The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-10-15
PROTECTION REDUCES PRICES

as Soou MS 1t Gets Fnfrfy to Work, md
Makes New Market ut Home for Labor.
Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph.
A correspondent writes us that lie
'has frequently heard it asserted by ad-
yocates OF the system OF so.called protec.
ton to home industries, that its ulti-
mate effect is to reduce the cost 10 con-
sumers OF the protected product" but
that thus fur those making such asscr.
tions have failed to point out specific
instances in which such results have
been reached.
The writer infers that no such in.
stances can be cited, and holds that the
effect of protective tariff is to increase
permanently the cost OF! nil goods upon
which heavy duties are levied. He is
wrong.
We will refer to few articles only to
enforce the truth. Directly or indirectly,
everybody in Pittsburgh has an interest
in the price Of steel rails, because freight
rates depend largely on the cost OF the
tracks, and the cost OF carriage has a
direct in iiuence on the cost Of all the
necessaries OF life to the consumer, with
the exception OF the few things in this
line produced at home.
While our stee! rail industrv was in
its infancy we had to pay SlGG per ton
ton for the English product. When our
mills got to going full n!sst the price
was gradually reduced, until now such
rails can be bought at S3l per ton, and
still allow the manufacturers to nav full
wages for all classes OF labor, skilled and
unskilleG.
Take the article OF tableware as an.
other instance, as it comes into tho home
expense account directly. Under the be-
neicent operation OF protection, we have
built up large tictile industry, giving
employment at fair wages to thousands
OF men, and yet, in spite Of the duty on
the foreign product the free traders de.
nounce rs direct tax on the consumer,
we are able to-day to buy better article
OF tableware at SIG 30 per crate than we
could get from the foreigners in 1870 for
S2l0 Is per crate.
When, in 1883, we were buying all our
wire nails abroad and using 100000
kegs per- year, they cost us ut the rate OF
$40 Oper keg Of 100 pounds, and the lowest
price known for them up 10 that time
was 50 per keg. Then heavy duty was
imposed, the wire nail industry estah-
lished at home, and the foreign article
shut out. Now We make {, 100000 kegs
OF such nails every year, and customers
get them for s. 20 to s. SO per key.
Under the operation OF our tariff sys.
tenn the price OF Brusse. carpet has come
down from 50 per yard in 1872 to 93
cents for an equally good article. Why?
Because we make it at home now, in-
stead OF buying it abroad, and the same
thing is true OF number OF other grades
Of carpets. r.s.- g
As late rs 1875 plate glass sold as high
as 8 so per foot. The home industry
grew rapidly under the influence Of pro.
lection, and last year you could buy a
superior article Of plate glass for Soc.
per foot. -s-.''-=r-'
Can any one believe that il We had
continued to depend upon foreign man.
nfacturers for goods in any OF these lines,
there would have been such reductions
in price? No. We would have paid
tribute to them up to the top notch, and
the hundreds and thousands OF laborers
finding profitable employment in these
industTies would have been idlo or max.
ing a hand-to. hand struggle with power
ty in some less remunerative line OF
work. g{