The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-11-29
HOW they NEED PROTECTION

great public has had to sweat and groan
TO keep foreign competition from running
our manufactures has been told to the
country for years, and many good, sympa-
thetic people think that the effort to reduce
the tariffs one of unmingled injustice and
will drag the United States into the yeIy
depths of despair. On the other hand re-
putable journals and authorities who know
exlcily whereof they speak, have beenstry
ing TO impress upon the masses that they
were being robbed, and that through the
iniqutous policy of protection millions OF
dollars were being taken from them and
thrown in to swell the profits Of the mon
opolists and manufacturers. In such
cases where there is such vast difference
OF opinion n few wholesome facts are often
worth a lengthy argument in establishing
In very nicely and ably written editorial
in the st. Louis Republican of recent date,
three or four illustrations are used, and the
facts and figures submitted, which throw q
flood of light on the matter and prove con-
clusiyely, il they prove anything, that the
cry from the manufactures is II sham, and
that the idea of any further consd-
Grafton at the hands of the govern
ment is fraud upon the part of
the grasping manufacturer. In view Of tho
systematic and shameless robbery so long
perpetrated through the forms of law,
against the real bone and sinew of the
country, it is source Of satisfaction to be
able occasionally to show these sharks up
in their true light. In the article in the
Republican referred to the following per-
tinent information is furnished: 1.-THE
capital invested in the manufacture of agri-
cultural implements in the country is &c.,
100, 600; the value of the materials used in
one year is $3l ,53l ,000 the amount paid in
wages is ST., 359 900; and the value of the
manufactured product sold is $GS,6i0,000.
Adding the wages and the cost of materials
together we get $40, 100000, and taking this
from the gross product we get $4,000, 600,
which is the net profit of the years BUSH
ness, being IS per cent. on the capital in
vested G2000,000. In the boot and shoe
business we find the capital invested is SAP, :
09i ,000 cost of materials used in year,
$l02, $4,000; wages paid, $i3000,000; gross
product, $lG6,00O,0 600. Adding the wages
paid and the value of materials used to-
gether and taking the sum from the gross
product, we get, as the net profit on the
years business, $2l 900 600, which is SO per
cent. on the capital invested. In lumber
ing, the capital invested is $lSl, 5000;
value of materials used, $li6 ,l550OO; wages
paid, $31 ,Si5 600; value of annual product,
S233, 367 GOETHE net profits being $4,000
OC0, which is 80 per cent, on the capital. In
paper manufacture the capital employed is
$I6,H al ,000;, the value of materials used
$3303l ,O0O wages paid 1854 ,000 value of
paper manufactured, 55,0O0,0O0--the net
profit being $l4,C00,0OO, which is 80 per
cent. on the capital" The illustrations
used are but few ii is true, but they arc
representative, and as we run through the
list of over 1000 taxed articles on our tariff
books, the same fact Is met with at the
very thryshhold-an extra price on every
article sold and protected by the tariff
of at least 40 per cent. In dry
goods and groceries n merchant
thinks himself exceedingly fortunate il he
succeeds in realizing from 10 TO 95 per cent
on his sales in the Legitimate channels Of
business, but here are u set of men who
insist upon a profit of from 20 to GO per
cent, outside of the usagcs and returns OF
n bona lidc trade, and given to them cxclus
lively through the wonderful generosity Of
the government. There is no earthly JUS
tice in this manner of managing our rev
cnues and commerce, and il is against such
n practice, such an unjust discrimination
that the HERALD has been all along con
tending. II is absurd to say that tho gen
eral government has the right to give abso
lutely and without reCompenso to individual
manufacturers an extra profit, such as I'll,
tariff renders certain, of 30 per cent, wheT
that profit comes directly out of the pocket
of other and equally as good aud reputable
citizens, The few illustrations which W
thus publish from the Republican speal
volumes and teach lesson that the dem
ocracy, the real friends of the people, can
not afford TO ignore, 1t is mos. devoutl,
to be wished that the Forty. eighth congress
will take charge of these overgrown boobie
and let them understand once ard for al
that the country is awake to the absurdit,
of their demands and ut last alive to its owi
interests.