St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-17
FREE RAW MATERIALS.

There is a good deal being said about
raw materials used in manufactures,
and the propriety of exempting such as
are imported from tariff duties. In
their late state papers the president and
secretary of the treasury suggest an en-
largement of the free list of raw mate
rialS, but give no intimati0n as to what
they regard as such, although the pres
ident adds the reservation that they
should be such as do not compete with
the products of American industry.
Judge KELLEY is an authority upon the
tariff question of the highest standing
with these official gentlemen. He has
explained in his speeches on this point
that, whit the exception of flax, hemp,
and one or two unimportant other art-
eleS, all the raw materials that are not
covered by the reservation of the pres
ident are already on the free list,
Then the proposition of the MESSAGE
shriVels into deceptive meagerRess. Its
oraeular vagueness is a necessity of the
economic system upheld by that pollti-
cal school. Practically there is no real
difference between the HARRISON and
WINDOW deliveries and the protection
organs who insist that there is no such
l. ng as raw material. They argue that
the products of the mines, forest and
field are brought out with labor, and
therefore should have the same tariff
fostering as the completed development
of them INTO articles of use. A mate
rally different idea is had in those coun-
tries that are cited as sustaining the
protective policy. France and Ger
many put on the free list wool, hemp,
flax, jute, MANILA, iron and cop
per ore, dyestuffS, chemicals. gums,
stones, marble, clay and coal.
The former has duty of $40 a ton and
the latter $3.50 on pig iron. Belgium
and the Netherlands have still larger
free lists. Great Britain puts manu-
features as well as raw materials on the
free list. The burdens of American
manufacturers will be suggested by
few examples in the way of contrast.
The duty on wool is from % to Is per
cent: on hemp, jute and flax, from SO
to S25 ton; on iron ore, 70 cents ton;
OH copper ore, $50 ton; on dyeStuffS
and chemicals, from 20 to so per cent;
on stone, so per cent; on coal, IS cents
a ton; on pig iron. S6.72 Il ton; on bar
iron and steel. from $3.50 to
$3.50 a ton, and on structural
iron and steel, S2S ton. The latter
is almost double the present price
and of course prohibitive. With such
disadvantages it is surprising that
American manufacturers have been
able to make even small Roadway in
competition with the goods of other
countries. The superior alertness and
greater inventive genius OF the Ameri-
can artisan should have most of the
credit. There is no indication that the
revision of the tariff in prospect by those
who are tied to the protective system
will afford any substantial relief to the
people or equalize the industrial situa-
ton in competing for the trade of other
countries. The favoTite recourse is to
substitute the freight carriers. This in
Wolves taxation of the people for futile
purpose, and is a sort of lifting by the
boot straps. The distinction between
the lines of policy should be made very
palpable by the minority in congress.