The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1881-04-29

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What do these figures mean? They
mean that the prices which the West
ern farmers and the American peo-
PIE generally, now pay for their
woolen cloths and stuffs are so Excess
sive that the British woolen manu-
facturers can afford to pay from Of to
76 per cent import duties for the adj
mission of their goods into the States
and still get profit, that is to say,
that taking tho average duty at 66
per cent? the Western farmer could,
il he were allowed to buy where he
could buy cheapest, get the same
quantity and quality of woollen and
worsted stuffs for l. dollars for which
he now has to pay 20. Eight dollars
out of twenty thrown away
They mean that the prices which
the western farmers aow pay for their
cotton and linen goods are so exces-
sive that the British makers of the
same goods can afford TO pay from
80 to 63 per cent import duties for
the admission of their manufactures
into the states and still get a profit.
That is to say, that taking the av-
erage duty at 90 per cent) the farm
er's wife could, II she were allowed to
buy where she could buy cheapest,
get the same article for dollars for
which she now has to pay .. Three
dollars out of nine thrown away !
They mean that the American rail-
ways. are constructed of iron which
cost so dear that the British makers
can afford 10 pay 80 to 10 per cent
import duties for the admission OF
their goods into the States, and still
get a profit; SO that the railway COM
panies are compelled to charge the
Western farmer proportionately ex-
cessive rate for the conveyance OF the
produce TO a market. The burden
of the difference, OF course, falls on
the patient back of the Western farm
er!
Those figures mean, in short, that
the same enormous artificial initiation
of natural prices runs through every
article (except food) with which the
farmer has to provide his family.
The American has extraordinary
advantages over the British farmer.
He has, first, soil so fertile as 20
produce freely with cheap tillage and
no manure second, a climate highly
favorable to agricultural operations !;
third, abundance OF land so cheap
that the fee-simple costs less than is
annually paid for. rent in England.
But on the other hand the british
farmer enjoys for the present one de-
cided advantage: ne sells his produce
in the dearest and buys his clothing,
implements, ETC., etc in the cheapest
market in the world.
Let Us, however. continue our in
quiry as to the total annual amount
taken out of the pockets OF the West
ern farmers by exorbitant protective
duties. These duties have very
wide range. They are as low as 10
per cent on diamonds, which the
Western farmer does not use, and as
high as 90 per cent on cleaned rice
which he does use. They are levied
on no less than 600 different arti-
cles, some of them yielding less reve-
nue. than it costs to collect il, and the
whole producing complexity which
gives comfortable employment to
swarms of clerks, etc., at every sea-
port. The heaviest percentage rates
are those imposed on articles of gen.
eral and necessary consumption by
the people, which accordingly con-
tribute very nearlyJ three-fourths of
the total amount collected. But let
Us strike an average. BY a careful
of the total value of the
chief dutiable foreign articles Import
ed in the year 1878, with the total
amount of duties levied in that year
on the same articles, it has been
dearly ascertained tliat the average
rate of duties paid OF their value was
428 per cent. Were the average con-
fned to the articles named in the
above table, 1t would no doubt much
exceed 42$ per cent, bat, to be with
in the mark we will adopt the gen.
eral average. This average thea
(423 per cent), is the measure of the
difference between the prices which
the Western farmers now pay for
what they consume, and those which
they would pay were foreign articles
admitted duty free. The prices
which the manufacturers in the East
ern States make the American peo-
pie pay for their goods are not, and
cannot be, less, but, are, and must be,
something more than 423 per cent in
addition to British prices, or else how
could the Britisher pay an average
Of 423 per cent duties, and still make
a profit on what he sends to Arneri-
ca ? Ifthe prices paid by the West
ern farmers to the manufacturers OF
the. Eastern States only exceeds Brit
ish prices by, say 25 per cent, no
British goods, having to pay 424 per
cent import duties, could possibly be
sent to the United States. The very
fact of large imports being poured in
year after year (asshoWnin the above
table, for 1879, in spite of the Az
per cent duty for admission, makes
1T clear that the prices in America
must be at least 90 per cent in excess
of those current in England, or else
those sendin2s would leave a loss,
and would be discontinued. Those
importations be It noted, are not fit
ful or intermittent, but are, though
fuctuating in amount, constant in