The Columbus journal., 1900-08-22

OtICXs 400ee0 u - WO3S I030 t0oI ~
h . compendium Of pretty nearly al
the arguments advanced by many
Democratic papers. How much truth
there u In II can be very easily ascer-
tanned BY bringing its statements into
contact with recent Industrial history.
By . 'prohibitiver tariff we are will-
ing to believe that the writer means .
tariff high enough to make importation
unpeontable - compared with homo
production. Such . tariff was put up
ON tin plates . very few years ago. 1t
was not . prohibitive tariff. for . great
deal Of the merchandise was imported
for some years. But assuming the deA-
milton to suit the question Il whether
the market-meaning the buying mar
ket, Of course. a that u what the writ
ef Of the above means-was narrowed
BY putting up the duty on tin plates.
The contrary was the fact. Before
that time the market. the source OF
supply, was in Wales. BY making tin
manufacture possible In this country
the market was broadened- We still
had the Welsh market II We cared to
avail ourselves Of II. and added to It
was this rapidly developing American
market. The effect Of having such q
broad market was soon apparent. The
prices went down. American cOmpeti-
ton had q demoralixing influence ON
the staid Welsh custom Of maintaining
prices at q conservative and c0mfOrta-
BILE level. That end Of the market had
to adjust itself to this end and In doing
90 experienced considerable disaster.
That tended, It Ia true. to marrow" the
market, but not enough to injure the
buyers opportunities. for the real mar
ket had been transferred for American
buyers to American soil and soon as
sumed proportions great enough to pro-
vide for our wanta
Now about the trust part Of 1t. Be-
fore the protective feature was put
into the tariff ON tin plates their pro-
ductiOn In Wales was controlled by q
combination that fixed prices and die
tated the policy of the business. We
don't doubt that that combination was
the result Of previous and disastrous
competition among many manufactur-
era, a course Of business that was
destined to ensue In this country and
to occasion the adoption Of the same |
remedy. Az the development Of the |
manufacture here approached or per-
haps temporarily exceeded the limit
of demand prices suffered. With the |
rebound In raw materials the necessi- |
ty for some advance In tin prices be-
came obvious, but concerted action |
seemed to be essential to the step. The
enhanced prices made In consequence |
Of such agreement did not precede
but followed and at some distance the
rising costs Of materials. with q max
imum figure considerably below the
prices charged by the Welsh cOmbina-
ton before the American tin industry
was created. We need not 60 into
an acute calculation Of whether the
prices should be lower or higher. Suf-
fee 1t for fair discussion Of the tariff
question involved to say that the levy
ing Of the protective tariff ON tin plates
brought about the establishing Of the
tin market In our own country. with
0OW Aux 0CSCA0A yC0Ao SO"CA i
than before. when the market was In
q foreign country.
As to the further point Of employ
ment. 1t may be conceded that all In
In the country have their ebb
and flow In that respect and that COM
binatiOns do sometimes ecOn0mize
forces, though not always. But again
We insist that the effect Of the tariff
has been to cause the transfer Of q
great industry to this country and to
give q new employment to many thou
sands where such employment did not
exist before. 1t Ia foolish to blame the
tariff for the fact that the scale Of en-
plOyment shrinks at times. Rather let
ns approve q system that tends con-
.tantly to enlarge the opportunities for
work and that has enabled q standard
of wages to be maintained here for the
imitation of the world.
We have thus instanced one industry
because its whole history Is 20 recent
and emphatic as to be easily verified,
and 1t will serve as a specimen Of many
that have taken similar course, being
to American soil by the
influence of the american system"