The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-07-24

Cent knife vvEII sJIsapPeaE-
When the NIcESin. ey law was passed
It was pretended by the protectiOnists
that II was not intended to increase the
prices of any American made goods
but only to enable the manufact urers
to hold the home market against for
eign competition and at the same time +
sell their goods at the old prices Even .
to this day it Is asserted that no ad- /
vance in prices have been made by do /
nestle manufacturers in order to take /
advantage OF the higher protection /.
given them by Mckinley
This claim is unfoUnded- The makers /
of pocket cutlery, for example. have not
lived up to the tariff by maintaining
old prices The Representatives of the
American Pocket Cutlery association,
or pocket knife trust, told Mckinley
that the effect of the large increase of
duty they asked for would not be to
advance the price OF knives to the final
purchasers" but they have been in-
dustriOusly engaged in raising their
prices abroad ever since the tariff law
went into effect
A large wholesale merchant of New
York, one who handles both domestic
and foreign knives, was seen several
days ago and gave an interesting &C
count of how the pocket knife manu-
1acturers are putting up their prices
There are, he said, about twenty
this country, most of them in New
York state and Connecticut, and they
are nearly all members of the Ameri-
can Pocket Cutlery association Soon
after the Mckinley law was passed the
association began to have frequent
meetings in this city, and these meet
ing have taken place every week or
/ two since
The manufacturers have been over
| hauling their price lists very thorough
| ly at these meetings The different
/ members of the association were taken
! in turn and each summoned to appear
/ before the association at the st. Denis
| hotel in this city with a full line of
samples of his goods. On appearing
before the meeting he would be asked
to show his knives and give the prices
! at which he had been selling
them In most cases he would be
| directed to mark up his prices, but not
always. Suppose, for instance, the as
/ ISOLATION had settled upon $3.50 a dozen
as the price of given grade of knives
/ If any manufacturer had been selling
this knife at So 80, he would be ordered
to put the price up to 50. -; but if he
/ had been getting 81 for it he would be
told that he might keep that price or
reduce 1t to s.. rs, as he chose
At this point the speaker reached for
a large book in which were pasted his
bills of recent purchases from the
/ factories.
Selecting a three-blade knife, which
has had a large sale in the west, he
turned the pages and read off the
prices he had pad for this knife since
last year.
Here is a domestic made knife he
went on, which we We're buying under
the old tariff law at 81 25 a dozen. On
October IS it was advanced to s.. 20; in
January to Sc; and we are now buying
1t at 50. 20. At the old price IL retailed
for IS cents; now the retailer will not
be satisfied with less than 81"
Here is another, No. 1891, a cheaper
knife. A year ago we bought this
knife at S. 10; on October IS the price
was raised to So so; in January to 81. O5,
and in June to 81. 40. That knife was
sold at so cents by the retail merchant
at present prices he will charge a
! cents. OF course these advances have
not yet reached the retail trade TO any
| great extent, as many retail merchants
particularly in the west, laid in large
supplies of cutlery last fall in anticipa
ton of higher prices"
Here the dealer produced four for
eign knives. These" he said s'art
some of the cheap knives made in Sol
niger, Germany, that the dOmesti,
manufacturers had so much to say
about during the tariff hearings. The
importation of this particular grade O.
knives has been completely stopped
by the Mckinley law. Under
the old tariff we imported j
, at $3.50 dozen, including the
duty, and were able to sell it to the
] jobbers at s. It reached the con
sumner as a ascent knife, and very
satisfactory knife for the money Be
: ing cheap. and very neat little knife
it was p great favOrite with school boy.
and girls But very soon they viii fine
that they can no longer buy this knife
{ at all; they will not even see it in tn,
hardware stores The reason is the in
creased cost under the present tariff
1t would now cost US s. to import; W,
should sell it to the jObber at s.. so; h,
TO the retailer at s.. 70; and the retaiIe
8 would no longer be able to sell it as
,, ascent knife. 1t could not be sold as
; 5O-cent knife; and at any price between
; the sale is spoiled
Q 1--WE have not ordered any Of thes,
knives since the new tariff came in. ans
i | there is no American knife to take thai