76 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



grower in the United States must have $1.50 per gallon to stand on equal terms -with 

 his foreign colleague. It may be proper to remark here and to bear in mind, that we 

 owe it to the cheapness and richness of our soil, and to the extensive use of agricul- 

 tural machinery, that we can fairly and successfully compete with foreign countries in 

 the production of breadstuffs ; but that in the production of wine and its treatment 

 everything must be done by hand. 



We must further bear in mind, that in Germany and France most of the labor in the 

 vineyards is done by women, whose wages are still lower than those of the men, and 

 that the green leaves and twigs and the tops of the new canes, which are removed by 

 the process of summer pruning, and which are generally given to the laborers, consti- 

 tute a desirable food for cows, and form an important item to the vine-dresser. This 

 accounts for the fact that all the labor and attention necessary in a vineyard during 

 the year can be hired at about $8.00 per acre ; labor for which we in this blessed coun- 

 try pay not less than $100.00. So, if our foreign competitors can raise a gallon of 

 wine at 20 cents, we ought to obtain $3.50 per gallon, to be on equal terms with them. 



These estimates are based upon the supposition, that the average yield per acre is 

 the same in this country and in the foreign countries named ; if there is any difference, 

 it is, if we except our prolific Concord grape, in favor of the foreign country. The cost 

 of transportation by sailing vessels from Europe to the United States is very small, and 

 is nearly counter-balanced by the expenses of storing and attending the wine in the 

 cellar during the process of ripening and until a sale is effected, which expenses are 

 much higher here than in Europe. 



So far the comparison is decidedly in favor of the European wine-grower ; to counter- 

 act his advantages we have the duty levied upon imported wines under our tariff laws. 

 The duty on imported wines is twenty-five cents Ad valorem, and a specific duty of 

 twenty cents. If the average price of a gallon of wine, on which the import duty 

 is to be paid, is thirty cents, the duty will amount to twenty-seven and one-half cents 

 and will increase the price of the wine to fifty-seven and one-half cents per gallon ; 

 suppose all other expenses of the importation to be fifteen cents per gallon, the price 

 will be raised to seventy-two and one-half cents, which will leave a margin in favor of 

 the importer of foreign wines, of seventy-seven and one-half cents for every gallon of 

 "wine, which he imports to this country, in opposition or competition to the native 

 juice, if we value it at $1.50 per gallon. 



To overcome these disadvantages which darken the prospects of wine-growing in this 

 country, as a branch of home industry, and threaten to smother it in its infancy, it has 

 been proposed to apply to Congress for a modification of the tariff laws and an increase 

 of the duties on imported wines. The subject has already secured the attention of the 

 horticultural and vine-growers' associations in the western states, especially in Ohio, and 

 will be laid before Congress. All the different branches of industry, which now are 

 sources of national and individual pride and wealth in this country, have received in 

 their infancy, and are receiving yet, after they have attained maturity, the protection of 

 the government ; why should not the growing of grapes and the manufacture of wine 

 receive its proportionate share of such protection, as well as the manufacture of iron or 

 steel? 



It is true, the wine grower pays no revenue tax ; he can sell his wine at the place, 

 where it has been made, without license for that purpose ; but as soon as he removes his 

 wine from his cellar to a place where he expects to find a market for it, the laws of the 



