Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-10-04
THE RIDICULOUS SHAW
Silly Vaporings of a Member of
the Cabinet.
TRUSTS SELL CHEAPER ABROAD
How h American People Pay the
Tariff Tax and the Trusts and For
efEners Get the Observation-Disclosures
Figures That Prove the Absurdity
of Secretary Shaw's Contention.

Figures That Prove the A~bsurdity
of Secretary Shaw's Contention.
Our would be great fnancier, Secre-
tary Shaw, who is led by the nose by
the frenzied denizens of Wall street, is
on a s%pellbinding tour and, as usual, is
very amusing if not accurate in his
statements. With true %spellbinder en-
thusiasm he accepts any argument
that will suit his purpose and is delud-
Ing the unfortunate Republicans who
listen to him with the @ploded tale
that only $4,OOO,OOO worth of trust
made goods are sold abroad cheaper
than similar products are sold to our
own people. The absurdity Of this
claim is at once shown by the report
for 1905 Of the United States bureau
OF statistics, page 112, Of drawbacks
paid on imports used in manufacture
of articles exported and articles ex-
ported with benefit of drawbacks. This
drawback is a return of the duty paid
on imports which are re-exported, with
the exception Of 1 per cent of the duty
paid which the government retains
that is, the exporter gets back 80 per
cent of the duty paid.
For the fiscal year ending June 30,
1905, the drawback paid to exporters
was $5,SO6,475.12 and, although the
value of those exports is not given in
he official statistics, yet as the duty
on raw material and articles only par
TALLY manufactured is from 10 to SO
per cent or an average Of about 20 per
cent, it will at once be seen that these
exported products on which drawback
has been paid exceed $29,O OO, 900 in
value. Nearly all these exports were
manufactured by trusts and combines.
and, While the consumer in the United
States paid the tariff duty and the
trust profit on top Of it, the foreigner
who purchased the goods exported es-
capped paying the tariff tax, or the
trusts pocketed 80 per cent of it in the
form Of drawback.
But that kind Of exports is but a
small percentage Of the total exports,
the raw material of which is produced
IN the United States and therefore does
not participate in the Republican draw
BACK plan of %beneiting foreigners at
the expense of the American people.
The Standard Oil trust, etc, alone ex-
ported over $685. 100000 of Illuminating
OIL. The harvester trust, ETC., exported
$2O,721, al Of reapers and mowers
plows, ~cultivators, etc, the cotton COM
bine nearly $50, 900 worth of cotton
goods, the steel trust and other com
b1nes manufacturing iron and steel
over $3.50, 600, the leather trust over
$S7,OOO,OOO, the beef combine over
Sl4O,0OO,0O0 the tobacco trust over
$5,000,O00 and the lumber trust S35,-
100000. All of this vast mount of the
products of the trusts and combines
was sold cheaper to the foreigners than
to our W people and yet Secretary
Shaw knows nothing about it, although
the details are recorded in one Of the
bureaus of his own department. His
partisan mind would rather seize on
the old misStatementS of the industrial
commission, revamped by the discred-
tied Senator Gallinger, the fallacies of
which were exposed by Mr.. Phillips, a
Republican member of the industrial
commission, in his dissenting report.
If Shaw was not ridiculous, it would
be pathetic to see the greatest depart
ment of the government in such hands.
No wonder the Republican COMPRESSION
al committee made his itineracy in
the states that were surely Democratic
and where he could do the least harm.