Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-01-31


A week or two ago, ON one of the
steamers which run to the islands in
rasco bay, / fell in with man who
had quite recently returned from long
Furopean trip. during which he had
combined business and pleasure He
was head of large jobbing honse in
portland, Me. After the first greetings
care over asked him il he had been
buying much abroad.
ayes. !" he said. Now is the time to
import in our line. OF course you know
mai the new tariff law lowers the duty
m gloves, hosiery and general fancy
Goods enough to pay us to import large
1uantities And prices are at rock bot
torn over there now. 7"
"Ah. y said. 'You think that prices
will rise later?'
eTbey are bound to rise was the
reulv. "By and by, as soon as the new
tariff law gets into real working order
and Americans begin to import in large
Quantities, as they will. OF course, the
increased demand will soon cause the
foreign manufacturers to advance their
nrices. Oh, yes, now is the time to buy,
and placed large order with some
firms in Chemnitz, Saxony. / bought
nv goods at the lowest prices ever
known, and glad enough they were to
get orders even at SUCH prices. Bust
ness has been pretty dull with them the
last few years, but it is looking up
now
"If it had not been for the new tariff
law with its lower duties, suppose you
would have placed your order with
firms in this country" l said
Largely" was the reply. "Of
course not wholly. We always import
more on less--less under the Mckinley
bill, for then it paid us better to buy
most Of our goods in this country.
"Then the provisions of the new tar
if law have caused you to send just SO
much of your money out of this coun-
try"
Eyes, was tho answer, land we
will send out a good deal more in the
course Of time =
"Ana 0f course your buying abroad
means jast 50 much more work for tho
foreign laborer and just so much less
for the American workman"
Eyes, suppose so, the man replied.
And the present low prices will be
for only 9 short time, you think?" |
continued.
Uuquestionably, was tho reply.
what arc we Americans going to
get out Of it, then?" / said Low
prices just long enough to shut up our
factories and throw our men out of
work, Then when we can't do our own
work and are obliged to buy from the
foreign manufacturers they make us
pay high prices. 1t seems to be all loss
and no gain for us =
That's about the size Of it. the
merchant replied.
II suppose you import pearl buttons,
too?" / said
We'll, we used to import them
thousands of dollars worth every year
but since tho passage Of the Mckinley
bill we have been buying them in this
country as well as other things. You
remember what lot of talk there was
about The tariff OH pearl buttons under
the Mckinley bill?"
nodded assent, and he went on.
"Why that tariff on pearl buttons was
1 one Of the best things in the Mckinley
bill, The Mckinley bill put low tar
if on the shells and o high tariff on the
buttons We can't get the shells here,
4 you know. Before that we had got
all our pearl buttons from abroad, chief
" from Vienna. The manufacture of
pearl buttons was one of the chief occu-
pations of Austrian convicts, You can
imagine the rate of wages in that case.
Well, within year after the passage
Of tile Mckinley bill over IL, 600 peo-
pie in this country were employed at
goo6 wages i'll the manufacture of pearl
buttons "
Aud 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, aud the
competition between American manu-
tacturers actually reduced the price Of
pearl buttons below what it had been
under the low tariff "
1T was all gain then, said.
Work for American workmen and
lower prices too. see that the new tar
III has reduced the duty on pearl but
tons also l continued "Will it lower
the price any?'
Vt hasn, tended that way yet, was
the reply The price has actually adj
Fanced 10 per cent, for some reason or
othcr since the new tariff bill was pro-
posed
Then our American factories are
safe IN this case?" l said.
WeL, | don't know about that, :"
my companion replied. "You see, Aus
sAan eqnYicts work cheaper than Amer
'oah iraemen, and the Austrians can
manufacture at lower cost cheaper
taan Americans can. The new tariff
* As5 measure that difference III cost
F1laeton, and 50 the Austrians can
at d price less than the cost to
americans They can soon shut up our
AAltrt aH manufacturers nj that rate