The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-02-04

"At that" calculated the collector,
that fellow isn't out any. He'd have
to pay IL cents pound for that goose
on this side"
! do people buy anything but pro-
juce in Canada and bring it over?"
"Oh, yes. Here in Detroit they 60
over and buy English clothes. Here's
an ad / noticed the other day. They
can buy an English-made IS hat in
Windsor for 50. They wear old hats
over on the ferry and throw them
away when they wear toe new ones
back"
Farmersin southern Michigan and
farmers in western Ontario are the
most prosperous in the world. Both
can produce food at the same arbf-
trary cost. Why, then, should the
prices Of farm products be from Is to
100 per cent higher in Detroit than
here?
This was tho natural question after
/ visited the Windsor market house
and priced everything for sale there.
It was a question, until remembered
the goose. / wasn't an authority on
groceries but w. J. Cheney, who runs
| the biggest grocery in Windsor, is.
He said:
my candid opinion, after % years
in the grocery business on both sides
of the river, is that it is rs per cent
cheaper to live in Canada than in the
United States. You can buy first
quality groceries and produce here
for less money than you can get Sec
ond rate goods in Detroit.
Hundreds of Detroit people live
over here in summer and rent homes.
It's cheaper for them to go to work
In Detroit and pay the ferry rate
than to stay in Detroit and pay De-
troit prices"
How does the tariff come in on
that?"
Here, I'll show you. See this
plug of tobacco? It's made in Eng
land, and this is quarters worth.
The leaf in that plug was raised in
the United States, shipped to Eng
! land, made into plugs and shipped
back here into Canada. and yet it is
| better than other brands that sell
| for lots more money in Detroit If
it wasn't why would people from De-
troit come to my store and go out
with their pockets full of it?
THE duty on the tobacco, if ex-
ported 1851 feet across to Detroit,
| would be $165 on each pound plug.
The retail price in Windsor is 81 a
pound. In Detroit it is So pound.
The brand is a well known world
standard"
Walter Bong, who owns Windsor
| biggest clothing store, is the man
who sells Christy's London hats for
SO here. They cost IS in Detroit,
1851 feet away.
"Of course, the duty is the only
reason why I can sell Christy hat
for 81 less than they do in Detroit, "
he told me. "They invoice to me $24
dozen. I sell them for SO. The
Detroit merchant would pay about
$50 duty on each hat.
There must be a lot of money
| for somebody in American made IS
hats. It's the same way with clothes.
The duty on good all-wool clothes is
A cents pound and so per cent
of their value. That would be $3.50
on that SIS suit hanging there. It's
as good a suit as you can buy in
Detroit for $25. 1t would have to
be sold there for more"
Butter, the best and purest coun-
try butter in the world, the pride of
western Ontario's fine diaries, sells
here retail for % cents a pound.
The same grade of butter sells in
Detroit for So cents, an increase of
just % per cent.
The Central livery stable rents a
horse and sleigh all afternoon for
50. In Detroit the same rig rents
for $3.50 an hour.
Horses live on hay. If they eat
Ontario hay, it costs the liveryman
here $11 ton. If they eat the same
hay in Detroit, 1851 feet away, it
costs the Detroit liveryman $14.5O
ton. But the Detroit horses don't
eat Canada hay. They eat Michigan
hay. But it costs $14.50 ton, too.
The tariff on hay Is 81 ton.
The farmers around here and
around Detroit sell their hay for the
same price to the jobber.
Who gets the extra profit? On
any snowy Sunday afternoon dozens
of Detroit young men cross the ferry,
rent a sleigh, and cross back to De-
troit, paying 10 cents ferriage each
way. They take their girl friends
riding for less than third what they
would have to pay if the ferry didn't
help them across that 1851 feet of
water.