New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-08-19
TARIFF "MTRACLES."

TIE tribune is described by 1.-The Spring
field Republican" as providing specimen cam
paign miracles" in its accounts OF special IN
dustries which have been affected by the
Mckinley tariff 1t is easier, of course, TO IN
vent a contemptuous phrase than it Is to refute
in detail the evidence Of the favorable opera
ton of Republican legislation which is obtained
from painstaking investigation in manulac'ur-
ing communities What is referred 10 as
tariff miracle is the exposition OF the eiiectS
Of increased duties on such goods as gloves
knit underwear carpets lace curtains ana the
HIGHER grades Of woolen and cotton manu-
features These effects are the building OF
now factories. the enlargement Of old mills.
great addition to the volume OF PRODUCTION
employment six days in the week Tor largely
increased force OF operatives, the maintenance
of high wages and in many instances matcriai
additions TO earnings, and last, but not ieaN'
the oheapenng of prices for consumers. we
have not regarded these results as In any sense
miraculous. but rather as the normal conso-
ouences of the policy of protecting home in
dustrics which were exposed to competition
from cheaplabor countries.
Even il the experience of the United states
during thirty years of Protection had not dc-
monstrated that all these results would lneyl-
tably follow the passage of the Mckinley act
there was tho fresh and unlmpcached evidence
of the non bipartisan investigation OF prices ana
wages conducted by the Senate Finance Com
mittoc. That was the most thorough and sclcn-
tific economic inquiry eyer directed III THIS coul-
try by competent experts. IL established wha'
NAV he described as the natural laws OF pro
tected America namely, that under high taii'i
the cost of living il reduced, that the purchasing
mower of wages is increased, and that there
i, a rise In workngmens earnings All that
THE TRIBUNE has been doing is to illustrate
the operation of those natural laws There Is
of course. nothing miraculous in that pro-
ccdure. The effects Of the Mckinley act on
prices and wages in special industries and 10
calitics are precisely those which the inves'iga-
ton Of prices and wages for the whole country
describes. II these effects had been contrary
20 the general law then there would have been
something miraculous about them.
We can tell our Frcc-Trade friends when
and where 20 look for tariff miracles" ~
they can succeed In clecting Democratic Pres
idcnt and a Congress with FrccI Trade ma
iority In both branches, the period for low
tariff miracles will open. There VIII then be
a tariff for revenue only and American indus
tries will be subjected TO the tremendous press
IRE of largely increased importation' OF tu-
ropean manufactures II the factories OF the
United States arc kept in operation on re
muneratiye basis under that kind OF tariff 1t
will be a miracle. II the wages OF American
workmen are not lowered under a revenue tariff
and II operatives now employed on fall time
are not shut down 10 half time. or thrown our
OF employment altogether, that viii be another
miracle II through foreign raids on domestic
industries great manufacturing interests are
not destroyed and prices are not ultimately
raised through diminished production. that Will
be the greatest OF all miracles. At present the
results are In accord with thirty years of prac-
teal experience Of Protection and with the
recent investigation Of prices and wages. Every
thing il normal and nothing is unexpected.
The time for tariff miracles has not come
nor do we think that it will come, for this is
a Republican year