The herald., 1895-09-05
HOW MR.. WILSON REGARDS 1T

the New York World tabulated state
! ment OF what had been plished dur
ing the year ending August 2Sth. W h en
the Wilson bill rounded out its first year.
Some apt comparisons were also made
showing what the first years operations
OF the Mckinley bill did in the country.
The following day. August Goth, the
World printed an exclusive interview with
VIM. L. Wilson, after whom the bill was
named. Mr.. Wilson says:
If tho opening vista of higher wages
cheapened necessaries Of life, larger con-
sumption at home and expanding mar
kets abroad under lower duties had but a
single years experience to rest upon, l
should be very cautious in prohesying as
to the future.
But when 1t is rem CT, bered that like re.
suits followed the law of 1916 IN this
country and crowded on the heels Of
tariff reduction in England, it is not
claiming too much to say that few
months experiences has already Justified
the arguments and predictions of the tar
iff reformers and laid, it is to be hoped
forever, the specters of ruin and impover-
ishment with which the protectlonists so
long frightened the American people.
The country is beginning to see today
that there is no way to protect American
industry except by relieving it from bur
dens upon the materials with which it
works; no way to insure good wages and
steady EN- ployment to home labor except
by freeing it from the shackles which
have confined it to a gutted home market
and prevented it from seeking its GUS
toners all tho world over.
1t is first of all gratifying, therefore, to
see the progress already made by our
manufacturers in reaching out for the
worlds markets. With temporarily di
minished exports. chiefly in 70 ID prod
ncts-in no way due to recent tariff legis-
lation-we behold in a single year an in
creasing volume of manufactured p.od-
ucts sent abroad.
This already appears in our exports of
agricultural machinery, building hard
ware, locomotive engines and iron and
steel goods generally; also In leather and
manufactures OF leather, in pianos and
organs. paper manufactures and many
other items of the trea 1.Iry statement is
su ed at the close OF the fiscal year.
Mr.. Wilson then goes on to show that
the very industries the products of which
we are sending abroad are the ones in
which wages have be,n increa ied the
most. These facts are in marked contra
diction to the predictions made by Mckin-
ley's followers at the time of the enact
ment of the Wilson bill. The Mckinley c.y
was that free trade or any approach to it
would at once place our workmen on the
basis of the pauper labor of Europe.
There is no argument SO conclusive as
the logic OF events, and the facts of re-
cent events prove that any legislation
which removes restriction from our trade
only results in more activity in our fac
tories and a corresponding increase IN
the wage-earning power of our mechanics.
On this matter Mr.. Wilson says;
In q word, the more self-supporting
industries We have, the greater and more
diffused is our general prosperity; the
more non-self-supporting industries we
have-fed and maintained by taxation
the smaller and more lop-siied becomes
that prosperity.
Mr.. Wilson has good grounds to feel
elated over the results so far obtained in
carrying out his ideas. The situation to-
day proves most conclusively that the only
thing needed to stimulate many of our
industries INTO activity and put them in
a fourishing condition was to remove
the support given them in the way of
tariff protection and bounties. So long
as the fond mother continues to lend as
sistance to her child it will continue to
creep, and only attempt to walk when
the mother assists. The child left to its
own resources soon strikes ont for itself.
The assisted industry is very apt to look
to its government pap, either in the Way
of bpunties or high protective tariff, for
its profit rather than to shrewd, careful
business management. In this respect
Mr. Wilson strikes the keynote when he
says:
The house tariff bill aimed to increase
largely the number of Industries that
could stand without bountes. Its foun
dation was large free list of raw mater
ials. Fortunately the most important of
these remain in the tariff bill as finally
enacted, such as copper ores, salt. flax,
hemp and wool, 70 which in a more ad
vanced stage may be added sulphuric
acid, the basis of so many industries; cot
ton ties, sawed lumber, binding twine,
etc.
These are the very industries which
have shown the most activity and in
which the greatest increase in wages has
taken place. Next follow the industries
in which a largs percentage of the Nc
Kinley tariff was knocked off. These
facts all go to prove that the Wilson bill
as first drafted would not have proved the
death knell'' OF SO many industries had
it been enacted as designed by its author,
William l.. Wilson.
Mr.. Wilson also takes up the subject of
revenue and says:
AS to revenue. the operation of the new
tariff bill ought to be satisfactory to its
promoters. The customs revenue under
the Mckinley bill fell from 229 millions
in 1890 TO 131 millions IN 1894. True, the
past year was one of widespread depres-
sion, and great allowance ust he made
for that fact in any comparison.
The new bill began under the shadow
of that depression. Only of recent months
has there been feeling of financial Sc
curity in the country at large. but the
close of the fiscal year saw an improve
ment of more than twenty millions in
our customs receipts. and the revenues
for July and August promise still larger
increase for the present year.
1t is curious fact that notwithstand-
ing the largely increased internal revenue
taxes, particularly on whisky,it is in this
department that the great falling off
in revenue has been experienced. and not
from the tariff revenue, where it was eX-
pected. However one reason for this
lies in the fac. that in nearly eve ry in
dustry in which an increased internal
rsvenus was expected, some measures
were adopted to eircumvent the new
rates, for season at least. A notable
| instance was witnessed in the whisky
trade.
| Mr.. Wilson is quite c5ntident that the
| government revenues will soon increase