Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1910-02-27

is ostensibly investigating the subject
that they are expected 10 1ging in
verdict com letely generating the
Aidrich law of having aggravated the
public suffering in this respect, Eek
cept in regald to the WOOL schedules. -
That almost every pi tccted article
Of manufacture has appreciated on the
American market since the AldTich
Lii went into effect, is a fact which pa
peals 10 the President as a meie CO.
incidence: a case Of pest hoe but not
in any sense propter hoe. lnde ed why
sh -uld any denial be attempted that
high duties produce and were intended
by their author to produce high prices
10 the American consumer. The ayow-
cd purpose Of every import above the
mere revenue standard IS 10 hinder
the entry to the domestic market OF
foreign goods except at cost TO the
exporter prohibitiye Of profitable com
pete ton with the American made
article The producers themselves do
not hesitate 10 avow that protective
duties enable them TO maintain prices
here which thgir wares could not en-
rIand except for the artificial barrier
against importations from abroad. The
grices they except for the hrdluhrd
prices they exact from the domestic
consumer are not fixed by the cost of
production or influenced by the natrT-
al laws of supply and demand, but
are reached by adding 10 the leglti-
mate figures indicated by those con-
siderations as much of the tariff rate
as the maket will bear" For a time
there was the pretence that prohibit 6
tive schedules were nece ssary 10
cover the difference in the cost Of pro-
duction between this and other manu-
featuring countries Mr. Taft himself
previous to his capture by Aldrich and
Cannon. averred that any duty was
oppressive t. the American consumer
which, after substracting the ocean
freight and the handling charges, Gov
cred more than the actual advantage
ihe English or German factory had in
he cost CT turning out the finished
products. Yet tne bill he approved, ana
low praises as the best the country
ever had, on scores Of articles I'M
)oses tax far beyond that differ
snce. Indeed IN many cases where the
duty Is highest, pig iron and watches
Tor instance. il is the boastful claim
IF the American manufacturer that
they can be turned out here more
cheaply than elsewhere in toe world.
And ii further proof We're needed, it Is
furnished by the further notorious
facts that all the great industrial CON-
binations. when overloaded with
surplus which this monopoly ridden
market cannot absorb. ship the excess
over seas and sell it in London. Paris,
Berlin, Capetown and Valparaiso at
prices for below those extorted from
their patrons in the United States.
rhe planter in the South African
fields can buy from the shops at
Chicago. of the Harvester Trust, de-
liverable in Pttcria, an agricultural
machine at lower figures than would
be glveu the farmer in Illinois. The ,
Refinery Trust sells sugar in. London F,
TWO cents pound cheaper than is de- |
manded fer the same grade in New |
York. And so with Standard Oil, the T,
steel Company. ana all the other lead
ing beneficaries or inoIdinate protec- |
ticn. The President must know all ,
this, and there is but one deduction !
sossible from il. Why should he per-
sist in treating as problem that :
which is self evident propositionT-
Norfolk Virg nian-Pilct.