The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-09-22
ADMiNlSTRATlO ADMITS eENE
FiClAL EFFECTS OF. THE WAR.

washington, Sept. GI-(Spec1al cor
respondence)-bifectly reversing the
statements OF Secretary Of Commerce
Redfield that revival of American in
dustry;was not due to war orders, the
department of commerce has just Civ.
en- out a statement concluding with
the assertions that l"surveying the
whole field, it may justly be said that
the worlds conflict has been of I'M
measured value to American industry
as whole"
The same statement contains prac.
teal admissions OF the soundness of
the protective tariff principle. The
departments bulletin says: "In a
more Or less uncomfortable way, we
have suddenly been brought to recog-
nize the unwisdom, the folly. of ship.
ping vast amounts of the crude mate.
rial of our farms, forests and mines
1000 miles across the ocean, and buy
ing it back in manufactured form,
at vastly enhanced price. We have
likewise come to recognize the alb.
surdity Of allowing many natural
products of the tropics, of South Amer
lea, of the far east, to find their way
to Europe, and Of paying foreign in.
telligence and skill to transform them
into articles of daily need in our
lives"
This attitude now taken by de,
Dartment under the control OF demo
cratic administration is exactly what
republicans have commended for from
the, foundation OF the party. During
every democratic administration we
have shipped raw material abroad and
bought it back in manufactured form
at asvastly increased price. We were
doing exactly that under the present
democratic tariff law until the wal
interviewed and served as protective
wall to cut off foreign imports.
Probably nothing that has come out
of the department OF commerce will
serve more to embarrass the demo
cratic party in the coming campaign
than this statement expressly &C
knowledging the vital importance OF
manufacturing goods at home. The
department points to the course OF
events that followed the cutting off
by war of the aniline imports from
from the same source, with the result
ing tremendous impulse given to the
expansion of domestic manufacture. -
The department might as well have
made its acknowledgment apply to a
long list of commodities heretofore sup
piled largely from abroad, but cut off
by the war with resulting tremen.
dous impulses to the expansion of do.
nestle manufacture"
In the acknowledgment of facts as
they exist, the department seems 10
have made complete confession. In
expression Of opinions it does not go
So far, for it says that it docs not
believe that the cost Of production in
the warning countries of Europe will
be lowered as result of the war, or
that there will be danger from that
source to the holding of new markets
already gained" In view of the fact
that the departments opinions have
been found erroneous so many times
in the past, there will be little dispo.
sition on the part of the business men
of the United States to accept the
mere opinions of the department as a
guarantee against the return of ex-
actly the same conditions which the
department now admits were unfor-
tunate for this country and which the
war alone served to overthrow.
Upon the close OF the war millions
of men will return to active industry
and the removal of the shipping en-
barge will release a vast quantity of
manufactured articles now held in
Germany because of the destruction
of that country's merchant marine.