The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-04-06
orr EXPORT or MANUFACTURED
ARTICLES.

TIE Bureau of statistics has Issued i's
s,,J and compiled report on our exports
and ,mports for the fiscal year lssS-4' anu
an examination Of the exports or our
manufactures presents some interesting
facts. They show that II Is IN cases
where the skilled labor most enters ana
there is the greatest opportunity TOT
substituting machine for hand labor that
we are on the most even terms with
European manufacturers. For instance
we exported I'm 1851 TO England quar-
ter OF a million dollars WORTH of car
nefs This is not much, but IT Is
rise to that sum from eleven thousand
dollars worth the preceding year, and IL
shows. therefore, that the business is
about $4,000 worth of steel rails. This,
too is not a large expectation, but IT
shows that we can manufacture steer
rails in competition with the rest Of the
world We might point TO many other
illustrations Of the same sort which
show that where manufacturers require
skilled labor. we can beat the world, ana
which show further, therefore, that an
we want to make manufactures thrive
with us and to reduce the price OF
everything our people want TO MIMI
mum. is a total repeal of all customs
duties. so that we may trade freely
with all the world
In view OF this expectation of steel
rails how absurd has been the protection
fax that has been imposed upon them'
Under the Mckinley law, the duty on
them was over $l3 per ton. Our ex-
portatson OF them shows that we can
manufacture them as cheaply as Europe
can. The duty. therefore, was plainly
putting Sl3 a ton into the pockets oil the
manufacturers, it was causing the rail-
roads to spend that much more money
TO Law their tracks. and it was therefore
causing them TO charge the great body
of the American people that much more
for freight and carriage 10 pay for the
rails. The duty, therefore, was Tor the
benefit of the manufacturers alone; IL
enabled them to forms pool, which
excluded all others but those in the pool
from the possibility of manufacturing
steel rails 1t added 50 per cent. to what
steel rails ought to have cost, ana IL cut
this country off from an immense u"oe
with the other parts of the worid 'il"'
{, could have secured If there had been
no duty at all.
The Democratic tariff bill has improved
matters in this item somewhat put
has still fallen far short of the marx
II imnoses a tax of about $3.50 on steel
rails which the expectation of them to
cuba shows is a bounty Of that much to
the manufacturers that must come out
of the pockets of the American people
our ability. to compete with the world
in manufactures that require skilled labor
is further illustrated by the following
facts. OF our agricultural implements
there went to Great Britain $5s69Sl; to
British possessions in all parts OF the
world, SS46,595: to the continent Of Eu-
rope. 81, i62. Sol. and TO the Argentine Re
public. Sl5l4l94. OF carriages, horse
cars. and parts thereof. there went TO
nearly half a million dollars. and to Brit
ish possessions nearly a half million dol
lais more Brazil and Cuba .ook nearly
a million and a half Of clocks and parts
Of clocks; Great Britain took S365,l3l and
British possessions took SSi5, 24. Great
Britain took S7I2,57S worth of cotton
cloths and the British possessions took
s.. 81, 763 worth. over million dol
lars worth of colored cloths went TO
Venezuela and Brazil and about two and
threc-fourths millions of uncolored cloths
went TO China OF scientific and cleo
tricaI instruments, s252.lSi went to the
Continent, SSSO,Ol6 TO Great Britain, and
more than four hundred thousand dol
lars worth went to Cuba, Mexico, Brazil
and Venezuela.
In builders hardware. Germany took
sls36iS; England. $nS,in; Quebec and
Montreal. $SS3,s96; Mexico, Si77,6S9; Brazil.
Chill and Colombia. sl9Se62; Australasia
and British Africa, SS@,4S8 OF mis-
cellaneous machinery, there went to the
Continent sl,5S9,952; to Great Britain.
S,e72, 1893; to Mexico. Sl,ieS7S5; to Cuba,
81 ,5S7 ZOO to Quebec and ontario. 81 .l5S. TO:
to five South American countries. $500 S43:
and to Australasia and British Africa.
S.5ll. POI.
world. and we should soon have all its