Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1899 — BUSINESS ACTIVITY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BUSINESS ACTIVITY.

FACTS ILLUSTRATING THE RETURN OF PROSP«RITV. | Large Increase In the Importation of Commodities Used in Domestic Man-' | ufactures, Together with a Decrease in Imports of Mannfactnred Articles, Some interesting facts illustrative of the marvelous revival of Industrial ac- j tivity which followed so directly upon the election of President McKinley and the enactment of the Dingley tar- j iff are set forth in a statement issued by the Treasury Bureau of Statistics. It Is especially significant of prosperous times among manufacturers that articles required in manufacturing and food stuffs not produced in the United States form the largest Items of the Increase In importations shown by the fiscal year just ended. The statement covers all articles or classes of articles In which the importation increased or decreased as much as $1,000,000 during the year, and shows an increase in importations in nearly all articles of foreign production required by our manu fa c turers. Unmanufactured fibers, raw silk, crude rubber, bar and block tin, hides and skins, undressed furs, cabinet and other woods, unmanufactured tobacco and chemicals for use In manufacturing, all show a heavy Increase, wool being the only Important Item of- material for the factory which shows a reduction In imports. In the ten great classes of material imported for use of the manufacturers —fibers, silk, rubber, hides, furs, tin, copper, tobacco, wood and chemicals—the increase amounts to about $30,000,000, though the reduction of several million dollars in wool brings the net Increase In manufacturers’ materials to something less than that figure. In food stuffs the principal Increase Is in sugar, tropical fruits and cocoa, the increase in these being above $30,000,000. The very heavy Importations of sugar just prior to the enactment of the tariff law of 1897 made the sugar importations of 1898 extremely light, so that those of 1899 show an increase of 60 per cent, in quantity over those of 1898, but many million pounds less than those of 1897.

Among manufactured goods the finer grades of cotton, silk and fibers show the largest Increase, though matting, china ware, dressed furs and spirits are slightly In excess of last year. Diamonds and jewelry show the largest Increase among the articles classed as luxuries, though this is believed to be due in part at least to a reduction In duties under the act of 1897, which was made In the belief that It would reduce smuggling and thus bring within the operations of the customs law many million dollars’ worth of this class of goods which had formerly escaped taxation. In manufactured goods there has been a decrease In Imports In a number of important articles which come In competition with American manufactures, especially In woolen goods and tin plate. Coffee also shows a decrease of about $lO,000,000 in value of importations, largely due, however, to the decrease in price rather than In quantity, the average price per pound in 1899 being more than 10 per cent, below that of 1898, while there Is also a slight reduction In quantities imported, owing to the very heavy imports of last year. The following table includes the articles or classes of articles in which the Imports of the year show an increase or decrease of as much as sl,000,000, and compares the Imports of the year with those of the two preceding fiscal years:

I IMPORTS. 1897. 1898. 1890. Chemicals . .$44,948,752541,470,773542,668,731 China ware .. 9,977,297 6,687,360 7,592,996 Cocoa 2,997,866 3,715,629 5,360,116 Coffee 81,544,384 65,067,631 55,274.646 C o p p e r In bars, etc... 999,824 3,077,835 5,604,839 Cotton manufactures . 34,429,363 27,267,300 32,053,511 Fibers, anman ufactured 12,386,418 13,446,186 20,290,727 Fibers, manufactures of 82,546,867 21,899,794 25,132,495 Fruits and nuits 17,126,932 14,566,950 18,317,201 Furs, undressed ... 2,838,979 3,832,603 5,645,580 Furs, and man ufactures 0f... 3,076,125 4,048,569 5,211,019 Hides and skins 27,863,026 37,068,932 41,988,045 Hon sehoid and personal effects.. 2,438,363 1,779,055 3,112,885 India rubber and gutta petcha .... 17,558,163 25,545,391 31,8*6,342 Jewelry and p r e c lous stones .... 3,559,567 10,388,880 17,649,446 Matting .... 3,922,003 1,437,171 2,651,106 Silk, unmanufactured . 18,918,283 32,110,066 32,479,627 Silk, manufactures Of 25,199,067 23,523,665 25,105,482 Spirits 8,850,114 2,134,794 3,144,619 Sugar 99,066,181 60,472,749 94,964,120 Tin In bars, pigs, etc... 6,535,852 8,776,151 11,843,357 Tinplate... 5,344,638 8,809,148 2,613,564 Tobacco, leaf 9,584,155 7,488,608 9,900,033 Wool, raw .. 53,248,191 16,783,692 8,322,897 Wool, manufactures .. 49,162,992 14,823,771 13,831,967 The following table shows the total imports of each fiscal year during the decade: 1890 $789,310,409 1891 .-. 844,916,196 1892 827,402,462 1898 886,400,922 lioe 1897 764,730,412 1898 616,049,654 1899 697,116,854 Democracy nod Truete. In WES in 1894 that the Democratic majority In both houses of Congress paralysed the section against trusts passed by the RepnbUcan majority in the preceding Congress. The Wilson law prescribes no penalty against . * 1 IS M _ A j.||j nn | | .

trusts. It opened the door wide to all that now exist The last Senate was not Republican and would not permit the restoration of the anti-trust clause of the McKinley law. The Republican record against .trusts fa perfestly clear. A law in 1890 fulfilled the platform pledge pf 1888. Then the Democrats came into power and misgovernment and calamity came with them. In their endless chapter of disasters was the killing of the anti-trust law. They worked havoc in that direction as In every other. Yet they are now making a prodigious racket over the trusts as if the subject were entirely new and their party acting upon It for the first time—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Two Inevitable Results Not one-balf of the articles handled by the trusts are protected by tariffs. Not one-balf the capitalization of the great consolidations is devoted to the production of articles which are protected. Mr. Havemeyer knows very well that In forming these consolidations the real objects were an economy of organization and a monopoly of the local production. These being the prime object, the tariffs affect them ■neither in one way nor the other, except as they may exclude a foreign competition. If we throw open the doors to foreign competition it would necessitate even greater economy in organization to enable home producers to compete profitably. There would be no surer way to put the entire production pf the country Into the hands of consolidations than by striking down all our tariff duties. There would be an absolute necessity for trusts then, or else we should have to give our markets over to the Europeans and go out of business, for we could not continue to produce In any but the most economical way against unrestricted foreign competition. It is safe, then, to say that if all our tariff laws should be repealed to-morrow there would be just two effects—one the degradation of American labor, and the other a complete absorption of our industries by giant corporations.—Kansas City (Kan.) i Journal. t

What Would Happen. The London Economist has given a tabulated list of 187 healthy, robust trusts now existing In free trade England. Of these 132 are more than five years old. In the latter class are 16 iron and steel combinations, 17 textile fabric trusts, 4 paper combines and 12 railway rolling stock combinations. According to the stock quotations and reported dividends none of these big concerns are at all lank or spindly, notwithstanding the absence of a tariff mother to furnish nourishment during the period of Infancy. All these little items of information in regard to the extent of the trust system abroad naturally suggest an Inquiry as to what would happen If we complied with the Democratic entreaty to “take off the tariff and bust the trust.” Well, for one thing, we would be sure to furnish a mighty-promising field of operations for the trusts of England, Germany and the other European nations which are not engaged in the busting process—Sioux City (Iowa) Journal.

Industrial Rather than Political. Trusts, as such, have no connection with party politics, and the movement which Is establishing them In such numbers was as plainly in evidence under Cleveland as it has been under McKinley. The favors which the Democratic Senate showered on the sugar trust In framing the Wilson tariff have not yet been forgotten. Trusts flourish In Democratic as well as In Republican States. Both parties have been equally outspoken in denouncing these combinations In their platforms. In their coming national conventions, both will undoubtedly repeat their condemnation of monopoly. The trust problem is industrial rather than political, and it should be dealt with on the broad grounds of economic justice. It is difficult and complicated enough to demand the best efforts of honest public men of all parties for Its solution.—Philadelphia Bulletin. Fettled for a Generation. It will be a long time before the protective policy of this country will again be disturbed. This generation will have passed away and a generation launched upon the scene that has no recollection of the distress caused by the tariff tinkering of 1893-1896. Radical changes may take place In other departments of our economic government, but the tariff question is settled for this generation, at least—Bradshaw (Neb.) Republican.

Then and Now. During the last Democratic administration the papers were filled with reports of factories closed, wages reduced and an ever-increasing army of unemployed. Now they are filled with reports of new enterprises, volantary advances of wages and constantly Improving relations between employers and employes.—lndianapolis (Ind.) Journal. Money la Plenti-,

Dick—Hello, John, what are you buy-