The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1897-05-13
washington Correspondence

heu MIN. ~ .uo ;~,ro,.od ,,.;+h ,ho ,,,,
one. M. 5taeS D.uaan. :. 1T 81.
u elected when aaa ,ra.nnr,n hns nm
mpetts. TINS 800 dimor,t )" naara.ana
class.s, uhy anybody could expect the business
Jmna involvement promised by legislation
n occur before the legislation is had.
* acru mt they evidently do, Judging from
lrst tms he reports reaching here.
lc neary Reports reaching here indicate a dis
w Wort ,osition on the part of some persons to
housN jon in the complaint which the DEM
crats are fostering by these meaning
Snrn ou ess and absurd statements.
ast Ss II can not think il true, however
her hy aid Senator Cullom of Illinois, talk
n, wlss ng on this subject, that the people
TO kf As a class have any such thought. 1t
luslead s to be expected Of course that those
r - a who are opposed to the Republic Ii
ra party politically, especially those who
eyer are willing to make any sort of trouble
the il. Tor political effect, would put afioat and
encourage suggestions of this sort. But
can not believe that the thinking
people, who know that it is impossible
or N, TO enact a tariff law in a single month,
nne. or even i'm two or three months, are
Hr.peh making the complaint which the news
|" !, I papers and politicians are charging
hem with
VIZ W =
o Cors you do not think it reasonable,
ucSaBl hen, to expect prosperity and business
Htivity until some legislation is had?"
Not to any considerable degree. OF
:" l course the result OF the election last
-, - fall showed to the country that the
stability OF our currency system Is not
ci,,,n to be destroyed. But the same vote
Irap0 which gave confidence to the business
public as regards further destruction
from Of our business conditions showed
Of The them that a restoration of the pros
% o. perity which existed under a protective
II au tariff could not be accomplished with
-, out legislation"
lge ID by the term legislation, you refer
Cf course to the tariff bill
ne i Yes. That is at least the first step
= ht in legislation promised, and the first
step necessary to restore business ac-
/, -. tivity.''
"a h. The mere promise that such legis-
| ad lation is to be had you do not con-
slider sufficient to start the factories,
vice then ?"
mo. On the contrary, in many
!, !, 49, cases, the knowledge that such legis-
iadon is TO be had reduces the amount
post OF work they are able to perform un-
lnF III the proposed law is actually upon
'p eo ololuIS JohS. III III a iCN
10 the effect will be felt still longer. for
~ wherever an importer sees that rates
ma OF duty are likely TO be increased on a
given class of articles he is rushing
Goa. those articles into the country in en-
ere ormous quantities. The result is that
en- the manufacturers are not only unable
to determine what they can do in
prices until they know what the new
tariff law is 10 actually be when it is
n placed upon the statute books, but
they also know that the country is be-
!. ing flooded with an unusual quantity
OF goods at the lower rates"
H. The result, then, upon the manu.
e iacturer must be to reduce his business
activity rather than increase it for the
* present."
II Certainly. This has always been
the effect to a greater or less extent of
+ tariff legislation. Everybody familiar
! with the history of our former tariff
Dills will remember that the mere fact
mat changes were about to be made in
the tariff law was of itself sufficient to
compel a temporary suspension of man
utacturing. or at least to so disarrange
prices and the possibility of making
contracts that business was to a great
extent suspended among that class of
uio 10 ESPECIALLY true WHICH,
a tariff Is To be changed from a lower
10 a higher rate, for not only is
there uncertainty on the part of the
manufactured az to what his prices
must be in the future, but there is a
certainty in his mind that the country
Is being filled with cheap foreign goods
at the old tariff rates which will be
peddled cut in competition with him
lor many months"
1t is a fart. then, is il, that very
large quantities of foreign goods are
now being brought in and are likely to
continue 10 compete with our own
manufacturers for many months YETI"
Certainly. Anybody who will take
.he trouble to examine the customs col
lections now being made at New York
ana other ports will see that at a
glance. From the day congress met
ana began consideration of the tariff
pii the receipts from customs increased
enormously, doubled. and sometimes
trebied. This means that the quanti-
" OF Qutiahlp goods bo;uu br,,uh+ IN