Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1891-02-18
the regular annual contributions" are
coming in.-Ex.
WHY Prices Go Down.

coming in.-Ex.
Why Prices Go Down.
The price Of many kinds of manu-
featured goods is lower now than ten
years ago. Whyi Il it because Of
the tariff The Republican party
claims that the tarifflowers prices. Is
that true, or is it fact that prices OF
goods and manufactured articles 60
down in obedience to certain laws OF
supply and demand and the cost OF
production, with which the tariff has
nothing to do, except to claim to be
the cause and steal a part of the
products of labor and confer such
stolen products upon her protected
parasites.
If people will only stop and think,
the very statement of the case by the
Republican party shows the falsehood
of their assertions. They say, "Give
us high protective tariff and we will
start manufactures, and competition
will reduce the price," Competition
can never reduce the price of goods
lower than the cost of production with
a fair profit, and the very assertion
that competition will reduce the
price is an admission that the price is
higher than the cost of production
with a fair profit. MIR. Butterworth,
in his celebrated speech on the Nc
Kinley bill, said that competition
never reduced the cost Of anything.
1t is easy to see the logic of Mr..
Butterworth, that only can reduce the
price, if the price is honest, which re-
duces the cost of production. What
has competition to do with the cost of
production Let the reader of the
Globe think of this. The advocates OF
high taxation say Eve want competi-
ton to reduce prices" and at the
same time they cry build a high wall
of taxation around our country SO as
to AVOID competition. The very
object of a protective tariff is to pre-
vent competition. Give us protection
they say, so we will not have to COM
pete so as to prevent competition.
If competition can reduce prices low
er than they are, then no protection
is necessary, because the price is al
ready higher than the cost with fair
profit. What we need then is re-
duction of the cost of production, and
with that the tariff has nothing to do.
A few centuries ago copy of the
Bible cost hundreds of dollars, and
any valuable book cost almost for
tune. Now the best books can be
had for few dollars. What has re-
duced the price? Was it the tariff ?
No, it was the constant application of
brains and hands of men. Men have
worked and thought invention has
followed invention, until now the
work that would require lifetime a
few hundred years ago can be per-
formed in almost day. In every
thing else it is the same way. Men
"mingle their thoughts with their
labor" invention follows invention.
Where a thousand men labored a few
years ago, now a single man holds a
lever and the forces of nature perform
the work, not only perform as much
as thousand men, but in thousandth
part of the time. Every laboring
man in Saginaw knows this to be
true where ten, fifteen or twenty men
worked last year, this year they have
machine that, with only one man,
perhaps a boy, to handle it, performs
the same work at vastly reduced
cost. And not only do we have i'm
proved machinery every year, but
men and women become more skilled
everv year. They can produce more
than they could the year before with
the same machinery. Why should
not the price fall when the price of
production is being reduced right
along? What has the tariff to do
with this? Why, they say, it gives
them a chance to start.
If an article can be produced here
as cheap as anywhere else, no bonus,
in the way of protection or increased
profits, is needed to enable them to
start; and if it can not be produced
here as cheap as somewhere else, then
to maintain it is always losing ven
ture to the consumers who have to
buy. The cry that the tariff reduces
prices is all a sham. Taking advan-
tage of the fact that prices do go
down and always have, they seek to
make the toiling millions Of the
country think it due to the tariff so
that they will submit to the increased
price demanded by the protected
ia NOTWITHSTANDING Globe.
Militant Farmers.
The political movement Of associat-
cd farmers has been successful in