The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1895-09-28
IMPORTS AND THE REVIVAL
4 Natural Result Of Returning CONNER
cial Prosperity.

,MPcRTs AND The a6v'vAA
4 Natural Result Of Returning CONNER
cini Prosperity.
The republican press continues 20
groan daily over the inereaso of iln-
ports. Catching at every straw which
they think may. serve to keep them
and their Mckinley tariff isstie above
to the difference between the imports
of the last few months and those of
the CORRESPONDING months last year:
They refuse to compare the recent
figures with those OF the corresponding
period in the fiscal year 1899: hnt per-
sist IN telling their readers that the
coun try is eoibg to ruin beeat1se we
are importing more goods tow than
were imported in the depths of the
panic.
1t is true that the imports during
the .ttcnths which have alapsed since
the enactment Of the new tsfi1 have
been larger than the imports during
the corresponding months of last year.
1t is encouraging th;vS this increase has
taken place. Our republican friends
should bear In mind tho fact that at
the same time the country has been
expe riencing a remarkable revival OF
business activity and confidence. Has
mestie industry? Let the great
and growing t.enand TOR consumption,
the extraordinary list of increasc OF
wages, the resumption of work
in hundreds of idle factories, the adj
vance OF prices, and the r'any other
proofs of returning prosperity, answer
this question. 1t was inevitable that
recovery from panic depression should
be accompanied by an increase of i'm
ports, and this increase would have
taken place even under ates like those
Of the Mckinley act Republicans
know, ought to know, that the i'm
ports of dutiable goods were consider
ably larger in the fiscal year 1893, when
the Mckinley duties were in force,
than they have been in the fiscal year
just ended, although raw sugar was
free from duty then and has been duti-
able since August % last. The follow
ing table shows the value of the inn
on May 81 for the last three years, the
last three figures Of each number hav-
ing been omitted:
II Months, II Months. II Montns.
P P.:s sss;s s;s:S' s.:
rota, ........ .o75,s5, sc53,:1o .705,75c
It will be observed that the imports
for the eleven months in the last fiscal
year were less by 1514 per cent. than
those of the eleven months of 1898, I'M
der the Mckinley duties, although the
free imports in 1893 were swollen by
slO5, 600, 900 worth of raw sugar, whilc
the dutiablc imports of 1895 included
about $40, 900, 600 for raw sugar trans
ferrcd to the dutiable list. 1t is en-
couraging, and it is n sign of return
ing confidence and prosperity, that the
imports of 1895 are larger than those
of 1884. The Mckinley rates did not
prevent the purchase of foreign goods
by the people of this country, who
shipped to foreign lands last year
$3.50, 600, 900 worth of the products of
agriculture, with other exports
amounting to about $3.50, 900, 900. Dur
ing the panic. however, their foreign
purchases were -abnormally small; now
they are increasing again.
lut the increase has not brought the
totals up to the level of 1898, and to
this fact-so carefully avoided or ig-
nored by them-we direct the atten-
journals. The following table will en-
able them to compare the imports an-
der the leading schedules during the
eleven months ending on May 81 of
this year with those of the correspond
ing months in the fiscal years 1894 and
1893. They always stop with 1894. be-
cause the figures for 1893 "a year dur
ing which the Mckinley tariff was in
full force) make their partisan pleas
and arguments ridiculous. For con-
vcnience in tabulation we have cut
off the last three figures of each num-
Der:
IMPORTS COMPARED