Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1907 — IS NOT WORKING WELL [ARTICLE]

IS NOT WORKING WELL

ONE-SIDED BENEFIT OF THE GERMAN TRADE AGREEMENT Enormom Increnxc In Our Importstlom of Competitive Articles Indicate Plainly that the German* Are Cert’nß the Dent ol the Bargain. v Indications are at hand (if the workings of the German trade agreement In the second month of its operation. It will be remembered that for the first mouth, July, there was an increase of alxrat $3,000,000 in competitive imports from Germany, as compared with ? i’y, 1900. Official .statistics showing the importations of dutiable articles „for August have not yet been given out by the Department of Commerce ami Labor,but there is reason to believe that,,a substantial increase over July will be shown. From a single consular district in Germany some heavy increases in competitive exports to the Uuited States, as compared with August, 1900, are resported. In artificial flowers .. the increase Is more than 150 per cent; in china and earthenware, more than 400 per cent; in cotton goods, nearly 100 per cent; in glassware, about 45 per cent; in metal goods, about 150 per cent; while of paper and paper goods the export is nearly ton times.as great as it was iu August a year ago. All of these increases are in values only, quantities not being indicated. 11 is, therefore, not possible to determine the extent to which German exporters have taken advantage of the ‘‘export price privilege and have invoiced their goods to their own agents in the United States at prices far below the current wholesale market prices of'equivalent articles in Germany. It is safe to presume, however, that this “priceless privilege” lias not been neglected” and that not only has the undervaluation permit been used to greatly augment the entered Invoice values of the total exports, but that, by reason of cut prices, there has been an increase in total quantities much larger than is indicated in the reported valuations.

It would seem that at the expiration of nearly sixty days since the authority to determine dutiable values was taken away from American appraising officers and turned ov*er to local chambers of commerce made up of the very persons most interested in evading honest tariff payments, the authorities at Washington ought to be able to present n statement, for July at least, that will show what the Increase of imports lias been In quantities as well as In entered values. That Is what Is wanted. Values alone do not tell the w hole story.

For example, if the Invoice values of pottery exports from a single consular ■w/i'ci tsi "export price” undervaluation privilege, from $40,000 iu August, 1006, to 5200,000 In August, 1907, how much more than that have quantities Increased? We will suppose that in August of last year, when honest market values were ascertained by consuls and special agents, and tarlffecPfcoeordingiy, a certain quality of cups and saucers were invoiced correctly at 75 cents a dozen. But In Afigust, 1907, the German potter is permitted to consign to his own agent In New York the same quality of goods at a lower price.” Then It may easily turn out —and it undoubtedly will —that while the custom bouse Invoices show five times the values of pottery exports as compared with August, 1906, eight or ten times the quantity of earthenware will have been actually exported to the American market.

If it be not true that quantities have .increased under the German agreement in far greater proportion than values; If the undervaluation privilege of “export prices” is not being used ; if values voluntarily fixed by exporters are as honest as values were when determined by the evidence of consuls, special agents and direct importers; If, in short, the new deal Is not yielding an enormous harvest of revenue frauds, of tariff evasions and of unfair competition with American labor and Industry, then no time should be lost In making that fact known. The statistical experts of the Department of Commerce and Labor sliould get busy. The country has a right to the truth and It wants to know the truth without unnecessary delay.—American Economist.

The Worth of the Tariff. A recent consular report shows briefly and well jvhat kind of competition the tarlfT Is keeping away from the American manufacturer. Consul Harris, In a report on factory Inspection In the grand duchy of Baden, says: "In the Black Forest clock Industry a working day of from 14 to 16 hours Is common; also In many other Industries. In tboodty of Pforzheim, which Is a center of an enormous jewelry manufacture, the average dally wages for adult females Is said to be 38 cents, and In the surrounding villages 31 cents, while the average dally wages at female chalnmakers Is 46 cents, and in other branches of Jcjfelry manufacture is 45 cents. The average daily wages of burnishers of silverware at Carlaruhe Is 79 cents, while that of other female employes of the factory fit that city Is 80 cents, and In the surrounding villages 31 cents. Adult females working at their homes for a metal ware factory at Bohrenbach earn an average of 45 cents per day, while the average paid for female labor In that locality is 33 cents per day.”—Attleboro (Mass.) Bun.