The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1901-11-28
BABCOCK'S BUGBEAR
Facts Found by National Indus
tris. Commission Refute the
Fundamental Assumption OF
Tariff.Tinkerers.

-Ine near approach VI eho
opening day of congress has
brought ''the boys" back and
filed the circumambient atmos
phere with the red and blue
light of political jabber. 1t is
the harvest of correspondents,
who have been subsisting on
shucks during vacation, and
their eagerness to get interviews
with arriving members is only
excelled by the eagerness of the
said members to be interviewed
and arrange for marked copies.
The-questlon, apparently, to
which most geunine interest
attaches, is the proposition to
reopen the tariff. AS is well re-
membered, Congressman Bab-
cock sprung this question by
recommending the placing of a
large numberof protected articles
on the free list under the pre-
sumption that the necessity for
protective tariff on such articles
has passed away. HIS reasons
for thinking so are that America
has attained the point where her
manufacturers are able to meet
foreign competition IN foreign
markets IN the lines he proposes
to unprotect, that the removal
of a protective tariff would in
some cases injure trusts. and
that some concerts are selling
their product cheaper abroad
than at home.
Of course the democrats every
where were tickled to death to
have the proposition and the ar
gument come from a republican
congressman and they are also
greatly pleased whenever they
can find in press or speech any
republican coincidence with Bab-
cocks views. That there should
such republicans is not surprising
when one considers the number
of people every where who are
thoughtless and in the habit of
jumping at conclusions or ac-
cepting half truths.
A department officer called my
attention yesterday to recent
investigation made by the indus
trial commission and bearing di-
rectly on the Babcock contention
relative to the sale of goods
abroad lower than at home. The
commission went INTO the situa-
ton exhaustively and it founed,
as has never been denied, that
certain American manufacturers
do favor the export trade in the
manner charged. though they
form very small minority of
the whole and they give reasons
that are satisfactory for adopt
ing the policy.
Thus, out of 195 cases inquired
into in the manufacture of metals,
covering practically all of the
exporting in that line, 30 admit
ted the practice, and in no other
branch of trade was so high a
proportion found. But in all
these cases where the export
trade is supplied at lower prices
than the domestic buyers pay it
appears that the discrimination
is more apparent than real when
the reasons for doing so are
stated. The steel trust, for ex.
ample, sometimes sells abroad at
a sacrifice in order to prevent
overproduction in the domestic
trade and keep its fires lighted
and its men employed. mo seri-
Gus objection has ever been
made to this very reasonable ar
gument and certainly no one in
America can find any just ground
for complaint.
Other reasons are to be found
in special offsets which make
the cost of supplying the foreign
markets materially greater than
in the domestic market. High
freight charges to foreign ports
fall within this class and the ex-
porter must pay them, or part of
them, IN order to sell abroad and
he may do this by reducing his
pr1ce. Tariff duties in the coun-
try to which he exports bis