The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-09-10

1nriH That Does 1t, hut the Figures
of the Treasury Department show the
sa'ae Decline IN the Price. of Imports.
The report on Foreign Commerce
and Navigation, recently issued by the
Treasury depnrsanent. gives some highly
interesting figures as to the general de-
cline Of prices of goods imported into the
country.
One of the cheapest tricks OF the pro-
tectionists ~ to call our attention to the
decline IN price of some domestic arti-
Gle, and say, s.See there, What n good
thing protection isl' The simple souls
fancy that if the price of any article
happens to go down after protective
duties have been imposed, nothing but
protection could have caused this de
cline, and even the champion protec-
tionist himself. Secretary Blaine. claims
that the general effect OF protection is to
lower prices. But it is evident that the
protecionists viii have to adopt some
moro trustworthy method of proving this
statement. 1t viii not do to point to
prices when the duty was first imposed
and prices at the present time. That
method simply proves nothing at all, for
IN nearly every department of human
endeayor there have been improvements
OF processes and of machinery which. as
can easily be shown, have had an enor-
nous influence in bringing prices down.
When a machine has been invented
which VIII do the work Of ten men we
nave factor which cannot be ignored
IN estimating the cause of lower prices.
improved processes and machinery are
thlngs whose effects can be accurately
measured: the effects of protection can
never be stated in dollars and cents, and
can at best only be guessed at. even by
protectionists themselves. In the absence
OF anything tangible they claim eyery-
thing for protection, and when thew
get hold OF price list of some line of
domestic goods they fondly point at how
the tariff has brought down prices.
a protectionist of this stamp is Mr.
l. j. Clark. who was a delexute to the
recent Illinois Republican convention.
Mr.. Clark Is a farmer who fancies that
protection has done a great deal for him.
In this convsetion he made y speech to
his fellow protectionists, azA aasoag
other things he pointed out the beauties
OF protection in the following luminous
words: The blankets under which /.
sleep, that cost me $12 per pair fifteen
years ago. can be bought today, the same
weight and kind, for SO per pair. Cotton
and dress goods have decreased in price
since 1860 IN Ike proportions. The ak i
use cost me seventy-fve cents-a better
ar in every respect than the one NV
father bought in 81 for Sc bill. The
wagon l use cost me $50, and a better
wagon than my father bought during
the good old Democratic free trade days
of 1856 to 60 for S140."
That may lie very convincing to the
simple, childlilte faith of a man like
Mr.. Clark: but what would he say when
1t is pointed ont that the nrices of nearly
all foreSgn goods have declined in the
same way. Would he claim that pro-
lection did that. too?
Hen like Mr.. Clark should study the
figures ON pages 90 and "a in the latest
report OF the treasury department ON
Foreign Commerce and Navigation"
These pages give the prices of several
different kinds of manufactured and
crude articles imported into the country
from 1878 to 1889. The price of ordinary
unpublished window glass in 1878 was
"a cents per pound; in 1899 it was !. %.
In 1878 foreign plate glass cost 77.3 cents
per square foot; last year it was 1874.
This latter fact is very interesting in
view OF u dispatch from Pittsburg, Pa,
which was recently printed in the daily
papers, and in which it was claimed that
until few years ago very nearly all
the plate glass used in America was i'm
ported and was sold ut about Sl.50
foot" But the treasury reports for
twelve years back give the price of for
eign glass as 1!.3 cents; and the decline
In price has been more than one-half.
But this Pittsburg dispatch goes on to
say: ''Now the home manufacture has
grown to such a degree that importa-
hons have ceased almost completely, and
the price has come down to Go to 90 cents
q foot" The question arising here is,
II pi election caused the price of domestic
plate glass to fall from 8. 80 foot to 65
to 90 cents. what caused the imported
glass to fall from 77.3 to 32. A cents per
foCt2 Protection could not possibly have
caused the foreign glass to decline in
pri:c; and if this declined without pro-
lection, why may not the domestic ar
ticie have declined likewise with no re-
gard for protection? AS matter of fact
the decline was due In both instances to
improved methodg
But returning to the treasury report
we find that in 1873 foreign pig iron
eoiu at S-s>-tSo. ihSt year II was SIG. 1855.
Bar Iron fell from 2.3 cents a pound to
1.6 cents. Steel rails started at $4S. 1872
a ton; last year they were sea. .s56-a de
cline of more than half in Twelve years.
And yet it is steel rails. above all things
else, that the protectionists point to as
having been cheapened by p~otection.
Tin plates feH from Al cents - 2.s; raw
sugar from al to cents. The average
price OF foreign carpeting of all kinds
was 81. .4s2 yard In 1873; in 1889 1t was
&.afs, and In 1890 it Is as low as s5.7
cents.
We have been trying to keep up the
price of domestic wool by means of high
duties. but the attempt has not sue
ceeded, and foreign woods have been
coming In Mt steadily declining prices.
The prices per pound are as follows:
1873 1880
Clothipg wools ools...-...-.......-es4c. .eosc
Comning woola- $40 .......-23l
c-<Pes "ooas-................1s4 ..........115
The same general tendency to lower
prices could doubtless be shown In many
other imported articles. but the reports
are not given in these tables. The fig
ures here produced are simply sufficient
to show the general lowering of prices
which Is going ON all over the world, and