Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-04-11
EYE-OPENING FACTS.
New York Tribune.

New York Tribune.
1 y few months ago about half the peo
pie in this country were trying to be
lieve, and thousands of journalists anG
orators trying to make them believe
that consumers in the United States had
to pay on domestic products of all sorts
tax equal to the duty on similar i'm,
ported products. Only the ignorant had
an excuse for believing the story then,
and nobody had any excuse for telling
it; but partisan feeling sometimes ae-
counts for miracles of human creduIity.
Possibly some current events may now
impress the minds of'men little more
the passion of partisanship having
abated.
There are duties on lumber. But
during the seven months ending with
January there went from this country
100000 feet of lumber to Great Brit
ain, worth over $1,000,000, and 81, 1,000,-
900 feet to British possessions in Aus
tralaSia Sir Charles Dixie, reporting
on a railroad which British capital is
building in Northern India, primarily to
facilitate the movement of troops for
the Afghanistan frontier, records the
fact that the timber used in tunnels,
bridges and other railroad work in that
far-off land comes from Washington
Territory. 1t must perfOrce be conclu-
ded that American consumers do not
pay any intolerable tax on their lumber.
Leather is another product of large
importance on which there are duties.
But in the same seven months there
went from this country to Great Britain
14,966,642 pounds of sole leather alone,
costing $2,380,570, and 81, ,739,4 ,402 worth
of other leather, besides exports to every
other part of the globe, including es-
pecially Germany and other countries in
Europe 1t will cost the Free Traders
something to admit that in this "tax-
ridden" country leather is actually
cheaper than in free trade England, and
so much cheaper that the American
product goes in preference to the Eng
iish into Germany and France, but pos
sibly at time partisanship does not
stupefy the mind the fact may have
some weight.
1t is supposed by ignorant Free Ira
ders that duties on cotton cloths burden
this people. But in the same seven
months nearly 100000 yards of such
cloth went to Great Britain, the chief
producer. How came this to pass, IN
less prices here are actually lower than
in Great Britain? Or how comes it to
pass that into markets where the Amer
lean cloths were sent at the rate of g.
100000 Yards into Mexico in seven
100000 into Central America,
{. 100000 into into the West Indies, 21,-
100000 into South America, 100000
yards into China, and 100000 into
other countries of Asia? If Americans
do not undersell British traders, are
they exporting these goods for fun?
The duties on iron and steel and man.
ufactures thereof are supposed to bur-
den Americans dreadfully, and closest
philosophers of the free trade sort have |
had much to say of cotton and other
manufacturers, because they had to pay |
prices for machinery to pro-
tected makers. But somehow this coun-
-ry exported $6,300,O00 worth of machin-
cry in seven months, ending with Janu-
lry, and more than $l,100,000 worth to
Great Britain, as much more to the |
West Indies, over $550,000 worth to
British possessions in Australasia, and |
other shipments are recorded to Germa-
~, France, Canada and Africa. In
'act engines and mills for a British
nine in South Africa were shipped |
within that period. Then there were
llso the materials for that great bridge
n Australia which American builders
Ire constructing, having secured the
contract in competition with British
irmS.
In the glass business, Americans are
to be taxed by most onerous
luties, and yet recent number of The
4mericon Manufacturer records heavy
Exports from Pittsburgh to Germany.
Another fact worth noting is that Brit
sh makers of tools are beginning to ad-
Tertise widely that they will furnish
heir customers tools american STYLE"
n the hope of retaining a vanishing
.ustom. The Free Trader who still
wants to learn anything, one would sup
,ose, might get an idea or two from in
idents like these.