Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-28
REJOINDER BY GRIGGS
REPUBLICAN DENIALs TAKEN UP
BY DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN.
Domestic and Foreign Prices of Pro-
ducts Again Considered - Amount
of Shipments Not Material.

The difference between the home and the
foreign price of the product of American
manufacturers, to which Chairman Griggs
of the democratic congressional campaign
committee called attention in an interview
in The Star several days ago, is being
made the subject of contradictory argu-
ment by some republican newspapers, nota-
bly, among these is the Philadelphia Press,
of which Mr.. Charles Emory Smith, late
Postmaster General, is editor. With this
in view, Mr.. Griggs has taken up the mat
ter again for discussion.
The statement of the Press on tin plate
is what Mr.. Grggs takes as his text. This
statement is that the United States eX-
ported only a few dollars worth of tin
plate during the last fiscal year, while it
imported nearly 100000 worth. In view
of this, 1t questions the soundness of Mr..
Griggs' argument that to take the tariff off
of tin plate would deal a death blow to any
trust which might exist in that industry.
Chairman Griggs replies:
Let us see what there is in this. 1t is
true that for ten months ending April,
1892, the exports in domestic tin plate
amounted to only 1,535,977 pounds, valued
at 1920; but, if the tin-plate trust makes
standing offer of tin plate at $319 per
hundred pounds to exporters and charges
$4.19 per hundred pounds to American con-
sumers, the statement nevertheless holds
true tnat TN plate Is Sold at 81 per hundred
pounds cheaper in foreign countries by our
manufacturers, whether we export directly
ten or ten million pounds.
Sales to Canned Goods Men.
ut is exceedingly refreshing to have the
Press appear to believe that it can find
all of the tin plate exported reported in
the treasury statistics under the head of
Tin plate The trust sells to exporters
n IN ,,1afo no p11-
for export purposes at 1919 per hundred
pounds. While the tin plate is not shipped
as plate, the tin is supplied to these eX-
porterS of oils, &c, for cans, boxes and
the like at the prices named, and all of the
tin used for this purpose is certainly eX-
ported tin, just as if 1t went out in the
shape Of tin plate.
Il understand that cotton seed oil and
nearly all Of our other goods exported in
tin vessels, except the Standard Oil Com
panys products, are sent out in packages
made Of American tin plate, which is sold
to them 1 have stated above, at So. 10
per hundred pounds, while for other pur-
poses $4.19 is charged. The Standard Oil
The Price Of Lead.
THE Press also wakes sarcastic about
our comparatively small exports Of lead
and wishes to know how it is that our lead
producers can afford to sell lead abroad at
one-half of the price they ask at home
when foreigners can export over 200, 0o0,
600 pounds to the United States, pay the
duty on it, and sell it at a profit.
This Is easy. The duty on lead is 21s
cents per pound. The smelters' trust keeps
the price of lead here up to the tariff level
of imported lead, hence it is not strange
that importers bring in great quantities Of
lead and sell it at a profit. The fact that
we exported about 100000 worth of lead
last year shows what eXorbtant profits the
trust must be making on lead sold in our
markets at GENTS per pound.
Many of Our exporting trusts are charg-
goods are competing freely here as well as
abroad.
Wire Rope Trust.
THE wire rope trust which is said to
have given the republican committee $780,
OG0 in 1886 and got the tariff schedule fixed
to suit itself, is exporting wire rope to all
parts of the world while selling in our mar
kets at prices from 100 per cent to 300 per
cent above it's foreign prices. Thus are the
foreign trusts milking the American con-
Sumers.
nails, wire rope, shovels, axle grease, wash
boards, meat choppers, barbed wire, clocks,
lawn mowers, fruit jars, typewriters, sew
ing machines and pianos which are made in
America and sold in America at from 40
per cent to 100 per cent more than they are
sold for in foreign countries? Let us talk
a bout all Of these things Let them try 1t
again. They may fare better the next time
they challenge our figures"