Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1897-09-10
Wilson Law Examined.

AS4uMuuCus
Special Washington correspondence:
1t is nov practicable to examine the
sclaim made by the advocates of low
tariff that the Wilson tariff law made
An increased market abroad for Ameri.
car manufactures and thus was ad-
.vantageous to them.
The opportunity which is offered to
examine this question comes by way of
the publication by the Treasury De-
.partment of its monthly summary for
June, which covers the fiscal year end
ing June 30, 1896, and thus practically
completes the record of the Wilson law.
mat the expectation of manufac-
'tured articles did increase under the
Wilson law is undoubtedly true. But
that the importation of manufactured
articles increased very much more than
the expectation is equally true. The
expectation of manufactured goods in
the fiscal year 1897 was in round num-
'bers 500, 100000 greater than in the last
year under the Mckinley law, 1894, the
figures for these two years being re-
;specuvely: 1894, 1888, 723,sOs, and in
1897, $27G,357,S61. The Importation OF
manufactured goods during the same
period increased $146,OOO,OOO, or nearly
double the increase of the expectation
OF manufactured goods, the total I'M
ports OF manufactured goods in 1894,
u last year Of the Mckinley law, be-
Ing $15S,329,136 and in 1897, the last
year of the Wilson law, $3O4,647,1O4.
1t is thus apparent that the importa-
ton of manufactured goods practically
doubled under the Wilson law since
1874, the last year Of the Mckinley
law, and it is not surprising that the
bringing in of over 100000, 900 worth
of manufactured goods per annum
o the manufacturers of the United
States to seek a market abroad ut
whatever price they could get, as the
only means of escaping the necessity Of
closing their factories.
Another interesting point to be deter
mined in regard to this question of ex-
portation of manufactured articles un-
der the Wilson law is whether the pro-
portionate increase was more markedly
rapid under the Wilson law than 1t had
been under the Mckinley law. The fol-
lowing table gives the expectations in
the fiscal years 1891, 1894 and 1897 of
manufactures Of the United States:
1894, 1t will be remembered, was the
last year under the Mckinley law, and
by comparing the growth from 1894 to
1897, under the Wilson law, three years
with the growth from 1891 to 1894, un-
der the Mckinley law, also three years,
1T Is easy to determine whether the pro-
portionate growth in export of manu-
factures was any greater under the
Wilson law than under the Mckinley
law.
The expectation Of manufactured
goods during the fiscal years in cues
tion are given below. The list includes
b important groups, or classes of ar
t1cies exported where the amount in
the end reaches as much as S1,OOO.OOO.
1t will be seen that in many cases the
percentage of gain in expectation was
much greater during the three years of
the operations of the Mckinley law
than in the three years of the Wilson
Inv.
Exports of articles manufactured in
the Cnited States in the fiscal wears
1891. 1894 and 1897, the period he.
tween 1891 and 1894 being under the
operations Of the Mckinley law; that
from 1894 to 1897 under the operations
of the Wilson law: