The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-28
A Significant Report.


 One of the signs of the times worthy or note Is pamphlet of twenty-nine pages sent out by The American Machin- ist This magazine received so many let as to the foreign machinery trade, tariff anu reciprocity that 1t occurred to it's managers to send out a request for a general interchange of opinion on the subject. for which purpose answers were asked to series of questions. The first was whether the manufacturers approved of the views of President Mckinley in his last speech. at Buffalo, and espe- cially that passage in which he said we cannot forever sell everything. and buy little or nothing. Other questions were as follows:
 Do you need protective tariff in your own particular trade?
 Do you think the present high tariff has a tendency to retard foreign trade?
 Would free raw materials allow you to produce your product cheaper?
 Do you think that free raw materials would tend to keep the prices of such ma- tertals more uniform?
 Do you know of any country where workmen in any line do more for dol- lar in pay than they do in the United States?'
 To these questions fifty-eight answers were received from prominent manufac- turers of machine tools, with an aggre- gate capital of over $35.000.000. and em- ploying nearly 22.000 men. These an
 
 natures, but as they are too long for our columns we make use of the summary furnished bv The Machinist. Thirty eight of the letters indorse without qual- ification the remarks of MT. Mckinley about buying and selling, seven give them qualified indorsement, and none expresses disapproval Thirty-four say they have no need of a tarfff, and two say they need 1t. Forty-two would do away with or modify the present tariff on machine tools. while three would let 1t alone. Thirty-eight say the tarin re- stricts our foreign trade in machinery, four that 1t does not. Twenty-Five eX- press the opinion that foreign workmen produce no more per wage unit than is produced by American workmen; four say the American workmen produces more. and one that the foreign workman produces more. Twenty-four say free raw materials would help foreign trade. seven that they would not.
 That some difference of opinion should have been found among these men was to be expected They are not necessarily conflicting. because each answers from his own standpoint, as some of the ques- tions expressly ask him to do. Thus, as the products of the different manufactur- CTS are different, one might possibly wish protection in his own business, while another does not. But 1t must be re- membered that all these men belong to the class which/our tarin laws assume to protect. Many of them expressly say that they are protectionists, or nave been. It Is. therefore. in the nature ot a surprise that a majority answer that they need no protection in their own business, while only two say that they do need 1t. More than two-thirds of them say they would either modify Nor aboi- ish the tariff on their products. while only three say they would let 1t alone From these expressions we learn that while the political protectionists are nearly unanimous in their desire to pre- serve the Dingley law intact, this feel ing is by no means shared fy all the business men whom this bill assumes to protect. The reason of this is not far to seek These men desire foreign trade. Not one of them dissents from MT Mo- Kinley's declaration that We cannot al- ways go on selling to foreign countries while buying little or nothing from them. They realize that the tariff is an impedi- ment to trade. and is doing them more harm than good
 This report made by The American Ma chinist Is particularly valuable because 1t Is a very significant sign of the times. It shows that the agitation against the Dingley law Is not purely polltical: not, as its advocates would have us believe. the desperate resort of a few politicians in search of an issue. In truth. IL looks as If the agitation were more industrial than political. More and more this re- stricttye measure is found to be an ob- stacle in the way of the development of trade It was not an accident that the late President Mckinley made that fa- nous speech at Buffalo. in which he said that the period of eXclusiveness Is past. Always quick to perceive changes in the sentiment of the industrial world. he had heard and needed the growing de- mand for markets. The agitation was not born of politics. but of an industrial need. which is likely to become greater with the increase of production.