River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-07-19
Prices Under a Protective Tariff.

FriceS Onder protective arm.
The attorneys for free trade, who
seek to create prejudice against the
policy of protection by charging that
it enhances the cost to consumers, can
best be met 10y comparison of prices
of few articles in common use.
In 1850 salt, then on the free list,
sold to consumers at an average price
of $500 per barrel. The tariff on salt
in barrels is now II cents per hundred
pounds, Tor say 33ls cents per barreD,
and the average price is not more than
half that of 1860. As salt has been
made the subject of special attack, it
may be well to ascertain just how
much of the present selling price goes
TO the manufacturer, against whom it
is sought to create prejudice. In 1887,
at the works in Michigan. salt sold for
90 cents per barrel--and of this sum
80 cents was paid to the cooper for
making the barrel. All between this
price and that paid by consumers went
for transportation and profits of mid
dlemen.
The manufacture of plate glass was
established in 1865, when the foreign
made article sold for $3.50 per square
foot. The tariff on similar quality
of glass is now so cents per foot, and
the price has steadily lowered until it
is now IS cents per square foot.
Pig Iron, in 1850, sold for $2275 per
ton. With a tariff of 1912 per ton it
now sells for $500.
Steel rails were first made here in
1867, when the price was 1856 per ton.
The tariff has been as high as $2S per
ton, and is now SIT. Steel rails are
now quoted at $3l, and have some-
times been lower.
A favorite plea of free traders is
that with woods and woolens on the
free LIST 1.-The poor mans blanket"
would be sold for one-half its present
price--when the fact is prices for
blankets of equal quality are about
the same in the United States and
England. Here is the proof: Last
year the Secretary of War invited bids
for supplying army blankets of four
pounds weight, and allowed foreigners
to compete ON the same terms as
American manufacturers, that is,
without paying the tariff. The lowest
British bid was only 80 cents per
blanket less than that of an American.
The tariff, If it had been charged,
would be about $3.50. Our free trade
Cabinet officer gave the contract to
the foreigner who pays no taxes and
buys nothing in this country, instead
of favoring the American, who sup
plies work to hundreds of people and
otherwise adds to the wealth of our
country. The money from our ma
tional treasury went to a foreign
country, and American soldiers are to
sleep under British blankets, because
they can be made in England for 80
cents less than in this country.
And here is some testimony from
49, -thar ~"se. aS~ttha-- A--.~,Id the
eminent English scholar, statesman
and free trade advocate, recently de-
ceased, last year made tour of this
country, and afterwards gave his con-
illusions in the Nineteenth Century
Magazine, april, 1881 In this paper
the writer admits that conditions in
the United States are favorable to
that immense class of people whose
incomes are less than $1,000 year,
while in England the advantage lis
greatly in favor of those with incomes
above that sum-" OF wages he says,
''the humber kind of work is better
paid in America than with us, the
higher kind worse. Luxuries are, as
| have said, very dear--above all,
European luxuries; but working
mans clothing is nearly as cheap as
in England, and plain food is on the
whole cheaper"