The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-10-05
FREE TRADE FALLACIES AND
DECEPTIONS.

A favorite plea for tariff reform" is
to have placed on the free list all raw
materials used in manufactures. Work
Ingmen are told that the result of thus
cheapening raw materials will be to en-
able manufacturers to increase wages.
While one set of orators are preaching
this to wooden mill operatives, another
set are telling the sheep raisers that
putting wool on the free list will so
widen the markets for wooden goods
that manufacturers will be enabled to
pay higher prices for wool, and" still
make money.
Aside from their inconsistency, a
glance at the experience of England
shows the fallacy of such claims. With
free raw materials for all lines of their
manufactures, English employers pay n
per cent. less wages than are paid in the
United States. This on the authority of
the chief of the labor bureau, himselfa
free trader. To the intelligent working
men 1t thus becomes evident that the
cheapening process of English free
trade affects the wages put into manu-
features rather than the price of crude
materials, and such is really the case.
The accommodating theorist seeks to
aliay all anxiety on part of the manufac-
turer by pointing him to that fountain of
wealth, the foreign trade. Just where
this trade is to be found Is a detail with
which the average free trade advocate
does not trouble himself. He reflects
that England does that way" hence
that is the proper thing to do. But the
more practical man is likely to hunt for
facts, and when he finds them he sees
that two of the leading textile industries
of the United States, cotton and silk
have all along enjoyed the advantage of
free raw materials. He sees that the
products of neither Of these have to any
great extent gone into foreign markets.
With cotton at their doors, and raw silk
imported without duty, our manufac-
turers. last year sold abroad but $14 &c.,
342 of cotton goods, and only So, 5l3 of
silk goods. The reasons for this are
plain. l. Foreign markets are already
ufactured by labor which is paid less
wages than are paid in the United
States. 2. The manufacturers of the
United States have not been able to
supply the wants of our own people, as
we last year imported of cotton goods
$29, 150, 059, and of silk goods S3l ,246, 276.
Here is q market of over $4,000, 900
within reach of our own manufacturers,
but from which they have been crowded
by foreign competition, and that amount
of money sent abroad to pay laborers
and capitalists who contribute nothing
to the support of our government, and
whose interest In our welfare ceases
with the receipt of our money.
of free raw materials to enable manu-
facturers to export their products is all
the more apparent when we consider
that under existing tariff laws ninety
per cent. of the duty collected on any
material of manufacture will be refund
ed when the finished product is export
ed. This leaves but ten per cent. differ
ence between the present law and abso-
lutte free trade in raw materials, so far
as the export trade in manufactures Is
concerned. Why, then, is our export
trade so limited? Because manufactured
products find better market at home,
Wler6, uQUeT tue luuutuCc VI WlSe
fiscal policy, higher wages are paid for
labor than anywhere else in the world,
and where larger percentage of the
people are purchasers of manufactured
products.
England has for centuries been on the
hunt for foreign markets, and has al
ready occupied all those over which her
diplomacy of force could prevail. Her
subsidized steamers are blowing every
sea in quest of trade, her emissaries are
intriguing at every port for commercial
advantage. The concessions in the
Mills bill, advocated by the president
and his party, are quite as much as the
American people could be expected to
grant without suspecting the real object
of the conspirators, and for this reason
no more is now demanded. But with
this gained, the desire for our markets
will still be unsatisfed, the envy of our
prosperity unallayed, the demand for
further tribute to British greed will be
as loud as aver. No concession short of
absolute surrender will satisfy the as
sailsnts of our protective policy. Our
only safety lies in their overwhelming
defeat.-Home Market