Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-02
No Protective Tariff Needed for
Southeru Manufactures.

/ 1 H..
it will be remembered, took the ground
that from every point of view a reduc-
ton in our customs duties is desirable,
and that such reduction should provide
for tariff rate just sufficient to make
up for the difference existing between
the compensation for labor paid IN this
and foreign countries, with which we
ought to compete. Greater protection
than this. he commended, was to the in
terest of neither consumer nor manufac-
turer. as the former was thereby undulY
taxed for the benefit of the few, while
the latter was shut off from competition
with the world, and as this would mean
a restricted market, so his sales and con-
sequent profits would be, in the long
run, also restricted.
Discussing the principle last mention
ed by Mr.. Hewitt. regarding the restric-
ton of the market for American manu-
facturers to the home demand, the Balti-
more Sun applies it, ably and strikingly,
to the Southern manufacturer 1t says:
cit will not do to assume that, because
/ the Southern people have begun to be-
come manufacturers, they will abandon
their former clear thinking on economic
subjects for the exploded fallscies OF our
| PENNSYLVANIA neighbors. There is also
a special reason why they should not.
| They are so much more favOrably situated
/ for manufacturing cheaply than others
in this country that a low tariff would
not only not iniure them, but would pro-
/ tect their infant industries from their
veteran competitors north OF Mason ana
| DixOn's line It is obvious that the
| Georgia cotton manufactures. with cheap
cotton and cheap labor at his door, can
| defy competition. and with a verv low
| tariff possess himself of the whole United
States market To him high tariff is
positive hurt, since it enables his New
| England competitor to keep his head
| above water The high prices for labor
in New England, the freight charges on
the cotton bale from the cotton field to
the New England mill. the unfavorable
and severe Northern climate-all these
/ things put the New England manufac-
turer at a disadvantage in comparison
with his Georgia rival. The latter with
out a tariff could go abroad and sell his
yarns and cotton goods in the race OF
| English competitors; this the New Eng
land manufacturer could not do. Hence
| their relations to the tariff are not the
same, either in the home or in the for
eign market. Similarly with regard to
iron and steel industries beginning to
flourish in Virginia. Alabama and other
Southern States. Having side by side
the best of iron ore and the best OF coal,
| it has more than once been asserted by
the best authorities that these States are
able to turn out iron at price which
Pennsylvania cannot touch"
We republish this extract, 0erbatinl,
from the columns of our Baltimore con-
temporary, for two reasons: First, Be
cause it states the truth, clearly and con-
cisely; and second, because it reiterates
identically the views which have been,
time and again, expressed in these col
umns. The News was the first paper in
Georgia, if not in the South, to take the
ground that the abolition of protection,
so far from injuring Southern manufac-
lures, would immeasurably benefit
them, and finally make of the South the
great cotton manufacturing centre, not
only of this country, but of the world.
This view of the case has been attempted
to be brought into ridicule by friends
of protection, though, as may have been
| expected, such efforts have met with
lamentable failure.
It is as clear as the MONDAY sun to
any man who will bestow upon the sub
ject the slightest thought. that protec-
tive tariff simply fosters competition to
the South in the very branches of indus
try which really legitimately belong to
her, and the benefits of which she should
naturally enjoy. 1t is simply absurd to
say that in fair fight for cotton manu-
featuring supremacy, for instance, the
South, with unsurpassed facilities for
such manufacturing, and with the raw
material right at her doors, cannot prof.
tably undersell all competitors. whether
in Old or New England, who have TO
transport their raw material thousands
of miles. If this proposition were not
self.evident, nothing more is needed to
prove its truth than a comparison OF
the net earnings of Southern mills with
those of the North, by which it is shown
that the former realize from 25 to 80 per
cent. on their investments, while the lat.
ter make but about z. Thus it is that
protection enables the manufacturers
of New England to keep their
heads above water" and continue
to compete with the South, and
gather in wealth from Southern pro-
duction which should all belong
to her. So with Old England. Protection
for American labor, so called, means
really protection for the Old England
manufacturer, inasmuch as the high cost
of production. due to the protected
prices of machinery, ETC., actually en-.
abies Great Britain to ship her cotton
across the ocean and undersell American
manufacturers in the markets of the
world. Thus, while a protective tariff
on cotton manufactures may shut
out British manufactures from the
American market, it also shuts out the
American manufacturer from foreign
markets, and gives to Great Britain the
whole world, outside the United States,
in which to reap harvests OF wealth.
With protection abolished; we would
soon see different condition of affairs.
New England, no longer being able to
make her 2 per cent. on cotton manufac.
lures, would cease to manufacture, and
the vast capital now invested in that
branch of industry there would all seek
the South, where it would realize from
Is to 90 per cent. profit; and Old Eng
land, instead of, as now, controlling the
markets of the world outside of America,
would find herself unable to make head
way anywhere against our section. Thus,
in a few years, the South would become
the great cotton manufacturing centre of
the globe, and imagination fails to grasp
the degree of wealth and power, both
commercial and political, to which she
would attain. The Baltimore Sun lie