The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1890-12-05
cHEAPNEss AND LOW PRICES.
Explanation of an Alleged Inconsistency
Regarding the Above.


Regarding the Above.
President Harrison said:
81 am one of those uninstructed polit-
ical economists that have an impression
that some things may be too cheap, so
that 1 cannot find myself il full sympa-
thy with this demand for cheaper coats,
which seems to me necessarily to involve
a cheaper man and woman under the
coats" Mr.. Mckinley goes even further
than the president, and says: Cheap
and nasty go together. This whole sys-
tenn of cheap things is a badge of pow
erty, for cheap merchandise means cheap
men, and cheap men mean cheap coun-
try, and that is not the kind our fathers
builded Furthermore, it is not the
kind their sons mean to maintain" Mr.
Lodge is firmly on the same ground,
saying: 1.-THE cry for cheapness is I'M
American. There is such thing as too
much cheapness."
On the other hand, it is part of the
creed of Protection that under its infu-
ence prices are reduced. This has been
demonstrated by our experience under
Protection during the past twenty-f five
years Mr.. Blaine in recent speech has
shown this to be the case by reference to
the history of prices since 1850. Free
traders, whose entire armory of weapons
consists in false or delusive statements,
pretend to find an irreconcilable contra
diction in the declaration of President
Harrison and Mr. Mckinley and the
statement of Mr.. Blaine; but there is no
contradiction whatever. By cheapness,
or as the president says, ''too cheap" is
understood that level of prices which
affords no profit for producers and in
adequate remuneration for labor-a con-
dition which tends to poverty and dis
tress, and which, if continued, would
degrade the nation and lead to disorder,
ANARCHY and crime. Mr.. Lodge says,
There is such thing as too much cheap
ness" Mr.. Mckinley says, ''This whole
system of cheapness is badge of pow
erty."
The alleged inconsiste ncy is founded
upon willful disregard for the distinction
between low prices in comparison with
prices prevailing in previous years, and
cheapness in comparison with present
cost of production. For example, the
price of steel rails is low at $50 per ton,
compared with prices of twenty years
ago, but is not cheap in view of the cost
of production today. Standard print
cloths are low at 81 cents per yard,
compared with the price before the
war, but they would not be cheap
at that price today. Steel rails would
be ''too cheap" at $50 per ton in
view of present cost, and print cloths
would be ''too cheap" at cents per
yard. This cheapness, which is the in
evitable consequence of excessive COM
petition at home or from abroad, and
which is the fruitful parent of distress
and disorder, is rightly deprecated by
all good men. To protect our people
against it is one of the purposes of Re
publican tariff legislation, and Protec-
tionists everywhere unite in the declara-
ton of an eminent Englishman who de-
nounced the cry for cheapness as the
cause of the unparalleled degradation
and pauperism of the lower classes of
England.
Mr.. Blaine, in his recent speech
dwelling on the benefits of Protection,
pointed out the steady reduction of
prices since 1860, which have provided
for our people all those things which are
the product of manufacture, at prices
fairly remunerative to producers, but
far below those which prevailed in
former days of low tariffs, in spite Of Z
larger advance in wages than has taken
place in any other country.
The Free trade press and Free trade
orators may befog the people for mo-
ment with their sophistry and their
humbug, but their triumph will be
short.