The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1897-07-15

Is under consideration, and quite an
other to call the tariff and CONNER
cial hand OF such a nation as the
United States, especially under the cir
cumstances existing in our commercial
relations with those countries which
are reported as limiting at retaliation
in case their protests are not regarded
Among the countries which are report-
ed as Offering objections. either Off
cially, unofficially or in public prints
m reference TO our new tariff are ia
pan, China, Austria-Hungary, Ger
many, France, Italy, Turkey, Greece,
spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Ar
sentine, Mexico and Canada, and pos
sibly Brazil. Less than half this num-
Der have filed formal protests at the
state department, but there has been
sundry grumblings and mutterings
among the others, either in their leg
islative bodies, in the individual utter
ances of their representatives here and
elsewhere, or in the public press
The practical business question with
regard to these people and govern
ments is whether they can afford to
take any retaliatory steps against a
tariff which makes no discrimination
as between countries or which does not
discriminate against any one Of them
individually. If they were to attempt
retaliation by adverse legislation
which should exclude American prod
ucts from their markets or discrimi-
nate against u productions in any
way it would be expected, and very
properly, that the United States would
return the compliment by excluding or
discriminating against the products Of
the country which had taken such ac-
ticn. The practical business results of
an occurrence of this kind would be
that nearly every one of the countries
in question would suffer a greater loss
IT the sale Of her products than would
the United States. OF the fifteen coun-
tries included in the above list thirteen
sell more goods to the United States
than they buy from us, and the total
sales of the fifteen countries in ques-
ton to the United States are hundreds
of millions Of dollars greater than are
our sales to them. The result would
be that if they should undertake to ex-
clude our goods from their ports SINH
lar action on our part would cut off
a much larger market for their pro-
ducers than would their action affect
the markets of our own producers. An
attempt at retaliation by the countries
in question, with possibly two excep-
tions would therefore be much more
disadvantageOus to them than to the
United States. Hence the improbable
ity hat the nations which are offer
irg these protests have the slightest
expectation that their action will be
anything more than a mere bluff or be
followed by any attempt at retaliation
by them in case their protests are I'M
needed.
A few examples of the commercial
relations existing between some of the
nations in question and the United
States will be sufficient to show that
there is no probability that they are
going to endanger their own business
and the markets for their own pro-
ducers by any steps which might pos
sibly close the ports of the United
States against their productions. In
the statements which follow a ten
years period has been covered in
showing the commercial relations be-
tween the United States and the coun-
tries in question, in order to give a
fair average showing Of the sales Of
those countries to people of the United
States and the return sales of our
products to those countries. 1t will be
observed in the statements which fol-
low that in practically every case the
countries now suggesting retaliation
which would affect commercial rera-
items have sold us very much more
OF their productions than We have sold
to them, and therefore any action on
their part disturbing or closing these
relations would cut off a larger mar
ket for themselves than they would de-
stroy for us.
Japan has sold to us in the past de-
cade 1912, 100, 200 worth of goods and
bought from us s45, OO7. III worth of
our productions.
China's sales TO W in the past ten
years are $3.50, 246, S49 and her pur-
chases from us $54, 219, 10.
Austria-Hungary's sales to us in the
past ten years are $S3, 3Or, 4S1 and her
purchases from us / 0,933, 224.
The total sales to us of the fifteen
countries which are reported as com
planning, formally or otherwise, Of orr
tariff, have been in the past ten years