, 1907-02-05
WOULD Bond CERTAIN sEAPoRTs
FOR MANUFACTURE OF GOODS
FOR THE FOREIGN MAR.
kETs ALONE.
Material to Be Admitted Free, Amer.
lean Labor to Be Employed and
Products to Be Disposed of Away
From Home In Competition With
Free Trade sections-FederaI Gov
eminent and Control Corporations
Special to The Republican.


washington, D. c., Feb. 5.-Secre
tary Shaw would split the Union.
This does not mean that he is a seces-
sion1st, or that he contemplates a re-
newal Of conditions that precipitated
the Civil war, but he has just advanced
an idea that has caused Washington
authorities to sit up and take notice.
The head of the treasury would seq
regate certain portions of the Atlantic,
Pacific and Gulf coasts into which raw
materials from abroad would be admit
ted free, including coal and other fuel
to be used in the process of manufac-
ture. He would cut these sections off
absolutely from the operation of the
United States tariff laws, making them
essentially manufacturing districts Inc
not permitting the erection of any resi-
dences or business houses other than
establishments devoted to marufac-
lures. In this way the secretary be-
lieves that he would create a veritable
foreign market for American labor"
Pet Plan Of Secretary.
Mr.. Shaw has turned the scheme
over in his mind for many months,
and he dwelt at length upon it this
week in an address before the New
Hampshire board of trade at Concord.
At the present time there are bonded
factories in which products for the ex-
port trade are made from imported
materials on which no duty is paid,
the materials being held in bond until
they are shipped out of the country as
finished goods. MI. Shaw's scheme is
merely to extend this policy by bond
ing w~elldefined sections of land, and
permitting factories established upon
this land to turn out by wholesale
manufactures worked up from ma
terial brought from abroad.
An Enormous Trade,
American commerce. because of the
conditions under which it labors, al
ways has experienced difficulty in en-
tering foreign markets. The principal
handicaps of the American manufac-
turer are the enhanced cost of raw
materials in this country and the fact
that American labor is the highest
paid in the world. Despite these two
disadvantages, American manufacture
ers built up an export trade of $719,-
900, 900 in 1906, an amount which to-
tailed Al per cen of the total exports.
This was accomplished in the face Of
the fiercest competition, through the
process of consolidation. American
business men, realizing that Individual
effort could secure for them no share
of this rich foreign trade, organized
and set out to capture the foreign mar
kets.
Corporation a Necessity.
This was the beginning of the corpor-
alton, and in the present struggle for
the trade supremacy of the world the
corporation has come to stay. The
ohitCu SlhCCo, Ing uhuSl ehC
handicap Of Sigh prices for both raw
materials and labor, cannot hope to
compete with foreign rivals unless 1t
extends and Celebrates this system of
concentration of effort and combina-
ton Of interests. This fact is thor
oughly appreciated here, where a broad
view of business conditions is obtain
able, but the existence of this truth
is not seen clearly by the individual
states.
Hampered by State Laws.
This fact Is worrying the national
government not a little, for state 1egis.
latures now are busy enacting laws
that IT certain to hamper the efforts
Of the administration to control and di-
rect the big corporations. 1t is realiz-
ed that federal control will be difficult
in the face of a conflicting and unsat-