CONGRESS. (THE TARIFF MEASURE.) 



195 



not only to the wool grower, but also to the car- 

 pet maker and to the consumers of the United 

 States. There is no industry in this country 

 which so splendidly illustrates the value of a 

 protective tariff as the carpet industry, which 

 has had such marvelous growth in the last twenty- 

 three years. 



" In 1810 the entire product of carpets in this 

 country was about 10,000 yards. The tariff of 

 1828 gave some encouragement, and in 1834 

 there were twenty carpet factories in the coun- 

 try, operating 511 hand looms producing annu- 

 ally about 1,000,000 yards of carpet. In 1860, 

 under the low tariff, there were only 8,000,000 

 pounds of wool consumed in making carpets in 

 the United States, and only 13,000,000 yards of 

 carpet were produced, valued at a little over $7,- 

 000,000. Six thousand six hundred and eighty- 

 one hands were employed, and the wages paid 

 were less than a million and a half dollars annu- 

 ally. The value of the plants in 1860 was less than 

 $5,000,000. Under the tariff of 1867. that first pro- 

 tective tariff law so far as wool and the manufact- 

 ures of wool were concerned, this industry grew 

 and prospered, and in 1870 there were 215 fac- 

 tories in the United States, valued at over $12,- 



j 500,000, consuming more than 33,000,000 pounds 



! of wool, employing 13,000 hands, and paying in 

 wages $4,681,000 annually, and producing 22,- 



I 000,000 yards of carpet every twelve months. 

 " One fourth of our total consumption was im- 



! ported from England in 1872. In that year 



1 there were 170 looms manufacturing body Brus- 



i sels : in 1880 the manufacture had risen to 590 



i looms. In 1872 our product in Brussels was 1,- 

 275,000 yards ; in 1880 we produced over 7,000,- 

 000 yards of Brussels carpet. In 1872 we im- 



! ported 1,500,000 yards of body Brussels ; in 1880 

 we imported only 80,000 yards. We doubled the 



I looms for manufacturing Wiltons between 1870 



; and 1880. 



" Now take tapestry Brussels the poor man's 

 carpet, if you please. In 1872 "we had 143 

 looms ; in 1880 we had increased to 1,073 looms. 



i In 1872 we produced 1,500,000 yards of tapestry 

 Brussels ; in 1880 we produced 16,950,000 yards 



i of tapestry Brussels. In 1872 we imported 3.670,- 

 000 yards of tapestry Brussels from England ; in 



1 1880 we imported only 100,000 yards of tapestry 

 Brussels from England. All this time prices 

 were being reduced. In 1872 the price of body 

 Brussels by the wholesale was over $2 per yard ; 

 in 1880 the wholesale price had gone below'$1.50 

 a yard, and to-day you can buy them for 93 

 cents a yard. 



" In 1872 tapestry carpets averaged $1.46 per 

 yard; in 1880 the price had gone down to 90 

 cents per yard, and to-day you can buy the best 

 quality for 65 cents per yard. The extra super 

 ingrain carpet which in 1872 sold for $1.20 can 

 be bought to-day for 45 cents per yard, all wool 

 and a yard wide. The total production of car- 

 pets in the United States (estimated) in 1880 was 

 39,972,000 yards; capital invested, $21,486,000; 

 operatives employed, 30,371 ; paid out in wages, 

 #6,435,000. It is estimated that to-day there are 

 204 carpet factories in this country, running 11,- 

 500 looms (of which 7.597 are power looms), em- 

 ploying 43,000 hands, in 1889 consuming over 

 >0,000 pounds of wool and turning out 76,- 

 880,000 yards of carpet. 



"Why, sir, in the city of Philadelphia alone 

 there was produced 20,000,000 yards of carpet 

 annually 16,000,000 less than the entire output 

 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. And 

 all the while the price of carpet had gone down. 

 But the ad valorem has gone up ; and that is 

 what troubles the gentlemen on the other side. 

 It is the high ad valorems that you gentlemen 

 advocating tariff reform keep before your eyes. 

 You shut your eyes to the diminishing prices. 

 The favorite assault of the Democratic free trader 

 or revenue-tariff reformer is to parade these high 

 percentages and ad valorem equivalents to show 

 the enormous burdens of taxation that we im- 

 pose upon the people of the United States. 



" Now, let us look at this for a moment while 

 we are passing. When steel rails were $100 a 

 ton we had a duty on them of $28 a ton. What 

 would be the equivalent ad valorem ? Twenty- 

 eight per cent. That is not enormous. My 

 friend from Texas even would not hold that 

 as too high an ad valorem equivalent. But the 

 very instant we reduced the price of steel rails 

 to $50 a ton, because of that duty of $28, which 

 encouraged our own producers to engage in this 

 business when the price went down to $50 a 

 ton the ad valorem equivalent went up to 56 per 

 cent. ; for $28 a ton duty, with steel rails at $50 

 a ton, would be equivalent to 56 per cent. They 

 are troubled about the ad valorem equivalent. 

 They look to percentages ; we look at prices. 

 We would rather have steel rails at $50 a ton 

 and an ad valorem equivalent of 50 per cent, 

 than to have steel rails at $100 a ton and an ad 

 valorem equivalent of only 28 per cent. They 

 pursue a shadow ; we enjoy the substance. What 

 do we care about ad valorems? But you will 

 hear of high ad valorems in this debate from its 

 beginning to its close. 



" Why, sir, when you bought a crate of ware 

 in 1855 at $96, the ad valorem was only 24 per 

 cent. You buy the same crate of ware to-day 

 for $46, but the" ad valorem has gone up 55 per 

 cent. Which would you rather have, low ad 

 valorem equivalents and high-priced goods, or 

 high ad valorem equivalents and low-priced 

 goods. 



" What is the nature of the complaint against 

 this bill ? That it shuts us out of a foreign mar- 

 ket ? No, for whatever that is worth to our citi- 

 zens will be just as accessible under this bill as 

 under the present law. We place no tax or bur- 

 den or restraint upon American products going 

 out of the country. They are as free to seek the 

 best market as the products of any rival commer- 

 cial power, and as free to go out as though we 

 had absolute free trade. Statistics show that pro- 

 tective tariffs have not interrupted our export 

 trade, but that it has increased under them. 



" In the year 1843, being the first year after 

 the protective tariff of 1842 went into operation, 

 our exports exceeded our imports $40,392,229, 

 and in the following year they exceeded our im- 

 ports $3,141,226. In the two years following the 

 excess of imports over exports was $15,475,000. 

 The last year under the tariff the excess of ex- 

 ports over imports was $34,317,249 So during 

 the five years of the tariff of 1 842 the excess of 

 exports over imports was $62,375.000. Under 

 the low tariff of 1846 this was reversed, and, 

 with the single exception of 1858, the imports ex- 



