Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-08-30
UNCLE SAM & co.
ITS IMMENSE BUSINESS FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR 1906.
Figures Which Explain Why the
Eiehty-Four Million Partners in
he Grea+ Firm Have Rea-
son to Be Content.

tentlOndl, the New York Herald, OF
July IS, prints as it's leader a strong
'stand-pat" editorial AS rule, the
Herald is a strenuous advocate of
tariff disturbance. Ii is, therefore, all
the more noteworthy that in the ar
ticle entitled The Business of
Uncle Sam & Co.." cogent and CON
vincing reason should appear for let
ting the tariff alone. True it is that
I'VE are all partners in the great
firm of Uncle Sam & Co.. and from
the largest to the smallest every one
is directly or indirectly affected by
its vicissitudes and shares i'll its
profits"
True, every word of it, is the Her
aids conclusions:
With the prospect of brilliant
crops, magnificent foreign trade,
and an even more prosperous home
trade reflected in the statistics of
mercantile,S industrial and trans
portation activities, the S4,0OO,000
partners in the firm of Uncle Sam &
Co have every reason to be con-
tent"
This is exactly what a very large
number of earnest and patriotic peo-
pie have been insisting upon for
some time past. For this they are
called 'stand-patters." The term
should be one of high commendation,
and not one Of reproach, according to
the Herald's showing.
We are told by the Herald that
the record for 1906 as to imports and
exports breaks all previous records,
the total reaching very close to three
billions. Also that the firm of
"Uncle Sam C Co." has in it's exports
of $4,743, ,763,612 exceeded by more
than IL per cent. Great Britains ex-
ports of home products in the last
calendar gear. Also that our trade
balance for the last ten years
amounts to $5,14S,213,O00
These are stunning figures. Has
the Herald thought out what they
mean? Has it, for example, looked
backward to 1898, the first year of
the Cleveland era of tariff REFORM"
when our adverse trade balance was
$1S,735,728? Has the Herald consid-
cred the enormous disparity of ia
vorable trade balances in the tariff
rerform" years of 1S93-1S97, con-
pared with the protection Years fol-
lowing that period?
The fact that we had in actual cir
culation '$700,000,0OO more of gold
coin than we had ten years ago--an
increase more than twice as large
as the increase in bank note circula-
tion-is mentioned with satisfaction
by the Herald. 1t is an important
fact. The explanation is fully as i'm
portant as the fact itself With an
average trade balance of $512, ,799, ,9S1
coming to Uncle Sam & Co." each
year for the past nine years, as con-
trasted with yearly average of $780,
GA, ,164 in the five preceding years of
tariff reform" this gold has come
to us in partial settlement of net
trade balances. Why did not the
whole of the balances, amounting to
more than five billion dollars, come
back to us in gold? Because of the
huge sums that. must be deducted on
account of the freight bills of foreign
steamship companies, the dividends
and interest on American stocks ana
bonds owned in foreign countries, the
sums spent abroad by American tour
lists, and the sums sent abroad by
| properous Americans to needy rela-
tives. Add to this the great blocks
of our securities that we have bought
in the past nine years of protection
trade balances, and it is easy to see
why we have not accumulated more
than $700,000,000 in gold in all these
years.
Well may the Herald felicitate the
s4,O00,000 partners in the firm of
"Uncle Sam & Co." upon their share
In this splendid showing of profits.
The country is to be congratulated,
and so is the Herald itself. Let the
Herald look over it's books and COM
pare its net receipts in the tariff re-
form period of 1S93-1S97 with it's net
receipts in the protection period of
lS97-l906. We have an idea that in
the ratio of at least two to one the
Herald would find reasons for con-
graduating itself upon having been
a sharer in the profits of Uncle Sam
d Co." since the firm emerged from
the tariff reform" period nine years
ago. We have an idea that every
producing interest in the country,
every partner in the great firm,
would find similar reasons for con-
graduating themselves upon the
change from tariff reform" to pro-
lection; similar reasons for not wish
Ing another shift backward from pro-
lection to "tariff-reform;" similar
reasons for Standing The Her
AIDS article is full of such reasons.