Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-02-07
Secrets on This Subject Let Out by
q Metropolitan Wholesale
Dealer
He shows What q Wonderful al
feet the Tariff Has Had on File
Manufacturing
A Decline in Price Since 1854
from 80 Gents to 10
Cents

rasn F"
.,AUriobt. whose are they?
.,Pha, an. American made but when I
went mo business there was not am Amer
tgau El5 I'M tbp stoqk Waimported Bui a.
ar's ana Smbb's and other English make,
I Rnf bava invoices BELONGING 10 the Gra
Itnaf d3ta back it,to the SOS Here is Am
/ ipvaiee ,f 1854 cIggt-iu,h files 50 SO per
Id,lsn. b1ul..aw 6iGs. SO cents When
went into business ia 1866 we had war
prirps with 4 larps cold premium to add
/ i-afothat fine 0a5rly ai flies had been
bapd Emf. but he tariff had stimulated
fbon,,bf M fin. direction. ANA file emitting
IL n5arblu,ry was bpgup on a large scale
IN Eas.on 6v the Wbipp!e File comma
nv
,.Was II q spee>ssb"
oNo. tha compapy made a woful failure
b-ta with tnejr Loeisand ip their finances
! \ye b,uybt some of the stock from the
ASSIGNEE IA very low figures, and In tai.
y,y we're introduced 10 American made
files. But this failure was soon followed
oy successful ventures. and by 1870 lmee
factories were running at Providence.
pbiIadpjnbia Niadler5p n Y and
Beaver Nails. Pa.
,,Aud making GOOD Foods ?"
~ as. sir. buI VITA good many gen
er8tinus If prejudice 10 6gbt against The
EngIish brands were as well known 10
every man psit,g n iIe As his father, name
and Ofone thing they were sure. that was
tbat 40 GOOD file could be cut by machinery
The one ery of the free trader is that the
American manufacturer is a monopolist.
That tariffs are for his exclusive use and
benefit. and that prices always advance
,be extent Of the tariff.
/ "Was il SO with files?"
THE FIRST effect of these American fac.
| tories Was !, decline of 10 per cent in
/ English prices. can remember how
| worried We we've over this. thinking we
| should have let American goods alone
| But Brother Jonathan came up smiling
with 10 per cent. cut still lower. John
! Bi,H mel this sulleply. and the game OF
cutting went on, but John Bull Away
GETTING the worst of il. until at last he
practically give up this market. You
would have had hard work to Rnd An
! English fle in an ordinary hardware store
in 1880.
"Soso,n as that?"
Yes inst that soon. There were sci.
entiGe tests made nj the centennial and
The Nicbolson machine-mads Gle had the
! best record of any file tested. This was
/ the last straw ON the canel's bacl, Of
prejudice. and from that time our mill
men ceased TO discriminate against a
/ macbipa-made file.
'sWbat about prices ?"
I'm COMING to them but want Won 10
seq that files enhody i'm themselves ali tba,
! the free traders claim stipeyitably han.
pep upde1 tariff. Besides that lake,
! tool that almost every working man is IA
milan with wish to refresh his memo.
rv about the GOOD old times with fheir
| Good old prices. and then let him eotuuara
them With the prices he pays now. tell
you free trade and protection won IT be
workedout by httle lawyers making stump
! speeches about trade but must he Judged
| by men, experience.
That so; but never mind the lawyer;
| let Us get at the hgmes.
! We'll, here is my price to day for ten
| inch saw files, 81 Al per dozen; first Guali-
! nv goods Here is my old salesbook o,
/ 1866 there is d bill Of ten-iuch files $3.50
! per dozen.
'Phewl That is quite drop.
so it is. But you would discover that
| in getting from the higher to the lower
price there are a good many ruins amongst
these fairfield monopolists. Here is an
elght-inch file sell at 80 cents per dozen
There Is nay fathers invoice Of 1874
showing that they cost him then 81 20 per
dozen; be probably joJbed then at So and
hey retailed at - cents each They retail
today az l0eents
1T certainly is and it is in line where
all the advantage was with the foreign
maker J knew from my own recollection
that 10 SO things were at very low ebb
Prices OF everything were down because
people could not buy but little Here is
fathers bill il That year Of 81 - per dozen
for Gle buy AT 81 95 today.
met sam hifoton soon after my cha.
with the JOJDer and ! Logan TO ask h.lu
questions about lIes sam has been ga
the road 80 long Pat be y known q the
hardware trade hetter Than any other man
ne Is q brother ot the late Henry llisst9n
who mIde q handsaW that drove the Eng
hsn saw out OF the t-untry, but "a the in
PRODUCTION OF these goods Sam played mo