The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-17
The OnInine Folly

explained in these columns. We quote !:
The duty on quinine was repealed in 1879,
| and the price of the drug to-day is less than it
was IN 1879. Therefore" say our free-trade
neighbors, ''the repeal of the tariff duty has re-
! dueed the price" So let it stand, for the pur-
/ pose OF argument. But in 1884, five years after
| the duty was repealed the price of aunine was
/ S1.S0 per ounce, while in 1860, when the duty
/ was IN force, the price was only S1.20 per
/ ounce, therefore, the repeal of the duty in
creased the price," This latter conclusion is
! just as logical as the former.
The fact that quinine is cheaper now
| than it was before the duty was repealed,
| Is, it will be seen, admitted. So there is
no room for controversy there. The l. o.
insists. however, that it does not neces-
sarily follow that quinine is cheaper be-
cause the duty was repealed. This is
readily conceded. Other causes may have
contributed, and doubtless did, to the
cheapening of quinine. The l. o. states
one OF them when it says that there now
Is very plentiful supply of the bark
from which quinine is made, and there
fore the raw material is cheap.
But there is every reason to believe
that quinine would cost more than it does
in this country to-day if it were "pro-
tected." On Oct. 6, 1882, POWERS &
WIGHTMAN, RoSENGARTEN q Sous, and
KEAsBEY q MATTIsoN, manufacturers of
quinine at Philadelphia, submitted a
memorial to the tariff commission, urg-
ing the restoration of the duty on quinine.
| In that memorial they called attention ito
the great injury done to their business by
the act of July l, 1879, which placed qui
nine and the salts OF quinine on the free
list" Now this act could only have i'm
paired their business in one way; viz, by
compelling them to sell quinine cheaper
than they would otherwise have done.
OF course if they sold cheaper, consumers
bought cheaper, and were correspond
inglv benefited. In the same memorial
these gentlemen said:
The results of the repeal of the duty have
been great expansion in the manufacture of the
article in Europe, excessive shipments TO this
country, which often offered TOr sale at lOlcer
prices than those current al the foreign markets,
and the decreased importation of cinchona
barks from South America
In view of the greater cost of carrying on
manufacturing establishments in this country,
as compared with that of similar establish
ments in Germany and Italy, you readily
understand that we cannot successfully COM
pete with the European manufacturers with
out duty. Report OF tariff commission, p.
2,449)
Now there is no possible way in which
duty could help these gentlemen except by
enabling them to charge more for quinine.
When they say that manufacturing costs
more in this country than in Europe they
do so to support their claim that they
must be protected, so that they can
charge more for quinine than is charged
abroad. Mr.. s, q. RosENGARTEN, the lead
ing manufacturer OF quininein the United
States, put the case very frankly when he
said: report of the tariff commission, p.
PSI
As understand it, the object of the tariff is
to make the article higher otherwise there
would be no advantage in having q tariff,
which can see. The same principle applies
TO everything.
The Inter Ocean, however, tells its read
ers that "the repeal of the tariff duty has
had nothing to do with the price in Amer
lea, and again that ''the truth is that the
difference between English and Ameri-
can prices has been the same, whether
there were an American tariff or not"
And finally:
The repeal of the duty on quinine has not
lowered the price one-fourth of cent per 100
tons weight. But it has done this: 1t has
increased our imports of quinine from 1919
ounces in 1873 to 1.055764 ounces in 1855
1t has sent about one million dollars a year of
American money TO Europe every year. and
has not cheapened the price to the American
consumer
Now if it is true that the repeal of the
duty has not lowered the price, it is GER
tainly not true that it has injured the
manufacturer, or increased our imports,
or sent 100000 a year of American
money to Europe. Also, if it is true that
the repeal has not lowered the price, it is
also true that restoring the duty would
not increase the price, and therefore could
not possibly help the man ufacturer. And,
again, if it does not follow, as the Inter
Ocean says it does not, that because quiz
nine is cheaper now than it was when
protected it is owing TO the repeal
OF the duty, no more does it fol-
low that because importahons have
increased, it is also owing to the repeal of
the duty. But whenever a protectionist
bldItc OuJ " SLlOH llldI Tile
the seller and does not hurt the buyer,
and that the more you tax an article the
cheaper it becomes, and that untaxing an
article increases its price, he is defying
common sense and reason. and is sure to
become involved in maze of contradlc-
tons and abSurdities. The truth about
quinine is that it is much cheaper than
before the tax was taken off, whereas the
protectionists predicted that it would be
higher; that the domestic manufacture has
not been ruined, as they said it would be,
but has increased; that, in n word, every
prediction of the tariff reformers as to the
results of free quinine has been fulfilled,
and every prediction of the high takers
refuted. That ought to be enough TO satisfy
reasonable people that free quinine has
been a good thing for the country, and
that it would be better thing for the
country if the other necessaries of life were
also put on the free list.
Another Bad appointment.
Mr.. JOIN H. OBERLY, a democrat who,
in several official capacities had made an
excellent record. was recently removed by