as much prosperity to Canada as is now enjoyed by the United States. —The Canadian Manufacturer. Need Attention. Only four American ships passed through the Suez Canal last year out of a total of 1,792 of which 1,196 were British. Our commercial Interests on the other side of the world need atten-' tion.—Colorado Springs Press.