River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-09-21


John |. Hays, Of Massachusetts, secre-
tary of the American Wooden Manu-
facturers Association, is President, and
Hon. A. NJ. Garland, of Illinois, Secre-
tary of the American Wool Growers
A ssociation, is one of the active mem.
beers, was in session at st. Paul on the
18th inst. This commission, which
we believe consists of nine members.
was appointed by President Arthur
under authority of an act of congress.
Mr.. NJ. A. Fulton. of Hudson, made
the following remarks:
THE TARIFF ON WOOL AND WOODEN
GOODS.
If / correctly understand the situa.
tion it is for the interest of the wool
growers of the United States land es-
pecially of such as have small hocks
of sheep in connection with other
farming) to have the duty on foreign
woods entirely removed.
AS to the relative prices / may pos
sibiy be mistaken, but as understand
it the wool growers between the Allie
phanies and the Missouri do not re-
ceive higher prices at Cincinnati.
Chicago, or St. Louis, than are paid at
sydney, Port Philip, Cape Town and
A nckland.
The prices at Boston and New York
for XXX Ohio and pennsylvania wool
do not seem TO be higher than the
prices at London and Montreal for the
same grades of wool.
The duty on tlannels, blankets, cassi-
mers and all fabrics of wool or partly
of wool and partly of cotton and weigh
ing over four ounces to the square
yard, ought in my judgment to be
greatly reduced say down to ten per
cent. 1t ought not to be true that i'll
Canada, England, Belgium or France
AS much of heavy wooden fabrics of
like quality can be purchased for ten
dollars, as in the United States for
fourteen or fifteen dollars.
do not of my own knowledge know
that such difference in prices exists,
but have been 50 informed. Possibly
the recent tariff legislation of Canada
has raised the price of wooden fabrics
in that country.
A good way. perhaps the best, to de-
termine the difference as between, say
St. Paul and Montreal would be for
this commission to ascertain from the
wholesale dealers in each of the two
cities, by comparing the cost prices,
to them of like qualities and weights
of cassimers, blankets, and flannels.
THE TARIFF ON IRON AND STEEL
RAILS.
7 have heard the statement made
that the duty on iron and steel rail-
way bars adds nearly two thousand dol
lars to the cost of each mile of rail-
wav constructed in the United States.
Keeping in view the annual inter-
est and the addition caused by the tar
if to the cost of renewals, this must
be equivalent TO yearly tax of about
three hundred dollars a mile to be
paid by the people who use the rail
ways.
The people of the upper valleys of
the Mississippi and Missouri have a
rich soil, have had bountiful harvests,
and have in recent years been feeding
the partly famine stricken people of
Europe, and they can just now bear
heavy taxation, but the apparent re-
turn of an era of good crops in Europe,
and probable diminished export de-
mand for American grain and meats,
make it a pertinent question as to
whether the tariff on iron and steel
ought not to be reduced. My judg-
ment is that such reduction should be
made.
THE TARIFF AS 1T EFFECTS FOREIGN
COMMERCE AND ADDS TO THE OCEAN
FREIGHT CHARGES ON AMERICAN
EXPORTS.
Without foreign commerce the pro-
ducers of corn, wheat, cotton, butter,
beef, and petroleum would have al
most as good as no market at all.
Those commodities when exported
mainly find their markets in the ports
of the north of Europe where they
meet and compete with the products
of India, Egypt, Australia, Russia, and
Canada.
Vessels which sail from this coun-
try with American products quite
freqneotly come back in ballast; thus
compelling the American producer to
pay double freight, or in other words,
to pay the expense both ways of the
trip across the ocean. Some times
the vessels are laden on their return
from Europe with some such commod-
ity as salt, bleaching powder. ETC.,
which it is alleged is then frequently
sold by the vessel agents at cost with
out charge for ocean freights and
sometimes for less than cost.
The fact SENS to be somewhat
nearly reversed in the case of Amerl-
can trade with Brazil and other South
American States, with China, Japan
and the Philippine Islands, with the
West India Islands and East Indies
and the Mediterranean ports. The
United States buy, yearly, vast guam
titles of the products of those coun-
tries and we have to pay them, 1T IS
said, about hundred millions OF dol
lars in specie every year; the vessels
engaged in the trade carrying back
from this country comparatively lit
tie either of raw product or manutacts
ured gooqs, England, Germany,
France, Belgium, and Holland supply
ing them with goods at less prices
than the United States. The same
vessels that bring the products OF
South America to this country quite
frequently take cargoes of grain or
cotton to Europe and from thence are
loaded for South America.
Our very high tariff excludes the
competition of foreign goods to so
great an extent as to have a tendency
to make American manufacturers
careless and negligent.
1t is question whether they are
keeping up with the improvements OF
the last decades, and whether they
are not making inferior goods, just as
rich physicians and merchants IN any
country might be tempted TO render
poor service and charge high prices IL
they had succeeded In obtaining a law
that any physician or merchant IN any
other county should pay a tariff OF
seventy.fye cents on each dollar earn
ed from business with tie people OF
the county occupied by the rich phy-
sicians and merchants.
GARLAND EVIDENTLY
FAyoRs THE WOOL TARIFF.
During a brief colloquy which en-
sued between Commissioner Garland
and Mr.. Fulton. the latter stated that
he had with Lim London ana New
York quotations of wool sales, and Mr..
Garland was understood to assent to
the correctness of the statement. as to
the comparative prices of wool in