The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-04-20
100 Tariff ouestIons Answered.

100 Tariff Questions Answered.
Question No. q. Cannot Americans make az
good steel as English?
Better. For example, the American
guns Used in the recent armor tests
proved far superior to the best guns OF
foreign make, while the armor plates
made from American steel were dem
onstrated to be the best in the world
after thorough tests side by side with
English and other European plates.
Question No. ~ Why is II that American
shipping Interests have declined during the
period OF protective tariff?
Or course the question refers to ship
ping in the foreign trade. 1t has de-
clined because il has been the single
one among all our varied industries
which has received no protection. The
branch of our shipping which has been
protected. that employed in the coast
Ing trade, has ilourished AID fiourishes
to-day equally with our other protected
Industries.
Question No. 2S 1.-THE duty IS not added to
the cost. wherein does the tariff benefit the
farmer in the sale of his productions!
BY creating market for him 10 sell
his products in, and by restricting do
meshc production and foreign i'm ports,
while continually increasing the demand
for what he has TO sell.
Question No. - Why the abandonment of
Eastern farms with prott ctcd labor in the neigh
boring factories?
Because there is so much better and
cheaper land out West. Eastern farm
ers prospered before Western farms
were discovered. After that event the
Eastern farmers found it to their advan-
tage to ''go West" where they could get
any quantity Of the best land for the
asking. But, as a matter of fact, the de-
serted New England farms are few.
For let it not be forgotten that many of
the rocky hills of New England are
more profitable to the cultivator than
the fertile fields of the West. Why?
Because of those same factories with
their protected army of consumers with
In easy reach.
Question No So Fit is the object of tho tariff
TO protect labor, could thu tarsff be greatly re-
duced and still afford protection?
In some instances, yes. But what
benefit would be derived through such
reduction Take wire nails, for in
stance. The duty on them is cents
pound. 1t is obviously higher than
need be at pres ent, because the nails are
actually selling for II cents pound.
What harm does the duty do? If abol-
ished probably not nail would be i'm
ported. Why not abolish il? Probably
III
while 10 ask for Its abolition. Congress
did not act without reason in framing
the present tariff. Every change of any
Importance was made at the suggestion
OF some person or persons, after argu-
ments pro and con had been heard. No
one asked for the removal of the duty
on wire nails, for the same reason, per-
haps, that no one asked for law
against spots on the sun. No good
could possibly result in either case.
Question NO 81. Does not the rebate clause
In the Mckinley law allow our manu- acturers
10 sell cheaper TO foreign customers than
American, when the raw material is imported
Yes; and thereby enables them some
times to find market in foreign coun-
try which they otherwise could not find.
That is to say, it is the means of bring
ing additional employment to American
labor in making the goods to go abroad,
and brings back to the country the
money paid for them by the foreigner,
while not a hair of anyone's head in
this country is harmed by the transac-
ton. 1t gives our manufacturers prac-
tically all the benefits of free raw ma
terials, and bids them capture the
worlds markets if they can, while it
keeps the bars good and high around
our own markets in order to l. old them
surely for our own people anyhow.
Question No. 81 With n bounty OF cents
pound OH sugar. which must be pad out OF the
United States Treasury, where does The saving
10 the consumer come in tn rough free sugar?
1t comes in this way: The revenue
from the duty on sugar and molasses
amounted to about 500, 100000 a year,
which was all paid by the consumer.
The bounty paid on sugar amounts to
$1,000, 900 a year. The difference, S4S,-
100000, is the saving to the consumer.
Question 10. 80. Has the Mckinney tariff
caused the price of cotton To be low?
No. No more than it has caused the
price of Shakespeare autographs to be
high. There are very few of the auto
graphs of Shakespeare in existence ;
hence they cost a great deal. There is
more cotton in the United States than
there is a demand for throughout the
whole world; consequently the price of
cotton is low. The Mckinley law had
no more to do with that than 1. had
with the color of the moon.
Question No. 50. What has teeu the direct
benefit TO the American farmer by the placing
of the duty on eggs2 What would be the Pc
suit If the duty were abolished?
In 1890 we imported IL ,962, 1852 dozen
eggs, valued at 81 ,5S4 ,0S9; in 1891 we
imported 4 ,263,37 dozen eggs, valued
at 1888 ,497. The difference between the
amounts imported in these two years
7,699,377 dozen-measures the larger
arket for eggs which has been Sur
nshed to the American farmer; and
the difference between the values Of the
eggs imported in these two years
$l,05O, 592-measures roughly the valae
of that market to him. The direct To-
suit Of the Mckinley duty OH eggs has
thus been to put 81 ,050,592 more into
the pockets Of the farmer than he re-
ceived the preceding year. If the duty
were abolished, by that sum at leas.
would he be the loser.
Pearl Button Industry Under rae New
Tariff.
The Dry Goods Economist, which has
always been a free trade paper and
largely representing the interests OF
importers, tries hard to be honest in
quoting prices and giving the true situa.
ton of affairs, and it succeeds very
well. Recently, in discussing the pearl
button industry it said:
Whatever difference of opinion there
may be about many sections of the tariff act
of 1890, and about Its benefits to certain in
,tfo of httffons