New-York tribune., 1870-12-05


leave to Production only the toll Is this hard
to understandf
While our Cotton Fabrics were largely inn
ported from China, it is not probable that the
producer received half so much in money or
one-fourth so much in products as the con-
sumer paid for them. Now, American Cotton
Fabrics are often retailed TO our people at not
more than ten per cent. advance on the price
which the manufacturers received Tor thcnl'
Were our factories so far away even as
Europe, this could not be. Capital invested IN
foreign goods for sale in this market cannot
be turned, in the average, oftcner than twice
or thrice year: the same capital invested I'D
the trade in domestic fabrics may he turned
at least thrice as often. And the merchant
must charge a profit on his goods correspond
ing TO the time he was kept out OF the money
invested in them.
-"Then why do foreign fabrics undcr'el
American 7"
Speaking generally, they do not. Almost
everything which we make for ourselves Is
cheaper-decidcdly cheaper-than we could OBJ
tain as good an article from Europe or Asia
But that does not prove that the refuse of
European workshops, the sweepings and rem
nants of European factories and warehouses,
could not be sent here under Free Trade so
as to undersel, derange, and paralyze our
manufacturing industry. Take off our duties
on Ready-Madc Clothing Uor examplc) and
the leftover, rejected, questionable contents
of European slOp-shOps would so derange our
Clothing business that our tailors and tailor
esses would be half the time out of work, aud
poorly paid the other half.
If Mr.. GLOW Tariff - has a wife and daugh-
tcrs we are safe in asserting that they habit
ualy buy forcign-made fabrics (Silks, De
LANES, Gnghams, CalicOcs,) at twenty-five to
fifty per cent. higher rates than they will give
for rival and equally seryiceabe American
goods. 1t is thought better style to be clothed
in French or German than in a Connecticut
or Paterson fabric. Quarreling with this taste
does no good q good, stiff duty on the I'M
ported article either favOrs home production
or helps to pay the National Debtor both.
-" But may everything be chcapencd by
producing il on our own sOilY
o no. If soil or climate forbid, by no means.
We could not grow Coffee, or Spices, or
CaOutch0uc, to advantage, because they re-
quire tropical climate, which we have not.
If we had no Iron Ore, we could not well
make Iron. Wherever Nature intcrposcs an
obstacle to our producing any desirable thing
nearly as cheap (that is, with as little labor
as others can produce il, we hold it advisable
to import that article, under no other duties
than such as are required for revenue. But
be sure that it is Nature, and not our own
ignorance or inexpericnce, that stands in the
way of our success in producing for ourselves.
There is, indeed, q class OF articles, whereof
Pig Iron may be taken as a representative
which may be produced for less money III Lu-
rope than here simply because Labor is cheaper
there tun of Pig Iron is fifteen or twenty
DAYS work in a concrete compact form; and
it can be made cheaper where Labor is worth
but fifty cents per day than where it costs a
dollar and half. Yet we hold it unwisc and
shOrt-sighted to import Pig Iron, because,
though cheaper in money, it is dearcr in Labor,
than if made on our own soil. If we make it
here, we give value to Wood QOr
| CharcoaD, Fruits. Vegetables, &C., which would
not bear long transportation because of their
great bulk in proportion to their value. In short
| meter we think il more advantageous to pay
$50 per tun for our Pig Iron in Wood in the
forest at 81 per cord Cabbagcs at So to $l9
per hundred, Apples at 81 per bushel, &c,
than to leave the Apples to rot under the
trees, feed the Cabbagcs to COWS, and pay 500
per acre for burning up the Wood on the
ground where it grew, and grow Wheat at 80
cents to 81 per bushe in the West to export
to Europe in payment for Scotch Pig at $50
per tun. While the nominal cost of the Scotch
Pig is less, its real cost is more than that of
its American rival. And, if we make our own
Iron, we shall be constantly devising and
learning how to make better article and
with less and less labor. Hence. we favor
Home Production.