The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1845-12-09

production and in domestic and foreign con-
sumpton, as we'll as in value. We have
stated the price of Flour as il was quoted in
August iasl-although subsequently 10 that
period it had fallen at this place below $500
per barrel, and but fer he demand for Eng
land which commenced two months ago, and
has recently become very great, it would in
the opinion of extensive millers here have
fallen to $3.50. Even now when foreign
demand has raised the price TO nearly four
dollars in this market, -four is much cheaper
than in July IS42 before the passage Of the
Tariff when il was 600 in New York, al
though all accounts then indicated an abun-
dant crop of Wheat at home and abroad
The periods we have selected of 1910 Al
and of 1874 AS, for data, TO indicate the
value of agricultural products, before and
since the enactment if the existing tariff, are
divided bv the point of extreme financial de-
preston in tho year lS42. As this was near
the period of the passage of the Tariff and as
it has been followed by better times, the i'm
provement has been ascrIbed to the law, as
was the previous embarrassment TO the want
# it.. This is the customary argument of all
quackery. For as periods of great distress
disorder the judgment and multiply The
chances of improvement from change, they
are usually the seasons for quacks and char
latans TO flourish with their systems. Upon
this pretension Of the Tariff policy however,
we are fortunate in facts that are conclusive.
For several months prior 10 the passage of
the Tariff Of lS42 the prices OF the great
staples of wheat and cotton were higher in
this country than they have been since, and
were also in demand at prices correspond
ingly high abroad, although crops were abund-
ant everywhere, so that even so early as July
lS42, exchange between the United States
and Great Britain was in our favor, and specie
| flowing it. An event at such time almost
without u parallel, for it is the season when
cur imports are heavy and our exports light
being too early for the new cotton crop to
20 forwrrd Such was the condition of our
foreign trade in the last days of the Ccmpro-
mise Act-the nearest approximation 10 free
trade we have known for thirty years. The
great staples of the Yves: and South were
working out the redemption of the people
from the embarrassments and debt, created
by the bank expansions of 1896 that were
predcated on the enormous amount of public
deposits that had been needlessly and unIustly
accumulated in the Golfers of government
from the action of that protective Tari. which
was overthrown in 1888. But whilst the
West and South were thus beginning so
auspiciousiy the restoration OF prosperity
the Tariff Of 1912 passed. The profits of
manufacturing rose enormously, Cotton mills
made dividends from 10 10 &C per cent;
Iron, Sugar, Woolens advanced in price
from 20 to 100 per cent, al! manner Of cor
poraton stocks felt the impulse and city pro-
perty and city rents rose with the rest. But
the great Western and Southern staples,
Wheat and Cotton, have gone down more
than twenty per cent, have been even lower
than that, and would he lower now, but Gov
the peculiar effect Of the China trade on the
one and partial failure cf English crops On
the other. LIE, us see if we can estimate
The effect of The Tariff on the West.
The principal protected articles are Cot
ton and Woolen goods, Iron and Sugar. The
value of these articles manufactured in 1910
according TO the census would be about one
hundred millions ofdollars. In 1912 it would
be neatly the same. In that year the duties
on them were raised from twenty per cent to
an average Of at least eighty. Although this
grea: advance of duty was the dictate of the
manufacturing interest, and must have been
deemed requisite TO exclude the foreign
article, (or The odium of such enormous
rates would not be needlessly incurred,) we
will assume that after all The effects of sub
scqucnt domestic competition, the Tariff of
lS42 now enables the domestic manufacturer
to obtain twenty-five per cent more for his
commodities, than by the Compromise Act
The existing difference between domestic
prices and foreign will completely sustain
this as an average estimate. The increased
cost then TO the consumer of these articles
is twenty-five millions. The West consumes
one-fourth OF them and pays therefore six
and quarter millions extra for them. She
gives, however, in exchange her produce,
which is reduced in value by the operation
Of the system twenty-five per cent, also
Hence the cost of the West for the protec-
ton of these four articles only of domestic
manufacture is twelve millions and half;
so far as our domestic trade is concerned |
In the foreign trade the loss of the West is
about the same. She ships thirty millions
of her products abroad, at prices reduced as
we have seen by tho system one fourth
Here is a loss of ten millons-for a fourth
having been taken off TO reduce the sum TO
thirty millions, it would without that sum be
forty millions. But the West receives in
exchange for her own consumption of foreign
merchandise thirty millions. According TO
the proportion of dutiablo articles imported
and the duty pld this year, the amount of
duty paid by the West is about six millions,
or three millions more than by the Compro-
mise Act, making The total nnrihern TO The