The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1913-01-25
TaADE IHl flRIFF FACTS.

The country's Enormous Business
Lessons for Tariff Tinkerers-
Reduction Or Removal of Duties
Does Not Insure Lower Price TO
Consumer.
The following interesting article
was published in the editorial
columns Of the New Orleans Plea
yune Of Jan. Il, under the. caption,
Some Items Concerning the, Tariff -,
When it Is stated that with eur
own enormous production Of nearly
everything the people. Of the United
States can and do use, and that new
ertheless they import more than
billion dollars worth of foreign pro-
ducts every year, We come to realize
| what wonderfully wealthy. people
/ ours are. There is no other such ex-
ample OF a people SO generally we'll
Off and SO generally prosperous.
The imports of the United States
reached s1,090,00 900 for the first
time in 1903. In the fiscal year 1912
they amounted to- a little more than
1.650 100000 The percentage i'm
ported free Of duty in 1903 was 41.55
and in 1872 was 1888 One-quarter
OF the total imports Of 1912 consisted
Of foodstuffs, including sugar. coffee
and tea: one-third consisted of crude
materials for use in manufacturing,
Including hides and skins, India rub
| ber. raw silk, raw cotton, raw wool,
ETC.; one-sixth consisted of manufac-
lures for further use In manufactur-
ing, such as chemicals, copper In
pigs and ingots, leather and tanned
skins, tin In bars or blocks, etc, and
the remainder included manufactures
ready for consumption and miscel-
laneous articles.
We grow more wheat. corn and
oats than any other country in the
world. We not only lead in cotton,
but onr cotton largely clothes the
people OF every nation ON the globe.
We have more iron, coal. petroleum.
copper and timber than any. other
country and to large extent ne sup
ply them all, but nevertheless we inn
ported last year more than billion
products Of various sorts.
What article Is 1t of which we inn
port the greatest amount? It Is SUI
gar The total American consump-
ton of sugar is about seven and IS
half billion pounds a year, one-half
Of which IS imported from foreign
countries, while the ether half is
grown Id our own states and III our
outlying territories of Porto Rico s
and Hawaii.
As second in value OF our imports.
coffee follows sugar, and In 1912 the
value of the coffee imported slightly
exceeded that Of sugar. Coffee Is
something which SO far we have not
been able to grow, but under favor
able circumstances we will be able
to make all the sugar we use, and
SO be able to keep at home the i'm
mense amount of cash which we now
send abroad for sugar. However,
such a prospect offers no attraction
to the country's political leaders to-
day. since they seem bent and deter.
mined to prevent the production of
any sugar at home, but to send hun
dreds Of millions of dollars abroad
for it. It seems to be a notion more
or less ndu1ged in by the Ameri-
can people, but which has largely
grown on them in recent years, that
what is brought from abroad is bet
ter than anything they can make or
get at home.
In point of import value rubber
stands third on the list Ten. years. !.
ago imports of India rubber averaged
about $4,000, 600 pounds a year. The s
expansion of the automobile industry
has resulted in doubling OF the
quantity imported and in increas-
ing the price by somewhat more
than 80 per cent. The price of scrap
rubber has risen about 80 per cent,
and there has been material increase
in quantity purchased.
The fourth on the list is also
group rather than a single commodi-
ty, hides and skins standing at s102,-
500 900 in 1912 and at s58,000,oQ0 in
1903. While the price of goat skins
has fallen, the imports have increased
about 20 per cent in both volume and
value. from an average of $20, 100000
to s24, 600 900 The price Of hides OF
cattle has risen from about II cents
a pound to more than II cents. and
Imports show an average increase OF
nearly 10000 900 pounds a year for
the three years Of free hides III
comparison with the corresponding
term ten years ago. The transfer to
the free list appears to have stinu-
lated imports, but did not affect
prices perceptibly. The only result
seems to be the payment to Argen-
tina and other countries of the old
orice for larger quantity Of hides.
The average price for the year pre-
ceding the change in the tariff was
1874 cents and in 1910 and 1911 it
was 14.6 cents. The average for
1919 was Is cents.
The excuse.ms wanting to abolish
,r cut down the tariff on imported
goods is that it will make the artf-
eIes SO treated cheaper to consumers,
-,,4 .xg,,ariepaa iu avary case where