, 1872-11-18
WElLS-.-BUTLER.

hRD-south~est, strong.
WELLS-.-BUTLER.
Reply of David A. Wells to General
4. z. Butler on ss1ncidental Protee-
tion.,'
NORWICH, Conn.,, Oct. !, 1872.
To 1iIZian, Dorne, Secretary Boston Young iAe','a
Free Trade Association:
SIR; In a letter addressed to you by General
Batler. under date Of Sept Is, 1872, there are
certain statements touching the effect Of our
protective tariff policy which are so wholly un-
warranted that they ought not to be allowed to
circulate without challenge and refutation; and
-FOUR immediate vicinity has as yet volunteered
Tor such service, propose, With your permis-
sion, to undertake it,
General Butler, in the outset, Bays that while
le is not in favor Of tariff for protection, but
pr revenue only" he nevertheless thinks that
d 1evying duties due discrimination should be
lad to give incidental aid to certain Industries,
nd then proceeds to illustrate what he under
sands by -: incidental aid and what he knows
= have been the specific benefit deriFable
f'r General Butler to explain where the revenue
tito come from when the protection begins, and
t. disprove the allegation that "Where
protection begins revenue ends" And
f. .esa ensh ssnos he selects 6et
tng,'' on the import Of the FIRST of which the
city, is from 80 to 80 per cent dd Ualore7a, and
Of the last more than 100 per cent-the existing
aerage duty on :: champagne = being about 63
pr cent; n {: sllk yelvets." 60 per cent !; and
''Freuch brandy 100 per cent. So much for
wiat General Butler understands by incident
alaid" under the tariff Now for what he knows
am thinks concerning the benefit aceruing from
snh aid Allowing him to state his own case,
pi.ce Of worsted lasting, such as is largely used
lnladies Shoes, was made in this country.
eirgle manufactory was started, which would
no have been without the incident
al protection given by the tariff,
The American shoe manufacturer and consumer
one-third, although the amount Of lastings
male here is very irconsiderable. This have
from information on which place the most per-
fec reliance" I am most happy that General
Butler admits that he does not thus aver from
his OWL knowledge, for it permits me to Bay,
without being personal, that the above state
ma1t in it's essential feature-the reduction Of
prce-does not embody even 80 much as scln-
on general principle. will become evident
to any one who will reflect and reason
70, moment on the involved conditions
AMI circumstances Lasting or serge e
similar fabric used for like purposes)
are not the exclusive products Of any one nation
ally, and their manufacture does not depend on
the possession of any extraordinary skill or
secret; and it at any time within the last ten or
twenty years any one English manufacturer
would not have sold lasting or serge, except for
an extraordinary profit OF ss}}6 per cent over and
sbosea living profit, it is reasonable to presume
that other Englishmen would. And if all Eng
Iahmaa had combined, then the French manu-
factur,s might have been fallen back on, and if
tha English and French had Jointly refused to
dc haliness except on this particular and extra
orsiinuy basis Of profit, then the Germans,
the austrians, and the Be1glans stood
readyto take the market. So that, If the state
ment of General Buffers informant be true, it
necessarily implies that, as soon as the English,
manufacturers learned that one insignificant es-
tablihment, calculated to supply but the n1erest
fraction OF the demand of our market. had been
established in the United States, they lmmed!-
Rtely got together in convention, snd unaul-
moudy resolved, that. henceforth, for the pur-
poseof 6trangling such formidable competition,
they would abate the price Of their products
one-hird,-n alone to their American, but
also 70 their European, Consumers. On gen.
era1 p inciples, therefore, the statement
in ths United States one-third through the
agency referred to, is on its face an absurdity-
But there is no necessity for resortlng to
hypothesis to determine truth, wnen the exact
follows: l. The quantity Of hastings manufac-
tured inthe United States is too iDconsiderable,
as compared with the amount consumed, to have
any ehe:t in determining the price Of any mar
EAt. z. The pT1Ce OF imported ldstlub6 Ii L1e
United States is now and always has been the
price in the European market, plus the duty,
f1eiehts, interest, commissions, and latterly the
gold premium added. 8. The price Of Ameri-
can lasting is regulated by, the producers,
and in the main follows the p7lce OF the
imported article. And to show how slight
are the variations in these prices, We quote
the following from a letter Of Boston
dealer under date Of Sept. q: 1872: :" For the
coarser grades, rs for eleven-thread, the
American, being little wider and heavier than
the foreign, sells for about the same price as
the foreign of that number But the finer
grades, as, for instance the fourteen-t thread,
not being liked as well as the foreign, sells for
~ to cents less per yard than the same NUM-
ber of the foreign" In 1860, with duty Of 19
per cent, the price Of q fourteen-thread lasting
IN the United States WIS about 6715 cents, gold,
per yard; but for the past two years the price
of the same article, costing 10 per cent less in
Graat Britain, but with q duty of from
30 to 80 per cent on it's import. has
averaged about 81 per gard, CURRENCY. That
the price of lasting, IN common viii
the price OF most other woollen
fabrics, has experienced marked decline since
1860, cannot be questioned. Thus, in 1851 the !
price It fourteen-thread lasting, as already in
hm1ted, was about 10 per cent in excess of the
average price OF the same article in the same
market IN 1901; and in 1864, when gold ranged
from Is! to 285, hastings Which now sell in the
Boston market for 81 per yard, currency, then
COMMANDED 50, S2.40 and upwards. Now, the
protectionists are very fond Of the trick Of COM
par1ng current and former prices OF woollens,
and then claiming that the reduction which has
been experienced during the last ten years is due