The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1900-11-20

Illuminating story. For the first elgh
months o. the calendar year 1885, unde
Ciormsn- wisconsin. our Imports 0
woolen goofs reached the enormous 10
tai Of sto.sss.e44. while or exports rep
resented only the petty sum Of a7o,
l7zs. In the year following. during IN
corresponding eight months, our i'm
ports Of foreign woolen goods were So
s44os4. our exports q American wooieI
goods, only ssl4SsS, In 1897. when Cor
wisconsin expired amid the exc
crations Of a robbed and angry people
our market was swamped under the i'm
portation OF SS7.7i4.es4 worth q for,
elgn woolen fabrics. while that vast
foreign market which the tariff reform
organs had promised took just si4A'
So Of American fabrics. or quantity
much smaller than in the years whsr
wool had been taxed"
In other words. from frs, to last. In
general and in particular. the "tarin
reform" free wool" argument had
proved in actual practice to be fraud
delusion. disaster. II had not given
American manufacturers command Of
their home market; II had deprived
them OF a great part of the home mar
ket which they controlled before.
American mills under German wilson
ism made fewer goods than they had
made with protected wool. Foreign
fabrics dominated American cousump-
tion as they had not done for many
years. Even though our mills resorted
TO the heroic expedient Of cutting down
the wages OF their work people until
they Appropriated to European stand
ards the country was inundated With
cheap foreign fabrics in which shoddy
vas more conspicuous than wool.
Nor did the free wool humbug give
American manufacturers one single dol
lars worth Of additional foreign trade.
Our manufacturers. as We have seen.
lost a great part Of their home market
under the tariff reform" experiment
They had never had much Of foreign
market, but they were worse OF even
here at the end Of German wisconsin
than they were at the beginning. They
sold in the eight months Of 1897 only
s144,5l2 Of their products abroad. OF
about one-third Of their exports at the
opening Of this period
So much for German wisconsin; so
much for the practical workings Of tree
wool and tariff reform" Now let US
look at the other side Of the shield. Let
us read the record Of Republican pro-
tectionism. In the summer Of 1897 Cthe
calendar year, the Democratic tariff.
which had benefited only our foreign
competitors. vas repealed. and the year
1895 was passed under the D.ngiey
schedules. with a sufficient protection
for our manufacturers and a very gen
srous protection for our wool growers.
What was the result? For one thing.
the foreign manufacturers instantly lost
nearly all Of the grip upon the domestic
market which their tariff reform"
benefactors had given them. Our total
imports Of wooden goods In the eight
months Of the fiscal year 1898 were only
sll,ssLI5s. or about one-quarter OF
what they were in the corresponding
months Of 1895. and less than one-third
Of what they were in the eight months
Of 1897. That is. the effect Of Dingley
was at once TO increase
the domestic demand for the products
of American wooden mills to the amount
Of from twenty million TO thirty million
dollars.
In those same eight months Of 1885
our exports Of American wooden man
ufactures rose to s717,sss. or about five
times the figure Of the free wool tar
If reform period preceding. In the
eight months Of 1899 our imports Of for
eign woolens were s10,47O.s22; our ex-
ports Of American goods $77s,5s7. In
-A4- r45Ab lHyitiLS u low, a pSIlOQ OF
great prosperity. when our people were
able to purchase much. our imports of
foreign woOlens were S12,084,928, or
about one-third Of what they were in
-hese same months Of the last year Of
he tariff reform" experiment. Our
Exports Of American wooden fabrics
lgain increased and were s8s6,03O.
That Is. under protectionlsm the
American wool manufacturers are hold |
ng a very much larger part Of their
loTne market than they did under free
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