The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-04-06

Not Pay-Home Markets-A British
View of Tin Plates.
One Hundred Questions and Answers.
question No. IL. The free traders say that
when We buy an article on which there is
uuty we pay tEat duty. and when this argu-
ment Is met by showing the cheapness OF the
article Snaei now, compared TO It's prc. several
ehnsry f Is the cause sS Is this aesf " "
This question furnishes about as good
an instance of the inconsistency of the
free trader as could have been given.
The "reformer" says that the consumer
pays the duty; in other words that the
tariff is tax, and then when we show
him that articles are cheaper, he drops
the tariff Is tax" question altogether
and answers: well, machinery cheap
ened those articles. The Cobdenite does
not see that he contradicts himself by
this answer, for if goods are cheaper on
account ofinventions in machinery, how
can they also be dearer on account Of
the tariff? Inventions in machinery
are the result of mechanical skill, the
product of the genius of mechanics,
and how could we ever have had me-
chanlcs had 1t not been for the tariff?
For free trade would have kept us
nation of agriculture. From 1910 to
1860, under revenue tariff, there were
issued 26,234 patents; while under
protective tariff from 1861 to 1889,
there were issued 365 300 patents.
If any other proof of the fact that
protection has stimulated invention is
wanted, we need only quote the words
of George Carlyle, the inventor of the
improved machinery in use at the new
pearl-button works at Detroit estab-
lished by the Mckinley tariff:
d. g.. Al. -.rI
my invention would be OF no value, and
there would have been no incentive for
me or anyone else in this country to make
further inventions in this line.
:, Question No. Is. A Farmers Alliance paper in
Nebraska Is responsible for this; Our Repub-
lican friends claim that protective tariff en-
ables manufacturers 10 sell goods cheaper
But let the tariff be taken Off and see how quick
sugar, Irvine. quinine. etc, did when the tariff
was taken off or reduced. Is II so?
To take the duty off things to whose
production our country is not adapted
is principle of protection. Duties on
such things are added 10 the price, be-
cause they are revenue or tree-trade
duties.
Duties on things we can ourselves
produce are entirely different. To
abolish them would be to create an
enormously increased demand on for
rise in prices.
To make free thing not produced in
this country merely reduces its price
without infiicting injury on any Ameri-
can interest. The removal OF protect
i've duty on thing we do produce
would involve the destruction of the
domestic industry, render useless per-
haps millions of capital invested in it,
throw the labor employed into idleness,
and narrow the farmers market for his
produce.
N4aestion No. Is. Why are the iron miners of
America better off under protection than
they would be under free trade?
Under free trade, or the "Walker
Tariff approximation toit, pourig iron
production fell from 100000 tons in
1916 10 as low as 500, 900, and in 1860 it
reached S2l DOB tons. For all that time
our pig iron production did not average
over 100000 tons per annum. Under
protection it reached 9,202, 703 tons in
1890. AS it takes about two tons Of ore
to make a ton of pig iron anyone can
see where our iron miners come in.
Question No. IS. we cannot find suitable
material in the United States 10 make as good
dishes as they make In England. why impose
duty of &c per cent on dishes?
We can make better dishes here than
in England, we have the material here.
The men who dig the clay. spar and
flint get more wages, as well as those
who make the dishes. The duty is i'm
posed to'protect both classes Of labor.
Question No. 10 Does Liverpool fix tho price
Of wheat? If not, what does?
The worlds price of wheat, which is
the Liverpool price, is determined,
first of all, by the amount of wheat pro-
duced in the world. The amount Of
wheat left over after the home demands
of all wheat-growing countries have
been supplied, determines the amount
that can be sent TO Liverpool. If this
amount is large the price will be low; if
small, the price will be high. Thus is
the Liverpool price really fixed by the
wheat growers themselves, instead of
that markets fixing the price for them.
This is not to say that American farm
ers of themselves fix the Liverpool
price. They Go not, because it is for
eign market. They must meet there
the Russian, the Hindoo. the Argen-
tine, the British American, and the
price is adjusted by the competition of
all bidding against one another. Ac-
cording to figures from the Depart
ment of Agriculture the production and
prices of wheat for eleven years were as
follows:
PRODUCTION AND PRICE OF AMERICAy WHEAT
FOR ELEVEN YEARS.
Total pro- Az value
duction. per bus.
Years Bushels. Cents