90 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



been challenged if it had not been true? Br.t it is tr'ie. Now we 

 simply want a fair deal. That is what the interests of this country, 

 from the agricultural and livestock point, demand. I have heard some 

 gentlemen who argue on the other side challenge the statement that any 

 of our duties upon foreign imports are too high. They say that it is 

 asserted of course by those who would import products into this country 

 that they are not too high. Let us look for a moment at the actual 

 facts and leave it to the unbiased and honest opinion of men as to 

 whether or not that was true. Here are some pages I tore out of the 

 statistical abstract, for 1904. I merely want to call your attention to 

 one or two schedules. This gives the average duty paid on all the im 

 ports of certain schedules. Of course it is very much lower than the 

 highest duties, because but little is imported if any where the highest 

 duties come in. Take the cotton manufactures and the imports of cotton 

 manufactures for the year ending June 1904, was $48,901,815. And 

 the duty actually paid upon those imports was $26,300,000, or a duty 

 of 53.78 per cent. We grow the cotton, we have the finest cotton machin- 

 ery in the world, we have invented everything from the cotton gin up to 

 the highest power loom, and yet our cotton manufacturers exporting as 

 I have shown you an enormous quantity of cotton goods, we will bar out 

 anyhing that can be made abroad by a duty on an average of 53.78 per 

 cent. 



In earthen, stone and china ware, another schedule which concerns 

 the average life of every farmer in the country, we imported $11,905,434 

 worth upon which they required a duty to he paid of $6,963,622 or 58.49 

 per cent. Isn't that an unnecessary duty in this day and generation. 

 It might have been asked for 25 years ago. On glass, which is an- 

 other thing, — and mark you, the freights upon earthen, stone and china 

 ware, and upon glass are enormous handicaps to the foreign importers — • 

 of glass we imported $6,404,201 and we paid upon it a duty amounting 

 $3,918,283 that is we charged it to the importer and divided it up, 

 whenever we bought any of the imported article, a duty of 61.18 per cent 

 on glass. The labor involved in glass manufacture in this country 

 is an insignificant amount comparatively, and we could afford to buy 

 all the glass works and burn them up and destroy them and make money 

 by it, and then have a chance to buy abroad. 



In tobacco and manufactures of tobacco, we of course are the greatest 

 growers of tobacco on earth. It is an agricultural product, and I am 

 willing to let the blame fall even upon an agricultural product; but it 

 is chiefly in manufactures that this enters. We have an average duty of 

 118 per cent upon all of the manufactured tobacco imported. And I 

 want to call your attention to just one more and that is to the iron and 

 steel schedule, where we have been importing such enormous quantities. 

 There we have a duty. We imported $26,277,690 worth of manufactured 

 iron and steel. Upon that we paid a duty of $9,651,240, an average duty 

 of 36 per cent. Now in the manufacture of iron and steel we encroach 

 upon Germany tremendously. She manufactures cheap guns, cheap cut- 



