New-York daily tribune., 1844-02-20
~ wr.o1s of protection.

the Tariff controversy, must be struck with the
f.;lure of the Free Trade writers to meet the
,sse nresented on the side of Protection. mere
,,;os a Free Trader. is an article on which the
duty is rs per cent, and which is, to some e1-
tent, still imported-therefore 1t Is 10 per cent.
b;ober than it would be in the absence OF
Tariff, "Sir, you are mistaken" is answered
from our side; look at the Price Currents; trace
the price of this article through the years "hen
there ,oas much lower duty or none at all, and
YOU will see that it was little or no cheaper than
now-oiten much dearer, If the duty has indeed
been Protective one, and has aided to build up
domestic production of the article. You say
YOU don't see ho,o this is, but do and 1t Is not
material whether you or see the tray 1t comes;
the appeal is to the facts to test our warning
theories You say that improved machinery and
processes account for this cheapening; but we
show you that there has been like improvement
in the production of other articles not protected,
or largely produced by us, and on these there has
been no corresponding reduction Of price. Why
won't you face the Price Current
And now to few additional facts
Linseed Oil is specified by the Post and Journal
of Commerce as an article which we might get
great deal cheaper if there were no Protective
duty on it. The duty is 25 cents gallon, just
as it was fixed by the Tariff of 1924, con-
frmed by that of 1928, GRAINED by Wright and
Van Buren, and by that of 1882 Under the
Compromise Act of 1893, this duty sunk gradual
ly down to an average Of Is cents per gallon in
4ho 4
that gear, the Average price Of the article in this
market ,oas trife oper So cents per gallon.
Since then the duty has been 25 cents gallon
again, and the Average price for the gear ending
acith August last [the first year under the pre-
sent Tariff ,oas S2t cts per gallon. For the SIX
months intervening between the close OF that
year and the present time, the acreage price has
been 77} cents per gallon. So that while the duty
has been increased 8 cents, the cost of Linseed
Oil 10 the american consumer has been fully 8
cents LESS per gallon for an Average Of the Is
months since the passage OF the Tariff than for
the 70 moaths preceding. The price through
November, December, and January was but IS
cents and, though it has risen since in conse-
quence of the general and rapid Improvement of
business, we doubt not thatit will soon be brought
down again by domestic competition, unless
there is considerable rise in the raw material
So much for Linseed Oil.
Iron is another article on which great stress is
laid by the Free Traders. We freely admit that
the duty on this article is heavy, and that the
present effect is a small augmentation of the
price on the seaboard, above the lowest rate to
which It was forced down under the low duties of
Al, 2 But we are confident few years expe-
rience and improvement In our processes, facili.
ties of transportation, &c. will ensure the home
production of Iron lower than it was ever I'M
ported, and that without depressing the wages o
American workmen. And at any rate We hav,
now ABUNDANT evidence that the present duty
while 1t is sustaining our own Iron works ant
enabling them to expand as well as flourish,
bringing goodly revenue into our needy Irea
sury, and taking 1t IN good part out of the pockets
of the Foreign Nations which tax almost all ou
products so heavily. For iIustrauon-in 1889
we imported Bar Iron largely from England, a
first cost OF t9 l5s. to fl0 los. per ton
in lS43, we imported a much smaller quan
tity at "a los. to f5 los. per ton-rather diff
ference. So of Pig Iron: we bought largely o
Great Britain in 1899 at f6 to .f6 5s per ton; i,
1S43 we made nearly eur whole supply at
much less cost than this, and imported yer,
little at .f3 los. to Cd IS. per ton. Take offth
Tariff, break down a good part of our owl
works, and increase our imports to the forme
amount, and we doubt not that the British pric
would go up again
And now for an item illustrating the effect o
Protection on Cottons and Fancy articles:
Glazed Musiins came in free of duty in 1s4l
The best quality, Ii yards wide. sold at 81:
cents. The American article of the same quail
ty and width then cost 81 per yard-the marke
very limited. The new Tariff imposes duty o.
about so per cent. on this article, and now a ia,