The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-04-17
COMPARING Prices.

IN Dol ~ Ion nd
L-s5Or-szvinE 1znchIRsry-S eEziRley and
s-CEeapneas'F again
An Iowa protecto1tst paper prints q
list Of prices taken nom an ancient
book kept IN BOonesborough during the
year 1854" and compares with il cor
responding list of prices in 1850 The
prices In the list for 1890 are OF course
much lower than in the list for 1884; and +
the prOtectiOnist organ hastens 70 con-
clude that ''vhen the prudent housewife /
compares the two sets of figures she I
VIII feel that she is willing TO live under I
republican regime and pay five cents I
for tin cup that IN 1854 cost four times /
as much" The performance of this I
organ IS a fair sample OF the cheap and i
ignorant arguments put forth in defense /
of protection by men who know Ebso-
lutely nothing about the changes in in !
dustrial conditions affecting prices since |
1854; or if they ale aware OF those /
changes they ignore them and pretend /
that protection is the force which has I
reduced prices
This republican editor takes a tin cup
/ as a specimen Of the reductions which
protection has caused But the tin
plates of which tin Guns are made, are
produced in Wales How could our
/ protective tariff bring down the price
/ of tin plates? The truth is that the de
| veIopmeBt of the industry in Wales has
/ caused the cheaPening OF all the tim
! ware in this country. The causes lead
/ ing to these developments are pointed
! ont by David A. Wells in his Recent
/ Economic Charges" The first cause
! was the cheapening of tin consequent
/ upon opening of mines in Australia and
/ on the straits OF Malacca- The sec
/ Ond cause was the improvements in the
/ manufacture of iron and, owing to the
| invention of the Besse mer steel process.
! the substitution of steel plates in place
/ Of charcoal and Puddled iron plates.
The principle cause, however, is the
great improvement in the process of
/ timing the steel sheets, q modern tin
plate mill turning out every twenty-fOur
hours more than double the product of
the Old-fashioned mills, without any
increase in expenditure for motive pow
er or labor.
Besides these changes in the method
of production, a still greater change
has come in the method of distri button.
Railroads and iron steamships have
revOlutiOnized prices There were al
most no railroad communications be
tween Iowa and the east in 1881, as
compared with the great lines of rapid
transportation to-day Mr.. Edward
Atkinson shows that freight charge
between Chicago and New York in 1865
was 3 IS cents per ton per mile and O-GS
of a cent IN 1883. How this cheapening
OF railroad freights is still going on
may be seen from the fact that the
| average rate on all classes of freight on
all the railroads OF the United States in
1883 was 1886 cents per ton per mile,
and already in 1887 this had fallen TO a
/ trifie above one cent
/ Another enormous factor in cheaper
ing the commodities consumed by our
people to-day is the great reduction Of
ocean freights caused by the use of
steel and of triple-exPansiOn engines in
making ocean steamers. This reduC-
ton can be estimated from the fact that
81
and New York is now less than one
tenth of what it was in 1860. This low
ering Of freights by land and water has
increased the foreign demand for the
products of our farmers. and has thus
tended to check the downward tend
ency of prices of these products.
The price of -four is given in these
lists as S4.S455 a hundred in 1894 and
s. 81 in 1890. The cheapening OF flour
even IS claimed for protection; but If
the western farmers believed this the
prOtectionists would have a hard time
convincing them that protection is a
good thing for them The only way in
which protection can possibly cheaper
-four is by driving our foreign Gus
toners to other markets by
reason OF our high duties
on their products. But, as a matter of
fact, the cheaPening of flour has not
been due so much to tariffs as to the in
vention OF labor-saving machinery.
The grain drill for planting and the
self-binder for harvesting wheat has
diminished the labor of the farmer TO
, 3 very low point On producing the
! crop OF 1887 in Dakota it was found
! that the years labor produced $500
bushels Of wheat per man
Since the war the roller mill pro
! cess Of grinding -four has been
introduced into this country from
Hungary: and now one Iaborer can in
one year turn into -four the $500 bush
els of wheat Of the Dakota man Thus
: the labor Of two men produces /, 100
: barrels OF -four in a year, allowing five
bushels of wheat to the barrel In
this, way. as David A. Wells points out,
, American -four from the fields of Da-
Lcota and the mills Of Minneapolis is
sold in European markets at rates
. which are determinative OF the prices