The Yellowstone journal., 1894-12-08
Saturday, December 5, 1894.
AN HONEST IMPORTER.

4 week cr tGn agn, on one OF tie
steamers whiCs run tu THE ISLANDS in
Casco lay, fell ia With rlan wlo
had uuite recently r, rurnCd frum y lD1g
European trip. duIiuE wdich he had
combin business aad pleasure. He
was head of Largo lohEing house in
Portland, Me After tac ii'st greetiu ,S
Were over l asked him il he had hs-n
buying much abroad
"Yes," he SAIL Now is the tim ~
import in our line OF course you know
that the new tariff law lowers the dnty
on gloves, hosiery and general fancy
goods enough to pay u II import lar e
quantities. And prices are 1t rock la1-
tom over there now.
"Ah, said. lyon think that prices
will rise later:'
They are bound to rise, " was the
reply by and by, as soon as the-uc
tariff law gets into real Y urking order
and Americans begin 10 import III large
quantities., az they will, ot course, the
increased demand will soon cause tEo
foreign manufacturers [ advance their
prices. Oh, yes. now is the time 10 bur.
and placed large order with sor,e
firms in Chemnitz, txony. I boughr
nv goods at tine !, west prices ever
known, and glad ei ugh they Were g,
get oriers, even ar Ich prices. Busi-
ness has been pretty duil with them the
last few years, br it is locking mp
now "
IF it had not en- for the new tariff
law with its low duties, suppose you
would have pl ed your order with
Arms in this cor Itiy:' | said
Largely, was the reply. 'Of
course not wholly. We always import
more or less--less under the Mckiul )
bill, for then it paid US better to bug
most of our goods in this country. "
Then the provisions Of the new tar
III law have caused you to send just
much of your money out of this coul-
try"
''Yes, was the answer, "and we
will send out good deal more in tie
course of time. y
And of course your buying abr !
means Just so much more WORK for "a"
foreign laborcr and Just so mach itas
for the American workman
"Yes, | suppose so, " the man replied.
''And the present low prices will lie
for only short time. you think: /
continued.
"Unquestionably, was the reply.
What are we Americans going t.
Get out of it. them | said. ''LD"
prices Just long enough to shut up our
factories and throw our men ont 81
work. Then when we can't do cur own
work and are obliged to buy from the
foreign manufacturers they make rs
pay high prices. 1t seems to be all loss
and no gain for us.
"Thats about the size of it," The
merchant replied
Il suppose you import pearl bn-ton..
too?'' 1 said
"Wcll. We "a II import them
thousands of do'lars worth eypry sr.is'--
but since the passage Of the Mckinley
bill We have bon buying then in III
country ~ wen as otler things. Yng
remember what loo Of talk there w
about the t-.Iln Ga pearl buttons uDifI
the Mckinney biii:'
| nodded asatut, and he went C;L
"Whv. that tariiI on uaari buttons WIS
one of the best th IL the Mckinley
bill The McKinley bill put a low tar
i'll on the shells and a high tariff ON the
buttons We cant get the shells her ,
yon know. Before that we had go5
all our pearl buttons from abroad. CHIEF
ly from Vienna. The manufacture Of
pearl buttons was one of the chief uccE-
pations of Austrian convicts. You can
imagine the rate of wages in that case.
Well, within a yeaf after the passage
Of the Mckinley bill over 12, 600 peo-
pie in this country were employed at
good wages in the manufacture of pearl
buttons.
''And for that we could afford to pay
little higher price for our buttons,
said, for | suppose the price did go
up?''
''Yes, it did for short time, > the
merchant replied. '.But we used i'm
proved methods of manufacture, and the
competition between American manu-
facturers actually reduced the price of
pearl buttons below what it had been
under the low tariff -
'sIt was all gain then," l said.
''Work for American workmen and
lower prices too. see that the new tar
IL has reduced the duty on pearl but
tons also, continued. "Will it lower
the price any?"
''It hasn't tended that way yet, was
TIE reply. THE price has actually ad-
vanosd 10 per cent, for some reason on
oGher, since the new tariff bill was pro-
pmedL
Then our American factories are
Gn1e in this cxse?' said.
well, / don't know about that, y
~ companion replied. "You see. Aus
kian convicts work cheaper than Amer
inan freemen, and the Austrians can
manufacture at q lower cost, cheaper
than Americans can. The new tariff
dos not measure that difference in cost
a production. and SO the Austrians can
nll at q price less than the cost to
Americana They can soon shut up our
American manufactures at that rate