Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1892-02-10

L
The Trade OF F.tlscy Supposed Bradford
Manufacturers Pay shs Duty by Reducing
| Their selling Price he Tnrin Does Not
| Increase the Coat tn the Consumer. but
| Decreases Foreign froftts-
All of our readers are aware of the
free trade claim that the duty imposed
on imported merchandise is added by
the vender to the cost of such goods
This claim is made without reservation
But tho case of certain bradford
worsteds now pending before tho
United States board of general APP
praiscrs does not seem TO Justify 90
broad claim
At present the bradford mnuufac-
turers can either shut down their mills.
or offer goods in this market at such a
price, duty paid. that they can compete
with the American mills The lines are
undoubtedly hard for the Bradford pco-
pie, but they have no other recourse.
rs nowhere else in the world can they
ind customers wealthy enough To take
their product Mt any price. consequent
~ several hundred invoices wore lately
| presented At our custom houses that
were thought TO put the value of goods
| below the actual cost of their manu-
fncturc, and the value was raised, on
an average, laS per cent; for. though
the duty has been raised so per cent
tho goods tas stated by the ebullctin OF
the wool manufacturcrs) arci still sold
here Mt tho old prices, although there
has been no material reduction in the
cost of labor in Bradford, and but N slight
reduction in the COS, of the raw ma.
! terial"
As this increased valuation carried n
penalty, the importers appeared before
the appraisers by attorneys, who had
athdavits from Bradford manufacturers
aud commission merchants saying that
their goods were not uudervalued and
their atiidavits were Endorsed subsc-
| quently by udited States Consul lib
bots Mt Bradford, who examined the
books OF many Bradford manufacturing
firms. Proving conclusively az there
has been no perjury that the tariff on
worStcds had merely resulted in de-
creased profits 10 British manufactnr-
crs, and not in increased costs to Amer.
can consumers The advantage OF pro.
lection to American manufacturers, in
this instance. has been the profits of
bradford manufacturers are now prob
ably at about bed rock figures, and
they can not cut 80 per cent off their
present prices for the sake OF closing
Our wooden mills.
This practice, by British manufactur>
ers, Of reducing the price To American
consumers to countcrbnlance the tariff
is OF considerable standing. The duty
on steel. which under the tariff Of 1857
had been Is and IL per cent nd valorcm.
had been raised by 1880 10 n specific
duty of ga To cents per pound. To
this was added an nj valorom duty In
aomc instances This resulted, accord
ing 20 report by DR. David A. Wells,
madc in 1867 Che had not been in Eng
land them:
That since the Introduction OF the manuraet
urr OF these grades OF stool IN the United
states. or since 1882 the price of foreign steel
of similar qualities has been very CONSIDERABLY
reduced through the effect OF the American com.
PETITION and that the whole country In this
way has gained moro than SUFFICIENT TO counter
balance the tax levied rs u protection for the
American steel manufacture, which has grown
W under It's influence
About this time tho sheffield steel
workers, who in general refused TO sell
directly To American purchasers, con-
signing their goods to their agents in
this country, were charged with long
continued and systematic fraudulent
AUTHORIZATIONS. This charge was dis.
tasteful, particularly To Thomas Firth
\ Sons, the head of which house hoped
to got rich enough To be lSnighted. and
they wrote to the treasury department,
July 10, 1859:
We have very large steel trade in America
amounting 60 largo proportion ~ our whole
business and in that market there Is frofs
various circumstances much competition ana
these two causcs-largo trndo and competition
cumhincd-haNc induced US 20 hc satisfied with
smaller average pront there than we have
realized on the average In our other markets