Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-30
Facts About the South American
Trade

We publish in another column this
morning two articles-one on 'Chilian
Imports Of Cotton Goods and one on
'sChilian Imports Of Wooden Goods" Dy
II. y. Fisher. Gillian Consul at Boston.
These articles were furnished US by X. b.
Reppard, Gillian Consul at this port.
We publish these articles because they
sustain, in the strongest manner, the posi-
ton which the MoRNING NEWS occupies
with respect 10 the tariff, and show the
necessity Of tariff reduction il this cOun-
try Is ever to find a foreign market for its
manufactured goods.
Attic present time the mills in this State
find that they have more Of their goods on
hand than they can dispose Of at remune-
rative prices. Last week the Presidents
0f the Augusta mills had conference Tor
the purpose 81 reaching some agreement
with respect to curtailing production
The conference failed to accomplish the
end aimed at
The depression in cotton MANUFACTURING
is not confined 10 Georgia. II IS general
In New England the outlook for the man
ufacturers is not SO promising as ~ Is I'D
this state. From the articles Of Mr..
Fisher il seems that very nearly one-hali
the spindlas in the country are idle, and
that at least $IOO.00oOO Of capital IL
locked up in cotton factories which are
idle. This is certainly not an encour-
aging condition Of affairs.
There are other figures in Mr.. Fishers
articles that are calculated to arrest the
attention Of thinking people. The an
nuaI production Of our cotton mills
amounts 70 S2lO, $50, 1888, and Of this amount
we export only S9,9sl, AIS. OF all our
manufactured products we export only
two and fOur-tenths per cent.
These figures show that about all Of our
manufactures are consumed at home.
| Why is this. Is it not because we cannot
| compete with other manufacturing cOun-
| tries in foreign markets. And why can
not we competeg Is it not because Of our
protective tariff system, which keeps up
the prices Of cotton machinery and many
| kinds II raw materialsy Mr.. Fisher shows
/ that the exports Of England, France
and Germany 10 South America amount
| TO hundreds Of millions Of dollars annu-
ally. Chilli alone imports more cotton
/ goods than our entire export Of that class
Of goods amounts 10.
This country ought TO control the trade
| of Soath America. There is kindly
/ feeling in Central and South America
towards this country, and they would
| doubtless trade with US if they could do
50 simultaneously.
Mr. Fishers figures show that last year
! Chill imported Si,0O0,OOO worth OF
wooden manufactures, and that
/ only 81, 900 worth came from this country.
These figures do not prove that we lack
/ enterprise, but that we cannot, with such
a tariff as we have, manufacture as
cheaply as England can. With our mil
lions Of acres OF cheap land we ought TO
be able to produce wool much cheaper
/ than the European manufacturers can
obtain it. and, being the producers
Of cotton, we ought to be able
| 10 surpass all other countries III
| the cheapness OF our cotton goods.
/ Notwithstanding the fact that One-half OF
our spindles are idle, and that England Is
absorbing the trade Of the rich countries
10 the south Of us, there are journals
| North and South which are crying out for
a high protective tariff. As we said
few days ago, a high protective tariff did
very well as long as the home market
could absorb all our manufactured pre-
ducts. but what are we to do now that
our production is far greater than our
consumption