The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-10-14

importers in many instances do not
even live among us; they are aliens in
purpose and in spirit, and prey upon
our commerce from without and de.
spoil it from within. Any barrier rails.
ed against them causes infiammatory
anathema and violent denunciation.
"The loss of this market drives these.
pelican patriots to despair and no trick
is too despicable for their purpose. The
cry of higher prices for clothing was
heard before single line of the wooden
schedule had been reached and vet
assert without hesitation that there is
not in the new tariff law single ad-
vance in rate above the Dingley rates
that justifies an increase in the final re-
tail price to the ultimate consumer of
single necessary article of food or
clothing.
"The hosiery makers say they must
advance the price of stockings because
cotton has gone up. and yet there is not
cent of duty on cotton.
The increased cost of leather find
ings and the price of boots and shoes
should not be laid to the tariff law, for
we reduced the duty on manufactures
and placed hides on the free list in
obedience to public demands.
THE high cost of living c1hnot be
charged to the tariff law; where the
rate of duty was increased, the price Of
the product has remained the same,
or it has decreased in cost, and in
scores of instances the tariff reduction
in the Payne bill has been followed by
increased price to the consumer. For
instance the duty on lumber was re-
duced from SO per thousand to $l.25 per
thousand, and the cost of lumber re.
mains the same, while an increase OF
the duty on shingles from 80 to so cents
per thousand has resulted in a lower
price on shingles to the consumer all
during the past year.
1.-The increase in the cost of living is
world wide, while no European coun'
try has gone through a general tariff
revision.
ut is difficult to account for the in
creased cost of living except on the the
DRY that increased demand has been
made by the world on the necessities OF
life, or that the increased production OF
gold, which has more than doubled
since the gold standard was established,
has rendered the purchasing power of
money less valuable.
$50 might continue through thou
sands of items constituting our Gus
toms law, only to invite controversy
and recrimination from those who have
always criticised our fiscal policy and
misrepresented those sturdy defenders
of the faith whose struggles for com
mercial and industrial independence
has lifted our civilization above the
miasma of selfishness and greed.
1.-THE United States is the largest and
best market place in the whole world
and every other nation desires to send
its products here. If this were per
mitted from whom would our citizen!
obtain employment? Now, everyone
who wishes work can find employment
One in every four of our entire popula
ton have bank deposits. More thar
twenty-five million persons in the
United States have money in the banks
and fourteen billion dollars it thus rep
resented. IS per cent being in the form
Nof savings
1.-THE world has never witnessed
anything comparable to this extraor
binary showing. 1t represents more
than double the whole worlds known
supply of gold, and is greater in value
than the worlds total output of gold
and silver since the discovery of Amer
lea. The deposits of our citizens would
pay more than third of the combined
national debts of the so leading nations
of the earth. Surely our policy of pro
lection cannot be wrong with such ire
mendous results to its credit. We al
admit that the schedules are not scien
tific and some of them ought to be
changed, but they have been of great
practical value to our countrymen and
should not be recklessly assaulted.
Trade barriers are necessary to pro
tect us from the sporadic assaults Of
our rivals who could otherwise crush
us, or at least bring us down to their
leval.
These figures startlinglv reveal oui
generosity to our European rivals,
while the other side of the ledger testi
fies to their loyalty ia their own manu-.
features and producers.
I'VE neither need the haunting men
ace of European competition in order tc
deal Justly with our fellows, nor the
brazen mastery of monopoly to hold us
in the right path. Our people have
adapted themselves to the principle. 1t
has done more to idealize the home and
supply the comforts Of life than critics
are willing to admit and under it's ban.