Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1866-01-31
p,o.ao.;on :, .mer;can Manufactures.

The question of protection to American
manufactures is again looming up In Con-
gress, and, from present indications, Is like
ly. as in years past, to become prominent
one in American politics. Owing to the
heavy premium on gold during and since the
war, and the high taxes and rates OF labor
and living generally, our manufacturers, III
all branches of industry. find themselves
utterly unable to compete successfully with
foreign producers even in our own markets,
to say nothing of those OF the rest of the
world Thus, in the Book trade. tor exam
bic, we are assured in a recent article in Har
pers Weekly, published by the leading Book
House in the country, the American publish
ers are already as good as driven to the wall.
That paper asserts that no less than fifteen
distinct tax rates are required to be paid up
| on every book published in the United States,
which, in addition to the high rate of labor,
swells the cost of production so enormously
that English books. after paying the duty up
| on importation can be sold in this country
at much less rate than American publishers
can afford them The article of paper can
| be manufactured abroad, and imported and
sold in this country, at a rate very much be-
low what our own manufacturers, with all
the advantages of machinery, can afford to
make even an interior article. Large guam
titles of printing paper, made in Belgium,
are now imported and sold to the leading
publishers In our large cities, and as for books
the British publishers are now supplying
the trade in America to very large extent
and it is probable, if the Tariff is not raised,
even our School Books will be printed and
supplied to American book sellers by Brit
ish publishers An American book-that
is book printed and bound in America, of
American Materials soon be curios-
ity, unless the requisite protection is affor-
ded to the trade in this country.
The same state of affairs exists in every
other branch of domestic manufactures.
Iron, the great staple of Pennsylvania. can
now be manufactured abroad and shipped
to, and sold in the United States, after pay
ing the present rates of duty, at price con-
siderably below what it can be manufactur
ed for in this country We are assured that
the Iron manufacturers Of England, Scot
land and Wales, are over-run with orders
from the United States The better discrip-
tions of Cotton and Woollen goods can also
be made abroad and imported and sold in
our markets much cheaper than they can be
word, there is scarcely single branch of A
merican industry that does not feel the pres
sure of foreign competition Another year.
without additional protection, will close up
nearly every manufacturing establishment
in the United States, make us dependent
for our supplies, upon British, French and
German importations, and spread ruin and
panic throug hout the length and breadth Of
the land.
What is needed to prevent so disastrous
a result, is an early and thorough rerision
of our present Tariff Laws, to meet the ex-
traordinary exigencies Of the present crisis.
The United States has jrs: passed through
a terrible war. The Union has been saved
at an immense cost of blood and treasure
a cost, by the way, which probably no other
nation under Heaven could have met sue
cessfuly, and which we can only recover
from by wise legislation. Wecarried the war
through by relying entirely upon oar o,cn
resources. We can pay off the Debt and
avoid bankruptcy only by continuance in
the same course. The nation which, in its
intercourse with foreign countries, buys more
than it sells-which depends upon foreign
nations FOR its wares and merchandise, al
though it may be able to pay for them Tor
brief season. must ultimately be teggared.
The United States has, within itself, ample
resources to sustain itself Let Congress re-
solve that, as We did not pay tribute to Eu-
rope in our great trial, we will not do it now,
but, controlling, as we DO, the great staples
of cotton, grain and tobacco, we will make
other nations pay tribute to us. Let US have
fair export duties upon cotton, tobacco and
grain, and large import duties upon every
article of foreign production that can be
manufactured in the United States, and o,r
| Country will continue what it is now ac
knowledged to be. the leading and controll-
ing power of the civilized world
SENTENCED.-BenjF f. Taylor, clerk in
the Cleveland, Ohio, post office, whose ar
rest in November last, FIR stealing certain