Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-07-18

Exhibitors Would Have Withdrawn In
Body-A Complete Exposure.
The. Country has little knowledge OF
the extremity to which tariff robbers
will go to prevent intelligent people
| from discovering the robbery practiced
on them in the name Of protection.
Little information has been permitted
to escape from! committee rooms and
confidential conferences about a pro-
posal which, if adhered to, would have
totally wrecked. the foreign exhibits at
the Worlds Columbian exposition and
| left that colossal" undertaking without
representation by any producers except
those of the United States. The story
is one of the most striking illustrations
that could be added to those Of tariff
history. ,- add rag.rr rsttg .bnc .ri 81
. 1t, has always been the privilege, of
foreign, exhibitors at International ex-
hibitions to mike their own description
/ of their own exhibits. Any other prin-
ciple would be necessarily absiird and
intolerable. If foreign exhibitors may
not state in a catalogue, on cases con
tanning goods, in. price, lists, AID in ,ad.
! Yertisements what, they please about
their own exhibits, they will simplylre-
fuse to exhibit, and there the matter
would end. One great object in hold
ing international expositions is the com
! parison Of cost of production as well as
Of processes and materials. 1t is these
comparisons that make international ex-
hibitions great schools Of progress. r.. In
! innumerable lines of industrial activity
revolution has been brought about by
the study of experts among exhibits of
rivals. One reason why a number of
British manufacturers refused to par
ticipate in our fair was frankly stated
that our skilled workmen would dis
cover the secrets of their workshops and
avail Of the cheaper methods by which,
| being older practitioners than we, they
are able at lower, rates gtodput many
grades of popular goods on the market.
,,qI 1t has also been an invariable rule of
foreign exhibitions to admit duty free
all foreign exhibits, subject to the do
mestic tariff only if offered for sale after
the conclusion of an exhibition. This
rule has been observed in all British,
continental and colonial ,expositions. g., 1t
has also been recognized in the. interna-
tional exhibitions previously held in, the
United States--7that at New, Y ork, a
failure lin 1863; that at Philadelphia; a
success, in 1876 1t was covered among
the rules officially promulgated for
foreign exhibitors by the director gen
eral Of the Worlds Columbian exposition
at Chicago, 1893. Notwithstanding all
but universal grumbling among foreign
producers when requested to participate
in. our fair, they have gradually ac-
quiesced to a considerable degree. They
accepted our invitation on the terms in
which it was conveyed, These terms
implied that the same, rules would OPP
crate that were recognized 0hy previous
international exhibitions. tguo,,g 40
Meanwhile the American tariff robber
was slyly at work. He became alive to
the fact that if foreign goods were
marked in the Worlds fair at the figures
for which they can be produced and pay
profit to the manufacturer in addition
to the cost of production he would be in
danger of undoing. Manyof the coun-
tries from which foreign exhibits are
coming. are themselves protection coun-
tries. Yet they can place ON the market
goods in many respects superior to ours
at prices running from onelthird to one
half. While the cry of starved British
labor is,rung by Republican demagogues
the cry of starved French labor win not
serve. Causes that starve labor in Eng
land-causes not at all related to tariffs
do not exist in France. There land is
free and the people are able to feed as
well as clothe themselves How should
the American tariff robber keep from
the knowledge of Americans visiting
the Worlds fair the fact that in France,
a highly prosperous copntry,fS labor
the happiest and gayest in the world
and protective country, goods can be
| put on the market at one-third to one
half their cost in our market, controlled
exclusively by the American tariff rob
/ ber? '" fH' fE" s7H3t 7nN .s''9g
An expedient was adopted which came
near wrecking the Worlds fair. Pres
sure was brought to bear on the director
general to prohibit foreign exhibitors
| from placing any prices on their goods
except with the addition of the Ameri-
can Mckinley robber tariff. r0d re"
Two objects were to be accomplished
by this The first was to sustain the
| grotesque untruth Of Mckinley and his
followers that .!'the foreigner pays. the
taxi" secondly, to deceive the great mass
of unrefecting Americans about the real
cost of production minus the tariff tax.
British, French. Italian, South -Ameri-
can and Canadian exhibitors raised so
| furious protest that the director general
was compelled to annul the outrageous
order, which would have. made, every
foreign exhibitor commit wisAul, false
hood in representing as the price of his
| goods what in fact twas mot their prise
but the price with the. tribute added
which the American buyer pays to the
American tariff robbern Had the pre-
scription for ,falsehood not been recalled
the foreign exhibitors would have with
drawn In body, The benefits Of the
International exposition to the people OF
the United States these patriotic tariff