Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-01-07
Prices Under the New Tariff.
From the New York Tribune

From the New York Tribune
The fifth month since the enactment of
the new tariff has passed. and the prices
which mark the close of the old year and
the opening of the new affords some indi-
cations of its influence upon the cost of
commodities thus far. 1t remains the fact,
as it was when details were given two
months ago, that substantially all the ad-
vance in prices has been in farm products
and in woolen goods manufactured from
one of those products. Since November
breadstuffs have further advanced ). per
cent--in all the following comparisons the
relative Importance of each article being
taken into account. Meats have slight
declined-in all | 3 per cent--but dairy and
garden products have advanced SO per
cent in the aggregate. There has also been
a slight advance in the remaining food
products, the class including sugar, tobac-
co, salt, spices, fish, tea, coffee and liquors,
but in the aggregate only 0 per cent. In
the clothing class decline of 10 per cent
appears in the aggregate, and in the metals
class, including coal and oil, decline of
g. per cent, while in miscellaneous pro.
ducts, including lumber and other building
materials, paints and drugs, a small ad-
vance of per cent in the aggregate appears.
For more definite measurement of the rel
ative advantage to the agricultural interest
separate statement as to clothing ma
terials and products is needed.
The clothing class includes cotton, which
has declined IL per cent during the last
month, and wool, which has not changed
in price. The cost of these, with all the
food products, the same quantities and
qualities of each being reckoned at prices
of November 3 and Decem Der n, the
relative importance of each article being
taken into account, would have been S416.-
63 in November and S43097 in December
an advance of $14.34, or per cent.
On the other hand, the cost of all the other
articles, including the products of all the
manufactures and mines and oil wells,
lumber building materials, paints, chemi-
Gals and drugs, would have been 1872 "a
in November and only 1869. II in Doce nber
a decline of q per cent. While a few
important food products--such as spices
and few manufactured products-such
as salt and liquors-are here included with
food products, the change in these has
been insignificant, and does not appreciably
affect the comparison. 1t is strictly true
that, in spite of the decline in cotton and
some meats, the value of farm products
has advanced 4 per cent during the last
few months, while the cost of all pIolucts
| of manufactures and mining has, on the
whole, declined 1.G per cent.
II is not implied that the advance in
| food products has been mainly due to the
tariff, but it has indisputably occurred un-
der the operation of a tariff which, its op-
| pOnents allege, must plunder the agricul-
| tural class for the benefit of the manufac-
turing and mining classes. The naked
fact that substantially all the gain within
| the last two months has been in the agri-
cultural products, while the products of
other industries taken together ale cheap
er than they were two months ago, cor
responds with the results shown in No
vember, covering the first three months
under the operation of the new tariff.
| Food products, excepting meats had then
| been advanced; clothing had been ad-
vanced little owing TO the cost of wool
| and its products, while other products of
| that class taken together had declined, as
| had articles of the metal and miscelan-
eous classes. In the entire five months
the food products have advanced in the
aggregate Ill per cent, while the cost of
all products of the clothing, metals and
miscellaneous classes has declined about
| O'o pei StlAl3 VIC duNahSO III NOOlCh SOOuo
being more than balanced by the decline
in most other manufactured products.
The changes in the manufactured prod
ucts during the last two months have been
comparatively small, except in cotton
| goods, which have declined an average of
GA per cent, against per cent in raw cot
ton; in iron and steel products, which
have declined an average of 81 per cent !;
coal, which has declined per cent, and
lead, which has declined per cent Raw
silk is rs per cent lower, and india-rub-
Der is so per cent lower, while rubber
| goods are cheaper. Hides have declined
2. | per cent, while leather has advanced
| l.2, and boots and shoes only O. per cent.
Tin is 0.S per cent lower; petroleum, cop
per and tinplates are unchanged. Nor is
it to be forgotten that this cheapening of
manufactured products, which is to some
extent due to more rapid expansion in
production of materials than in their con-
sumption, has been effected at the same
time with general advance in wages, of
which further instances were announced
on Wednesday-in the Carnegie works at
| Pittsburg, in glass works and pottery es-
tablishments, and in several wooden mills.
| With an enormous increase in the number
of people earning wages and general in
crease in the rate of wages paid, there is
thus far no advance since July ~ in the
cost of manufactured and mining products
as a whole, but slight decline.