Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-03-16
la1lraster fr,teIligetlrer.
TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 10, 1890
A Question of Tariff.

The quinine manufacturers appeal to
Congress to replace duty on the import
ed drug, and there is that in their state
ment which makes their claim to some
thing of duty seem reasonable. They
allege that they are placed at a disadvan-
tage with the foreign manufacturer by
reason of the fact that duty is here i'm
posed on somearticles used in the manu-
facture which are admitted duty free in
England and France where the business
of their competitors is carried on. 1t
would seem to he fair that a duty
he put upon sulphate of quinine
imported in this country sufficient to
equalize the cost of materials to the home
manufacturer, so far as that cost is af-
fected by the duty on the materials. Be-
yond this measure of justice the quinine
manufacturers have no claim to protec-
tion. The article they make should be
furnished as cheaply as possible, being
one of prime necessity and universal
consumption. A prohibitory duty should
not be imposed upon it. The foreign
manufacturers ought to be enabled to
freely compete with the domestic makers,
and no tax should be levied on the peo-
pie to pay for the support of an industry
which is of no value at all to the cOun-
try; there being but four manufacturers
of quinine in the United States, giving
employment to comparatively few peo-
pie.
The only theory upon which the impo-
sitiOn of duty for any other than purely
revenue purposes can be sustained is that
the interest of the nation requires that
its natural'resOurces should be developed,
to the end that employment may he given
to its people and that it may he made in
dependent of other nations. 1t was
clearly right to encourage. for instance.
the iron manufacture here, and to tax
the people for the purpose of securing
the development of mines and the estab-
lishment of the manufactures whose
working now makes the nation so rich
and prosperous. The time has come
when the prOhibitory tariff imposed to
protect iron has become a tariff fol
revenue, and the iron industry is
strong enough to take care OF
itself without taxing the people fol
its support. The iron manufacturer
now only expects Congress to look to its
revenue in imposing Il duty on foreign
iron, and finds sufficient protection in a
duty which leaves the foreign manufac'
turer in to compete with him. Just now
a great deal of foreign iron is imported
because the demand is greater than the
home supply, and prices have advanced
so as to make the manufacture very pro-
fitable. The furnace men here, most
people think, are killing the goose
that lays the golden eggs in put
ting their prices so high rs to
let the foreign maker in to supply
their field and probably they think SC
themselves, and now that the supply
seems to have Overtaken the demand
prices will probably fall so as to shut out
the foreign metal. The manufacturers
must adjust this matter themselves, as
Congress will not come to their help, o1
course, to put a heavier duty on a pro
duct which a year ago was produced
and sold at less than half its present
cost. Anybody who talks of protection
to iron, in the face of the years record
will he laughed at so that thai
Jig is ended and that dance is done, ant
Pennsylvania politics will no longer b'
troubled with the tariff question. Th'
iron men beng silent, the little quinin'
fellows cannot be suffered to make an,
impudent demand for protection. The.
have made so much money in TIN
past that they ought to he will
ing to prepare our quinine at COS
for the remainder of time; but as they
probably have not grown philanthropi'
in proportion to their wealth, this ma.
not he agreeable to them and we art
willing, for our own sakes, to give then
an equal chance with their foreign com
petitors by lettirg them have their ma
terial duty free, but no more and to asl
anything more is sheer impudence.
Kerns's Confirmation.
10