Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-04-06
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS.
ANSWERED IN A PRACTICAL
WAY,
Mr.. DingIey Tells the Story of the Sheep
less Sheph neutrality-suspicious. Does
Not Pay-Home Markets-A British
View of Tin Plates.



View of Tin Plates.
One Hundred Questions and Answers.
Question No. H. The free traders say that
when we buy an article which there is a
duty we pay that duty, and when this argu-
ment is met by showing the cheapness of the
| article now, compared to its price several
| years ago. they say: Improvement in ma.
chinery is the cause" Is this a fact?
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; III other words that the
tariff is a tax, and then when we show
him that articles are cheaper, he drops
the tariff is tax" question altogether
and answers: "WeIl, 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-
chanics had it not been for the tariff?
For free trade would have kept US q
nation of agriculture. From 1910 to
1860, under revenue tariff, there were
issued 6,234 patents; while under g
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 works at Detroit estab-
iished by the Mckinley tariff:
DIT 20, ~,
my invention would be OF no value, and
there would have been no incentive for
me or anyone else III this country to make
further inventions i'll this line.
Question No. 49, A Farmers Alliance paper in
Nebraska is responsible for this: Our Repub-
1can friends claim that protective tariff en-
ableS manufacturers TO sell goods cheaper.
But let the tariff be taken off and see how quick
prices go down Just as they did when coffee,
sugar, Irvine. quinine, etc, did when the tariff
was taken off or reduced. Is it 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 1ree-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
eign markets, which always results in q
rise in prices.
To make free a thing not produced in
this country merely reduces its price
without inf1icting injlry on any Ameri-
can interest. The removal OF q protect
i've duty on a thing we do produce
would involve the destruction of the
domestic industry, render useless per
haps millions OF capital invested in it,
10 10 hnr nhI mr. IA IL,
and narrow the farmers market for his
produce.
Question No. 10. 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 to it, pOurig iron
production fell from 900 tons in
1916 to as low as SOC, 900. and in 1860 it
reached S2l ,223 tons. For all that time
our pig iron production did not average
over 700, 900 tons per annum. Under
protection it reached 1902, FOB tons in
1890. AS 1t takes about two tons of ore
to make ton Of pig iron anyone can
see where our iron miners come in.
Question No. IS. If we cannot find suitable
material in the United States to make good
dishes as they make in England, why impose q
duty OF sc 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 we'll as those
who make the dishes. The duty is i'm
posed to protect both classes Of labor.
Question No. 19. Does Liverpool fix the 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 do 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 AMERICAN WHEAT
Cd