Litchfield enquirer., 1832-04-19

UCOCue VI tbtw tuStbtUS tUteEeSts DutS WUttWue
 going into the particular details, | shall limit
 myself to inviting the attention Of the Senate
 tO single article of general and necessary
 use. The protection given to fanDels in 1928
 was fully adequate. It has enabled the
 AmeriCan manufacturer to obtain complete
 possession of the American market; and
 now, let us look at the effect. ! have before
 me a statement from a highly respectable
 mercantile house, showing the price of four
 descriptions Of lannels, during six years.-
 The average price of them, in 1926, was thir-
 ty-eight and three quarter cents in 1897.
 thirty eight; in 1928. (ihe year of the taritt) tOrty-six; in 1929, thirty-six; in 1880. not
 wlthstanding the advance in the price of wool, thirty-twO; and in 1881, thirty-twO and OOe
 quarter. These facts require no comments.
 nave before me another statement, Of a practical and respectable man, well vcrscd in
 the flannel manufacture in America and Eng
 land, demonstrating that tho cost of manH,
 lecture is precisely the same in both c"un'
 tries; and that. although yard of flannel,
 which would sell in England at fifteen cents, would command here twenty two, the differ ence ofseven cents is the exact difference be- tween the duties of the two countries. which are paid on the six ounces Of wool contained in yard of flannel. 1'
 Brown sugar, during ten years, from 179s to, 1902, with a duty Uf one and a half cents per pound. averaged fourteen ceDts per pound. The same article, during ten years, from 1920 to 1880, with duty of three cents, has averaged only eight cents per pOund.- Nails. with duty Of fve cents per pound. are selling at six cents. Window glass, eight by ten. prior to the tariff of 1924, sold at twelve or thirteen dollars per hundred feet; 1t now sells for three dollars seventy cts.
 The gentleman from South Carolina, sen. sible of the incOntestible fact of very great re- ductioI in the prices of the npcessaries oflifp, by the American System. has felt the full force of it. and has presented various explanations of the causes to which he as. cribes it.
 This brings me to consider what l appre. hend to have been the most efficient of all the causes in the reduction of the prices of ananufactured articles-and that is, competi- tioH. By competition. the total amount of the supply is increased, and hy increase of the supply. a competition in the sale ensues, and thi. enables the consumer to buy at low CT rates. or all human powers operating an the affairs of mankind, none is greate. than that of composition, It is action and re.ac. tiOn. It operates between individuals in the same nation, and between different nations. By the American system this vast power has been excited in America. and brought into being to ac! in cO-OperaiiOn Or collision with European industry. Europe acts within it. self and with America and America acts within itself. and with Europe. The conse- quence is, the reduction of prices in both hemispheres. Nor is it fair to argue. from the reduction of prices in Europe, tO her own presumed skill and labor exclusively. We affect her prices. and she affects ours. This must always he she case, at least in reference to any articles as to which there is not a total nOn-intercourse, and if our industry, by di- the demand for her supplies, should produce a diminWliOn in the price Of those supplies, it would be very anfair to ascribe that reduction to her ingenuity. instead of placing 1t to the credit Of our own skill and exerted industry.
 The great law of price Is determined by supply and demand. Whatever affects eith- CT, affects the price. lf the supply is in. creased. the demand remaining the samc, the price declines; # the demand is increas- ed. the supply remaining. the price adv anc- es; if both supply and demand are undimio- ished, the price is stationary. and the price is influenced exactly in proportion |" the de. gree of disturbance tO the demand of supply. It is therefore great error to suppose that an existing or new duty necessarily becomes a competent element, to it's exact amount of price.
 Competition. wherever existing, whether at home or abroad, is the parent cause of cheap ness. It high duty excites production at home. and the quantity of the domestic arti- cle exceeds the amount which had been pre- vioMsly imported. the price will fall. This accounts for an extraordinary fact stated by Senator from Missouri. Three cents were laid as a.duty upon a pound Of lead, by the act of 1923. The price at Galena, and the other lead mines, afterwards fell to one and a half cents per pound. Now it is obvious, that the duty did not, in this case, enter into the price; for it was twice the amount of the price. What produced the fall? 1t. was stimulated production at home, excited by the temptation of the exclusive possession Of the home market. This state of things could not last. Men would mt continue an um- profitable pursuit: some abandoned the bu- siness, or the total quantity produced was di- unfinished, and living rrices have been the consequence. But. break down the domes. tic supply. place us again in state of dePen. dence On the foreign source, and can it be doNhted that VIC should ultimately have to supply ourselves Ut deaFer rates It is not
 fair tO credit the foreign market with the de- pressiOn of prices produced there by the in-
 luence ofOur competition. Let the compe-
 tition be withdrawn, and their prices would
 instantly rise.