The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-09-12
EFFECTS OF FREE QUININE.
DIRE PREDICTIONS COME TO NAUeHT.
The People Get Quinine Cheaper, Our
Manufacturers Produce More of It, and
Employees Get higher Wages Than
Before the Tax was Taken OF.


Manufacturers Produce More of IL, and
Employees Get higher Wages Than
Before the Tax Taken OF.
To THE EDIToR-Sir: Having read the
article Of Mr.. Hart of Martinsville, and
also your editorial in last Saturdays
issue of The SENTINEL concerning the re-
moval of the tariffon sulphate of quinine, 1
was led to submit the following brief history
of the removal of the duty on that article
in 1879. In July of that year, congress
was led despite the protests of the only
two manuiacturingc gcompanies of America,
Powers & Weightman and Rosengarten x
Son, that they would be compelled TO
"close their works." 10 'shut down" TO
"reduce the wages of their employees, F"
couldn't compete with foreign pauper
labor" in the manufacture Of quinine,
and so on, ad naussap,, the same as We
hear it from republican monopolists to
day. TO remove the 20 per cent. ad valorem
tax then existing and place quinine on
the free list, This tax bad been kept on
for many years, because of the cry OF
Powers S Weightman and Rosengarten &
Son, to protect" their infant industry"
This combine of American manufacturers
OF qUinine, thus having a monopoly
OF the American market for this
article, owing to the exclusion OF
foreign quinine by that 20 per cent tariff,
kept the price so high that thousands OF
sick poor people were unable to obtain
quinine. At that time these two were the
only manufacturers of quinine in Amer
lea, and employed $50 men and women,
manufacturing, in round figures, about
three million ounces annually. paying
their employees on an average $l.414 per
day. from 1871 to 1879.
'For the last five years, 1918, under
the ad valorem duty OF 20 per cent, the
importations of sulphate OF quinine
amounted TO l96, 475 ounces-an average of
80, ,295 ounces yearly, and the average
price was 81 50 per ounce. st. LOUIS Ned
icat Brief for September, 1888.
The duty was removed. Foreign qui-
nine began to come in. And it is interest
ing, at this particular stage of the discus
sion of the tariff question, to review, sta
tistically, the effects of the removal OF that
duty on quinine, and TO contemplate the
benefits derived by the public. And If 1t
has proven beneficial in this one instance,
why may not repeal or reduction prove
beneficial IN many others, or especially as
to the necessaries of life2 II protection"
did not protect" in this instance, why
should itin any other like industry That
it did not, we will clearly show further on.
ain 1879, the year in which the duty
was abolished, the mportations amounted
to 22S,34S ounces; aud for the remainder
of that year the manufacturers OF this
country-Powers & Weighman and Rosen-
Carten & Son-undertook 10 buy all the
foreign quinine that came in. They tried
TO "bulI' the mar6et, 10 corner" on qui-
nine, and, therefore, stopped manufactur-
ing it at home, and succeeded for the re-
mainder of the year on keeping the price
up to S3.l0 per ounce. They made much
ado about the failure of legislation 10 re-
duce the price to the consumer, and to get
before the people that they had surmised
correctly when they prophesied that they
would be compelled to close their manu-
factories. But their kicking against the
pricks speedily weakened. "-iH. LOult
Medical Brief for September, 1883.
In the month OF April, 1880, both Pow
ers & Weightman and Rosengarten & Son
started up their works and resumed the
manufacture of quinine, after having
failed to corner" the market, beside hav-
ing on hand an enormous amount OF
foreign quinine purchased in try
ing to "force" the market They
paid throughout 1880 the same aver
age wages that they paid during
lS74-9, and ran full time, thus contradict
ing fairly and squarely their assertion OF
the previous year. And, now, in addition
TO these two factories other manufacturers
began to engage in the manufacture OF
quinine, including NJ. s. Kessen & Rob
bins, Keasbey & Mattison, and the New
York quinine and chemical company.
The duty was removed in 1879 and five
factories have been steadily engaged in
the manufacture of quinine since 1881,
under "free" quinine, employing LILO
men and women from 1887, as against
$50 from 1879, and paying the average
wages of S1.53 from l7Sl-7 as against
Sl.47A from l874-9, with quinine more
than two-thirds cheaper TO the consumer.
These are statistical facts, gathered from
the custom house records, and the statis-
tics of labor from 1871 TO 1887, inclusive
and all this in the face of vast importa-
tions, duty free.
"For the five years next after the sui
phate Of quinine was put upon the free
list, 1904, the importations we're, respect
lively, 4l6,77S, 4OS,SO7, 794, ,495, l,055, 75+,
l,263, ,934; total, 1888, $50 ounces, and the
average price paid per ounce S2.l0. For
the three years, 1857, the importations
have been, respectively, 800, l26, ], PSI 800,
$780, I57; total, 4,S2l ,SS9 ounces, and the
average price 73I cents per ounce. The
iSdnitGrtdn.
Here we have more than twice as many
concerns engaged in the manufacture OF
quinine from 1884 to l8S7-manufacturng
FIVE times the amount of quinine-with
an import ton of more than fifty
time as much foreign "pauper made, "
free" quinine to compete with in
the market-employing more than
twice as many hands, and paying better
wages flor not word has been said or a
line written charging otherwisel under
free, unprotected quinine, than under q
tariff of 20 per cent. ad valorem, from
1871 to 1899, and quinine more than two
thirds cheaperto the consumer. Who got
the "beneit" OF the protection ?"
"And yet these same would-be monopo-
lists of 1873 who would, for their own inter
est, increase the fever rate and the burdens
of the sick, are now engaged in an effort to
make it appear that the repeal of the duty
of 20 per cent, which was obtained pre-
vious to July, 1879, has had nothing to do