The L'Anse sentinel., 1905-11-11
GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY.
Secretary Shaw's Opinion Of the
Dingley Schedules and the
Wilson Bill.

L
At county republican rally at
Youngstown, O., the other night, the
leading feature was an address by
Leslie M. Shaw, secretary OF the treas
ury. Secretary Shaw strongly crit
icised the elements seeking for revi-
sion of the tariff and urged the Ding
ley plan as the best possible working
plan for the government. He con-
ceded that certain changes might be
made in the law without hurting 1t,
and might even result In benefit, but
that general revision would be
harmful Secretary Shaw added that
1 he had the facts at hand with which to
establish the truth Of his statements.
"The opposition always insists" said
Mr.. Shaw, that we must invite i'm
portations II we wish to increase our
| expectations. They urge that IL we
will place the tariff of some articles
sufficiently low to insure an influx OF
foreign goods the doors of trade will
automatically open to us and we will
have an abundant outlet. / do NOS
understand their logic, though l have
heard 1t from the days of my child
| hood.
II have examined the record and
| find nothing therein to justify the
claim. When our people are prosper
| GUS, as they always are under protec-
tion, they buy everything in sight AMI
send abroad for more. When they are
suffering from the effects of tariff
for revenue only, they are unable to
consume and therefore import little.
Do not misunderstood me. / simply
state the historic fact that periods OF
low tariff laws result in less inporta-
tons in the aggregate.
THE logic is easily stated and ought
to be easily understood. Whenever
the American people buy their woolen
goods, their iron and steel manufac-
lures ard their articles of common
everyday consumption abroad, Amer
ican producers Of these articles ara
necessarily out of employment and our
consumptive capacity is reduced to the
minimum.
IL expect to he called to account for
these utterances and must. therefore,
furnish the proof. The Wi!5oa-GCr-
man bill went into effect July J, 1894.
AS soon as ii was known that we were
to have lower tariff law, and espe-
cially as soon as it was enacted, i'm
portations under the Mckinley act fell
off materially. Again, after the Ding
ley law was enacted, the rate of duty
being on the average somewhat high
er, merchants impdrted all they could
pay for before the higher rate went
into effect. There is always great
food of importations Immediately fol-
lowing low rate, usually enough to
paralyze our industries, but thereafter
imrortations fall off. for our people
are 70 longer able to buy.
.'For the four fiscal years pricr to
the operation of the Milson-Gorman
law, after giving credit for the cessa-
ton in importations between its ell
actment and the date on which 1t went
| into effect, we imported for consump-
ton an average of s12.21 per capita.
During the fiscal year of 1891 we in
ported for consumption S13.3S per
capita, while we imported only SAL
per capita during the year Immediate
| ly before the lower rate went into e.
| feet. Still the average was S12.2l for
the four years. During the next four
years. giving credit for the great in
| fiux of goods Immediately following
| the operation of the lower rate ard
another influx in anticipation OF tho
| higher rate, we imported only Sl0.3l
| per capita, loss of over 81 per cap
ita. During the last fiscal year we i'm
| ported S13.44 per capita, and thus this
| fiscal year we have increased our i'm
portations over 16 per cent. over those
Of last year.
Never in the history of the United
| States did our people consume as many
dollars worth of foreign goods as now,
and never in the history Of the world
did any people consume as many dol
lars. worth of domestic goods as we do
at this time.
"Prospering as we did under the Nc
Kinley act we imported during the
fiscal year 1892 S1z.50 per capita, ex-
ported $1561 per capita, and con-
sumed within very small fraction
six bushels Of wheat per capita. Two
years later we imported So less per
capita, exported s2.75 less per capita.
and consumed two bushels and half
less wheat per capita, while the aver
age price of live stock sod in Chicago
suffered an average loss of 1910 on
every horse, COW, steer, calf, sheep and
pig. When in 1892 the people voted
republican protection d fraud and q
robbery the average price of live stock
sold in Chicago was $25.70 per head.
but only two years later the average
was only SIG, a loss of 35 per cent.
Possibly the opposition. in ridicule
of this argument, will recommend
low tariff as the best way to exclude
foreign merchandise. reply that It
is not the wish of the republican party
to exclude foreign merchandise. We
want foreign goods, but most Of all
we want our people able to pay for
these things, and only when our peo-
pie are prosperous does the foreigner