The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1869-10-09
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SAME III India we commune 1T least
g, 600 .0C0auuually Of cnanolol hides.
We import them from Eagiald, Bel
gium, Germany and France. i noticed
tho cnameIcd leather used IN this
country Is of n much nicer kind than
VIC have IL Bombay, ald made 1nqui-
Iias whegefrom ii is imported. I
WIS told that al Of it Is made here
This wns joyful news to me, for here I
was sure of beingable To get an rticIe,
cheap and good, for expectation to In
dia. I provided myself with letters of
introduction hom my bankers to some
of the principal houses who have their
Offices In that pnrt of the city called
the Swamp" created quite n sensn-
ton IN the first Office I went to. The
cnanlcled leather sahib was n thorough
man Of business. and entered into the
spirit of my inquiry with great inter
est. He saw at once the advantage
this great branch of national wealth
would derive from n foreign trade. I
examined the enameled hides with the
eye of connoisseur, rs | thoroughly
understand my business. Ny eyes
glistened and my mouth watered Mt the
great beauty of these hides, smooth rs
n looking-glass, iITeproachable in coll
or, and soft as glove. l had men
tally calculated that would buy or
order at least 900 of them, and with
that view l asked the price, stating
that / was ready to pay cash down.
The leather sahib quoteda price which
was . per cent. dearer always ealcu-
lating gold prices) than we could buy
them in Europe. My sanguine hopes
fell ut once / demonstrated this fact
with the sahib | told him that, as a
trial, and on account cf the beauty of
the goods, I would venture to pay 10
percent. more than the price in Europe,
but I would certainly not be warranted
to- pay more advance than TINT. The
leather sahib went into another. calcu-
lation, and showed me thatif he would
give me these hidesat the manufactur-
ing cost he corsld only take off 5 per
cent. from the price he asked Of
course, could do no business.
Surely" said I, this is strange.
You must have superior way of curry
ing and dressing hides here to what
they have in Europe, or else you could
not turn out such nice goods. Z am
willing to give you 10 per cent. more
than I can buy them for in Europe.
How is it that we cannot come to
terms?" My friend" said the leather
sahib, the nigger in the fence with
us is the tariff. To start with, we have
to pay 10 per cent. duty on foreign
raw hides, and, as you are aware that
enameled leather is made from the
salted hides of Europe, Australia and
the Cape, we labor under disadvan.
tage. Then the ingredients we use
such as varnish, &c.-are taxed from So
to 60 per cent. accordinging to quality
Fuel is dearer; cost of machinery, Oh
account of the high duty on iron ano
steel, is dearer Altogether, indie.
pendent of the higher price of labor
here, we carry at least 15 per cent
disadvantage to Europe. Our labor
being skilled, and a good deal done by
clever machinery, we don't mind the
cheaper European labor; all we want
his fair chance and fair-play. These
foreign imported hides do not enter
into competition with our domestic
hides. They are heavier than ours
and we cannot even produce them !
we were to try,
ST am sorry asaidI "but, of course
I I cannot buy your enameled leathe,
! for exportatioas ! hope some of thes'
J, days you will have remedy and re
i lief, and then we, may deal" =
! ssThn only. remedy. the ONLY relief