The herald., 1896-10-28
!: PROTECTION Us. REVENUE ONLY 4;
Observation-Disclosures
BY JOHN SHIRLEY WARD

| the practical workings OF tne MchiHsy
act during the years 1S90-91- -92-93-94 and
the year 1895, the only year We have
record of under the Wilson act. The
contention of the high protectionists is
| that the Wilson bill has flooded our mar.
ket with manufactured goods made by
cheap European labor, and thus closed
| our manufactures and turned our Ia
boring men adrift on the world as idlers
and tramps.
! This being the central thought n
their argument, and the one presented
| by their press and speakers, then they
must be driven by their own logic TO
assert that the tariff which has ad-
mitted the smallest quantity of foreign
goods free of duty Is the best tariff foT
the laboring man and for the country.
This question is too great to speak or
write on without official authority for
every statement and hence we write
with the statistical abstract for 1895
before us.
/ In 1892, when the Mckinley act was in
| full force, we imported into the United
States. free of duty. Ao7'sss,e5S wortll I'll
of foreign goods, while in the year 1898,
under the Wilson tariff, or so-called free
| trade act, we imported, free of duty,
into the United States 1868, ,233,795 worth
of foreign goods, making our free ii1i-
portations $94, ,765, 1863 more in one year
Of the Mckinley act than in the year
| 1895 under our present tariff.
! If free goods put out the fires of our
| furnaces and stills the whirr of our spin
| dies, and robs our laborers of chance
| to earn their ad,then tell us II the ad-
| mission of free goods to the amount Of
1868, ,23S. 1876 has been against the inter-
ests of the manufacturer and laborer,
-, !, hn iv,iY Yrv-xy
| inflicted by admitting free goods to the
amount of $457, ,999, 85S?
| This Is a simple question of arithme-
| tic, and even some Of our editors might
answer this question If they would only
| brush up little on the arithmetic of
/ their boyhood. These figures prove con-
| clusively that more free goods have
been brought into competition with our
| home products under the Mckinley act
| than under the present revenue tariff,
| and that more than one-half of our for
| eign trade was then on free basis.
| (See page 244, United States statistical
| abstract) rr ff
In the year 1892 under the Mckinley
| tariff, we collected duty on 1888, ,402 S04,
| while in 1895 we collected duty On
| $36S, 1856, 40, making reduction of only
$3.50, ,6S4 in the amount of dutiable goods
| imported in the two years.
| Taking the years of 1S92-93-94 we i'm :
ported dutiable goods for three years
| amounting to 81 066, ASS, ,6O1, giving aver
age importation of three years under
| the Mckinley act of s355, 4S6,201, while
we imported of dutiable goods in 1895,
under the present tariff $36S, 136,17O.
making an importation of dutiable
| goods under the present tariff Sl2,24',-
969 more than the average years under
| the Mckinley act. OF the goods en-
! tered free of duty under the three last
years of the Mckinley act. the average
| per year was $427, ,446, ,4SS while the i'm
portations free of duty for the year 1895.
| the first year of the present tariff, we
imported 1853, 233, ,795. making an excess
| ley act of $64, ,212,693 per annum more of
| free goods under the high tariff over our
| present tariff.
The present tariff has been for reve
nue. only, and instead of the manufac-
| turers getting all the benefits, it has
| been so laid that the farmers have got
| ten the larger part of the benefit.
THE TWO TARIFFS AS THEY AF-
Feet OUR FARMERS.
In 1896 we imported burlaps free of
duty to the amount of 81, ,903 1872, against
burlaps paying duty in 1893 of 81 1856, ,112,
| thus saving the farmers on burlaps
alone the duty on $3,547,070 in one year,
and while the farmer paid in 1893 tariff
on $1,04s,232 worth OF fertilizers, the
$S65070 worth.
During the year 1893 under the Nc
| Kinley act we imported hideg and skins
to the amount of 27,020775, and we ad-
mitted free of duty under the present
| tariff $26,S72,4S9 worth thus lessening
| competition by $14S,2S6. The highest
| protectionists have had much to say vs.
TO the disastrous effects of our present
| tariff on beans and peas, but we i'm
| ported during the last year of the Nc
Kinley act 1,754, ,493 bushels of beans and
peas, against the Importation during
the first year under the present tariff
of 1886 $50 bushels, leaving an excess
of imported beans and peas to the
amount of 21S,5S3 bushels during the
last year of the Mckinley act.
The border farmers along the line be-
| tween Canada and the United States
| complain that the importation of for
eign barley Injuries their prices Our
importation of foreign barley for the
year 1893 under the Mckinley act was
S,146,32S bushels, as against 2,116,S16
bushels under the present tariff; hence
the Mckinley bill brought into compe-
tition with our home barley in one
year 929, 512 bushels more of barley than
one year under the present tariff.
In the year 1898 we imported bread
stuffs of all kinds to the amount OF
81, $40, ,515, whereas in 1895, under the
present tariff, we imported only 81, S59.
S13 worth. leaving an excess of impor
tations or $S0,762 worth during 1898, un-
der the Mckinley act.
Every California farmer Is much in
terested in the question of prunes and
plums, and the complaint is in the
mouth of every protectionst that for
eign prunes have ruined the price of our
home products. We imported during
the year 1893, under the Mckinley bill,
26, liz pounds of prunes and plums.
and in the first year of our present tariff
we imported 14,352, ,057 pounds. making
an excess of 12,062. .055 pounds as a COM
petition against our home products for
one year.
During the year 1898. under the Nc
Kinley tariff, we imported raisins to
the amount of 27,543,563 pounds, while
our importations the first year of the
present tariff We're 15921,27S pounds,
showing that the Mckinley bill in one
year brought 11,622,285 pounds more of
foreign raisins to compete with our home
product than did our present tariff.
Much criticism has been made against
the present tariff because nearly all
animals are admitted free of duty, but
the record shows that we imported dur
ing the year 1893, under the Mckinley
act, 1,425,720 animals of all kinds. while
under the present tariff in one year we
imported only 719,s07 animals. thur put
ting on our market in competition with
cur home grown animals 705.S13 more
animals than under the present tariff.
Every protectionist raises a sad bleat
over the competition which the intro
against those grown in this country,
q Qnfo ara hnf ir,,r1 frG