New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-06-04
TYr DU1y on COTTOy TIES

II does not take a large pin 10 let the gas
out of a balloon, nor to let the folly and fraud
on, of Democratic tariff reform. A small test
serves as well as any other. IL comes III a
dispatch tclcgraphed TO n Democratic journal
that " steel cotton ties are being sold III large
quantities at = cents per pound delivered al
the south which is the lowest price ever known
in the trade" The Mortified tariff reformer
upon seeing this dispatch remembers that the
ever accused Mckinley bill raised the duty
on cotton tics. As silly bit OF trucking to
sectional prejudice, the old law had made the
duty on cotton ties lower than the duty on the
hoop iron Of which they must be manufactured.
The Mckinley bill properly made it higher,
especially as the consumers of cotton, whether
at home or abroad, have TO pay the cost of
hoops. Tho year before the new duty was
imposed the imports of cotton ties were A.
576,354 pounds, valued at S60S,670, on which
the duty at only 35 per cent was S2l3,O35, so
that the bare cost when landed, without any
profits TO importers or traders, or any charges
for shipment to the South and delivery there,
was about cents per pound. Naturally, the
cost price To consumers at the South was much
higher
But now comes the unspcakable Mckinley
bill with its higher duties, and tho imports
have dropped to nothing. In twelve months
ending with March the imports of cotton ties
have been only 653, i6S pounds valued at
S2O,115, whereas III the previous twelve
months, part of the timo under the new duties,
the imports were nearly $1,000, 900 pounds,
and in the last fiscal year before the adoption
e 10 IN, A A O0O unO pounIS a :
above stated. Practically the whole of this
manufacture and trade has been transferred
bodily to the United States within year and
a half and products costing over S60O,O 900
abroad are now made by Americans who would
otherwise be hunting for employment. The
tariff rcformer has been shricking about this.
lie called it IN Infamous thing to plumber the
Whole body of cotton-producers for the sake of
the iron miners and iron-smelters and rolling
mill workers of the North. In his might and
wrath he arose in Congress and demanded in
the name of the South, which holds chattel
mortgage on tho Democratic party, that this
QUIT ageous duty should be repealed. The sub
servient Democratic majority, accustomed to
sneezc when the South takes snuff, promptly
voted TO give the South free cotton ties
Then comes the pin to prick the windbag
Of false pretence. The American manufacturer
is actually making all the cotton ties required
in this country, it is true but he is selling them
delivered at the South for . cents per pound,
the lowest price ever known, and this is for
steel ties also, though the old iron ties used
to cost more. Where is the consumer robbed
by giving him the cheapest ties he ever saw
What harm has the Mckinley bill done to him,
and what reason has he to clamor for especial
and peculiarly sectional advantages? None
whatever, of course. The bill has simply put
money into his pockets, If he ever pays the
final cost of the ties because it has given him
the cheapest ever sold at the South. At the
same time it has given real help to great in
dustry which is growing more rapidly at the
South than anywhere else, by opening mar
ket for $4,000 tons of American steel in a