Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-08-23

The object of this shallow circular is
to make the farmer believe the Free
Trade theory enunciat0d by Grover
Cleveland that the price of the domestic
product is increased by exactly the
amount of the duty.
Here is the practical outcome of the
concentrated wisdom of the National
Committee. A common flannel shirt
costs in England 3s 3D., or 81 cents.
The cost here would, therefore, be
nearly double, or $l.68. The actual
price is 81.
A common suit of clothes costs in
England 30s., or $3.50. The cost here,
therefore. would be $3.50. The actual
cost is $3.50, same as in England. An
Atwood $40 suit such as that exhibited
by Major Mckinley costs just e., or
$40 in London.
In England common boots costs 6s.
| ($1.50) and fair ones los (S2.50).
instead of costing one-third more here
the price is 81. 25 for well-made brogans
and $3.50 for fair boots.
A IS. Cd. ga cents) hat in England
can be got here tor 81, and it does not
| cost nearly 50, as asserted.
A tin bowl costing 10d., or 20 cents in
England can be got here for about the
same price, or at most % cents. On
the other hand, kitchen utensils as
whole are cheaper in this country than
in England, our ingenuity in making
such articles being greater than it is in
England.
A cheap cotton towel in this tax-rid-
den land, quality for quality, costs less
| here than IN England. The Press can
prove this to the satisfaction of all.
The lie about thread is a stale and
Improbable one. Here is what the
Grafton Linen Mills, who have places
on both sides of the Atlantic, says on
the sublect 1--WE sell large proper
ton of the product of our mills at Graf.
absolutely as prices obtained in Britain
for similar qualities made at our mills
in tombstone, Scotland" Wages here
are 100 per cent. higher.
All knit goods are cheaper here than
in England, especially jerseys such as
women wear. So are the common
grades of stockings and socks.
American farming implements of all
kinds are exported and sold in compe-
tition with English. They are better.
more ingeniously made. more durable
and cheaper than the farming imple-
ments of any country in the world.
American cutlery is imported by and
sold in England. Does not this prove
that the price is not higher than Eng
lish cutlerye Pottery and window glass
cost one third what they did when we
depended on England to manufacture
these articles for us. The difference in
the price to-day is not the duty.
Sugar is Democratic industry, aud
rice taxed 102 per cent. is carefully
ignored. The Republicans repealed
half the internal tax on tobacco in 1888,
and would have repealed the balance
last session only Speaker Carlisle re-
fused to recognize Judge Kelley for this
purpose. What folly. therefore, to
talk about 1879 per cent. on chewing
tobacco. In Free-Trade England the
workman pays 1900 per cent. on his
tobacco.
Blankets vary in cost here from 81
to S. pair. The retail price in Eng
land is practically the same, and the
blankets compare favorably; that is,
pair of IS blankets here would cost
about FL, its equivalent, in England.
The government, in a recent purchase
of blankets made abroad, discovered
that the difference in the price was only
80 cents pair.
A calico dress can be bought in this
country as low as cents per yard,
sum equivalent to the duty. If the
price is increased by the amount of the
duty, calico dresses cost nothing in
England. And yet the people go rag
ged. The fact is they cost more in
England than here. And this is true
of all staple cotton goods. A stuff dress
can be bought here as low as 10 cents,
and the duty is II cents. Thus on the
theory that the duty is tax" in Eng
land these dresses are given away and
Z cents yard bonus for taking them.
An example even more astonishing
is found in the fact that while chloro-
form is subject to duty of so cents a
pound, the domestic article is selling in
this country for IS cents a pound, or
actually for Is cents pound less than
the duty!
Turning to hardware, we find the
present price of steel rails in this country
is 1888 ton. The duty is S17 and the
freight $3.50, together making $3.50,
the tax on imported rails. This de-
Quoted from $33 leaves $3.50, which
should be the British price of steel
rails, if the Presidents theory is correct
But the British price is, in fact, $50,
instead of $3.50.
Further, the steel rail industry in this
country was built up under a duty OF
$2S ton. In 1885 steel rails were sold
here for $27 just one dollar less than
the original duty.
Take another illustration. The price
of cut nails in Philadelphia is 81 for
keg of 100 pounds The duty on cut
nails is Slips. If the above proposition
in Europe for rs cents keg. In fact,
they cannot be bought anywhere on
earth for less than 81 so keg
Again, cut nails have been sold in
this country as low as Sl85 keg of |
100 pounds. while the duty was $3.50 |
key Thus, according to the Dem
ocratic circular, cut nails must then
have been purchaseable in Europe for |
IS cents a keg
Three-ply carpets are sold in England |
at Is. Cd, or 62! cents per yard. Add |
so per cent. taxes to this and the
price would be 93} cents per yard.
Yet you can buy better and moro artis-
tic carpets at Dobson's or Soanes for
622 cents per yard than yon can for the |
same money in England.
And so it is with every article of
general consumption which the masses |
of the PEG pie buy. As for tho cost of
the Bible, those who get up such litera-
ture as the above are not likely to pay
that tax. Bibles are plentiful and cheap.
The Press will not answer these back
number questions again this campaign,
SO those interested viii please paste this
in their scrap book and stop sending
the circular to the Press. We are too
busy graphing with live issues to dip
in to ancient history and answer state
ments which on their face presuppose
the farmers of the country to be fools
They are not. but know more about
this question than the Free-Traders who
try to instruct them.
D.ataat;a,, d \ snn., Ul,.nos.