The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-09-05

DRY OF them Is a precious heritage
which can never be taken away.
PROTECTION AND REGULATION.
The principal purpose of the pro-
tective tariff is to safeguard the manu-
facturer against foreign competition
in the home market. BY restricting
or preventing the sale here of many
foreign articles 1t enables the manu-
facturer to get good prices for his
products and pay high wages to his
employees. Statistics show that in
1905 the manufacturers of the United
States paid out 81 per cent OF their
gross receipts in wages and salaries
If it is good policy to protect the
manufacturers to enable them to do
this-as it is generally conceded 1t
is,-why should not some degree OF
protection be extended to the rail-
roads, which are also large employ
ers of labor and pay better wages
than the manufacturers? With this
thought in mind Mr.. Samuel o. Dunn
has contributed to the World Today
Magazine for August a suggestive and
forceful article which is worthy OF
wide publicity and careful considera-
ton. 1t is entitled THE Protective
Tariff and Railway Regulation and
is reproduced in full elsewhere on this
page of The Gate City this morning.
Mr.. Dunn makes strong and con-
vincing argument in favor of the prop
ositions he seeks to establish The
railways of the United States have
constantly to meet the full force of
the competition of the Canadian and
Mexican railways and of the steam
ships of those and other countries.
The government not only does moth
ing to protect them against this COM
petition, but is spending many mil
lions Of dollars building the Panama
canal, which will stimulate competi-
ton against them, and is preparing to
spend other millions in developing In
land waterways further to stimulate
competition against them. No object
ion is found to this per Sc, but its in
consistency with the protective policy
of the government as regards manu-
| features is too obvious to need point
ing out. In 1905 when the manufac-
turers paid out 81 per cent of their
| gross receipts in wages and salaries
the railroads paid out 40 per cent of
their receipts in wage and salaries
The inquiry naturally suggests Itself:
| If high prices for concerns that pay
out q per cent of their gross receipts
are a good thing for the wage Gamers
why should not high rates for con.
Germs that pay out 40 per cent of their
/ gross receipts in wages and salaries
be a good thing for wage earneers;
While, however, the national govern
ment. by the protective tariff, helps
the manufacturers to get high prices
it has adopted policy of regulation
that tends to make and keep railway
rates low.
An important fact brought to public
attention by Mr.. Dunn is that while
the level prices of manufactured
goods Is much higher in this countr,
than anywhere in Europe, the average
freight rate per ton per mile in thu
United States is only rs mills, a.
compared with over IA mills in Eu
rope. There certainly does seem t.
be an anomaly, as suggested by thu
writer, in government protecting will
one hand one class of industries II
making exceptionally high prices
while reducing with the other ham
: the rates of another class of indus
tries that is already making except
, ionally low charges. The explanation
usually given of the wide differenc
between the way that government an
public deal with manufacturers an
, railways is that manufactures ar
, strictly private concerns, while raj
ways are quasi-public corporation
and are therefore properly subject t
r strict public regulation and contro
2 Mr.. Dunn's discussion of this featur
! of the case is especially interestin
E and informing and his conclusions wi
command general approval. The Ell
/ tire article is worthy of careful peru
t al and serious thought.