The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1894-01-19
FREE TRADE RESULTS
ENGLISH MANUFACTURERS JUBILANT
OVER THE PROSPECTS.

They win Have Far Easier Access Than
They Ever Had to Market Represent
ing Population of 10000, OOO"-The
New Tariff Framed to Favor England.
The leading trade journals that are
now coming to hand from England in
dictate, more and more every week, how
interested, and how excited even. the
British manufacturers are becoming over
the prospects of securing their lions
share Of our manufacturing industries.
When the Wilson tariff was first made
public, it was considered advisable to
muzzle the British bulldog, and it was
evidently prearranged that the barking
should be done behind the kennel, at any
rate where it would not attract the eye
of the American eagle But the anxiety,
the desire, the eagerness, to snatch our
business from us proved too much for
their discretion, and we learn from one
paper, about the wooden trade, that the
prospect of an increased business with
the States is, however, very hopeful"
Again, further: "Should it (the new
billy pass in its proposed form, 1t will
make great difference in the export of
the lower classes of woolens, upon which
the specific or weight duty weighs so
heavily. This will be crucial point in
the discussion of the bill. Nothing can
be fairer than an ad valorem duty, but
the difficulty always exists that there
are unprincipled people who invariably
underdeclare values and those who make
honest declarations are made to suffer
for the faults of Others"
This will be cheering news to our wool
en- manufacturers, particularly as the fact
is recognized abroad ''that there are I'M
principled people who invariably under
declare values" But we like to keep the
best news till the last, and that is what the
Bradford (England) correspondent writes
to The Textile Manufacturer, which is
published in Manchester. This bold
Bradford man throws aside all pretenses
and hypocrisy. He initiates the straight
forward policy Of Cousin Ben Folsom
when he on July A, 1898, congratulated
the cutlery manufacturers of Sheffield
that they would again secure control of
the American markets, policy that it
appears has been. also adopted by Mr..
Meeker, the American consul at Brad
ford. The conclusion at which the Brad
ford expert in the English worsted trade
arrives is that the proposed Wilson tar
| iff measure will give to the manufacture
ers of Bradford star easier access than
they have ever had to market repre-
senting a population Of 10000, 900 peo-
ple."
Further Analysing what free wool
really means to the American manufac-
turer, this English expert says, "How,
under such circumstances, can the free
wool clause hurt the Bradford manufac-
turer?" This expert opinion is remarka-
bly, interesting reading and would en-
| tighten the majority Of the ways and
means committee if they are really capa-
BILE of comprehending the actual intrica-
cies Of the business of manufacturing
wooden goods. In the hope that some of
these tariff thinkers, destroyers Of Ameri-
can farming industries, murderers of
American manufacturing industries and
strangers of American labor may be able
to see beyond the length of their noses
and maybe able to grasp the actual con-
ditions of some subject that exists be-
yond the country hamlets, whence they
emanate, we reproduce this Bradford
correspondents remarks in full as pub
lished in The Textile Manufacturer:
There is no doubt that the slight in
fusion Of buoyancy into this market has
been the result, to partial extent, of the
publication of the new tariff proposals
in America. a good many opinions have
been expressed and some figures given
as to the favorable character of that tar
iff from the point Of view of Bradford
wool staplers and manufacturers. But
good many opinions and good many
valuable figures have been kept back be-
cause Bradford men fear that capital
will be made Of them by American Re-
publicans. Some even say that such
statements might prevent the bill from
| passing. There is no adequate ground
for this fear, which is entertained chiefly
in fair trade quarters. In the first place,
Mr.. Meeker, the American consul, tells
me that there is not the slightest doubt
the bill will pass, and in the second
place every man who reads his newspa
per thoroughly knows that Mr.. McKin-
ley and other Republicans have dosed
the American public ad nauseum with
forebodings as to the injury the new tar
iff will infict on American manufacture
ers and the benefit it will confer on Eng.
lish manufacturers.
What is more, the committee on ways
and means which drafted the bill took
evidence for weeks, and among it is D
mass of evidence as to how the tariff
would affect the worsted trade The fact
is the American farmers and the ordinary
American consumer have begun to see
that protection raises the price of com.
modities and only confers benefits on tn
manufacturers of the eastern states, who
are bound by no human law to share those
benefits with anybody. In short, the deep
set desire in America for an ameliorated
tariff will not be baked by the repetition
of the stale story that that tariff will
benefit few English towns. So shall
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