The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-05-11
DISCUSSING THE TARIFF.
AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ON
THE WOOL QUESTION.
Denouncing Union Pensions - Farmers
ana the Old and the New Tariff Laws
The United States Beating England
In Canadian Markets.


"' .s"porthnt OuesuOns AnsWered.
~ the taIif Is not a tax paid by consu mers
why do our tariff laws allow rebate of 80 per
cent. OF the duty paid on imported materials
USED In manufactured goods sold abroad?
suppose manufacturer of plows I'M
dertakes to introduce his wares into
foreign market-say into Australia, for
example. He finds that in order to do
so successfully against his foreign rivals,
ne must place his plows on the Austral-
ian market just shade lower than he
can possibly afford to and continue in
business. But he notices in the market
reports that pig iron is cheaper in En-
gland than at home, aud, by figuring it
out carefully and closely, con-
cludes that, if he could get
his iron at that English price, he
could then make the price of his plows
low enough to compete with the
foreigner In Australia. He finds also
that the Mckinley law allows him to do
that very thing under its drawback pro-
vision. Let US see how it would work
out. We will thus come to good un-
Outstanding of the practical workings of
that provision and decide whether it in
wolves the admission that 80 per cent.
OF the duty on pig iron is tax.
Bessemer pig iron now sells in En-
gland at AZ shillings, or $1l 6S,a ton with
ocean freightage added, say $l3 ton.
The American pillow manufacturer i'm
ports 1t at this price and pays the duty,
$6.2 ton, which brings its cost up to
1912. After it has been manufactured
into the plows destined for the Aus
tralian market and the plows entered
for export, the government refunds to
him SO per cent. of the duty paid, which
would be $500 ton, making the net
cost of his pig iron Sl3.07 ton.
10 ank
ment that the duty of $6.72 is paid by
the consumer of domestic pigiron. If
1T were, it would be very foolish ac-
acknowledgement, because it would be an
acknowledgment of foolish false
hood.
The only acknowledgment involved
Is that it is good thing for the coun-
try If, in addition to our own market,
the Australian demand for plows can
be supplied from this country. 1t
would mean an influx of good Austral-
ian money to employ American work
ingmen in the glow works, and to circu-
late In American channels of trade,
which otherwise would go to Germany
or England. But no matter what the
refund of duties implies, the fact is that
the $500 ton is not a tax. Whyf Be-
cause, as we have seen, the English pig
iron would have cost $l3 ton if admit
ted free of duty. The manufacturer
can buy Bessemer pig to-day in Pitts
burg at $l4.50 ton. The difference,
81 80 ton, is the utmost limit of the
tariff tax" as figured out even by the
most approved "refoTm" method.
What is the proportion of our foreign sale of
agricultural products to our domestic?
We export about per cent. of our
agricultural products. All the rest we
consume ourselves
Why were the farmers more prosperous from
1850 to 1860 under a revenue tariff than now?
The time of the farmers prosperity
was from about 1916 to 1856. The causes
that led to this prosperity were: Very
general crop failures throughout Eu-
rope, which brought the price of wheat
from 974 cents in 1914 to $l.364 In 1S47,
and it dropped to $l.074 in 1851, to
reach $2439 in 1855 under the combined
demand from California and that due
40 the Crimean war. The discovery of
gold in California, which began to reach
this country in large amounts in 1851 or
1852, added much to our prosperity for
O time, but nearly all of it eventually
went into European pockets to pay for
imported goods.
If our querist will talk with either
farmers or laborers who remember the
times from 1857 to 1862 they will prob
ably enlighten him as to their prosperi-
ty through those years. The whole
period was a bonanza for spectators and
importers, but dollar was hard to get
aud went very little way.
Why does England keep Gordon of revenue
cutters around her coast and sustain an army OF
coast-guard service and custom-house officers?
To see that her free trade tariff is
properly collected, just as we keep GUS
toms officers to perform like duty for
our protective tariff. The difference
between the tariffs Of England and the
United States is not in the height oftheir
respective rates of import duties, but in
the classes of articles upon which they
are levied.