The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-07-20

because it takes about three pounds
of wool to make 2 suit.
"The way the importers are trying
to raise prices on goods made from
imported wool is in line with what
they have been doing with other i'm
ported articles. Senator Willis show
ed me list Of things made in foreign
countries for small sum, then brot
over here and sold for many times
the original cost, the difference, Of
course, going into the pockets of the
importers as profits. T,'ble knives,
for instance, that cost 2.75 cents each
to make abroad are sold here at so
cents, an increase Of 991 per cent.
Ladies gloves cost q cents abroad
and are retailed here at 50, an in
crease of 627 per cent. Straw hat;
bought in England for 60 cents each
are sold here at 81, an increase Of 479
per cent. Razors that cost 81 cents
abroad are sold in the United States
at SIS, raise of 1921 per cent. And
so on through a long list.
"Naturally the men who are get
ting rich from such transactions are
desperately trying to keep the rates
of duty down so that they can go on
bringing foreign-nlade goods to this
country at a minimum of cost and
selling them to the American consmn,-
ers at maximum Of profit. While
that process is going on, of course
the producers in this country are be-
ing deprived of a market for their
goods, and American industry and
American wage-earners suffer az
cordingly. In the case Of wool, for
instance, the number of sheep in the
United States declined almost half
under the free-trade Democratic law
that prevailed for eight years prior
to the emergency tariff law now in
effect. What has happened in the
sheep industry the free traders would
like to see repeated in other lines of
production. They want us to buy
chemicals from Germany, eggs from
China, beef from South America,
cloth from England and France, and
butter from Denmark. It is easy to
see what would become of our own
producers Of those things if such a
policy should prevail.
"The reason why protective tariff
is necessary on wool as we'll as other
products was made clear by Senator
Willis when he showed me that one
ounce of gold buys 20 hours of work
in the United States, so hours in
Great Britain, 80 hours in Japan, 100
hours in France, and 200 hours IN
Germany. Unless the difference in
the cost of production in those coun-
tries and here is compensated by am
pie tariff rates, Of course our own
worlzmen must be content to accept
the foreign standard of living or else
lose their employment. while these
differences in wages and standards of
living obtain Senator Willis told me,
the maintenance of protective tar
if for American workers, including
the farmers, is, in my judgment, es-
sential to the prosperity of our coun-
try
1.-THE reason for the different rates
in tariff bill are too complicated for
most people to understand, as they
involve expert knowledge of manu-
faoture, but the general argument for
protection ought to be clearly in the
mind of everybody, including the
children in the schools. The history
of the country has shown that ade-
qus'te protection means prosperity,
with plenty of work at good wages,
while free trade brings unemploy-
n,ent and the shutting down Of Amer
ican industries with all their attend
ant misfortunes."