700 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



September 1, 1913. 



has a monopoly of the home market gained 

 other than through the fact that it is able 

 to furnish better gocds at lower prices than 

 others. 



WHAT THE PROPOSALS ARE. 



The greatest reductions are in the 

 tariff scheduled concerning metals, 

 leather, and textile manufactures. 



For example, iron ore is placed on the 

 free list; the duty on pig iron is to be 32s. 

 a ton (of 2000 pounds), or one-half the pre- 

 .sent duty; the duties upon steel ingots and 

 upon a great variety of other steel products 

 are also reduced 50 per cent. In the entire 

 metals schedule about half of the items are 

 reduced 50 per cent, or more, and there are 

 but a few items where the reduction is not 

 at least 33 per cent. Of the leather schedule 

 there is practically nothing left. Hides and 

 skins are to be fr(H^, and so are all kinds 

 of leather, except such insignificant items as 

 glove leather, chamois and pianoforte leather. 

 Moreover, the duty is entirely removed from 

 boots and shoes, and from harness and sad- 

 dlery. On cotton manufactures the highest 

 duty proposed in any caso is 30 per cent. 

 ad vaJnrr/m. In the wool schedule there is 

 no duty above 35 per cent, ad valorem, ex- 

 cept in the case of carpets woven whole, 

 when the duty is 50 per cent. 



Silk is treated as a luxury, and the re- 

 ductions of duty are slight. Even in 

 this drastic action a willingness is dis- 

 cernable to look after the interests of 

 good Democratic communities. Texas 

 — a solid Democratic State — is largely 

 engaged in the raising of Angora goats ; 

 so in the Bill which makes wool free of 

 duty, a duty is imposed on the hair of 

 the Angora goat, and so on. 



Taking the largest and broadest view 



of the situation, it will appear that in no 



important class of merchandise which 



has been enjoying protection, and on 



which the tariff is now to be reduced, 



are foreign communities, singly or all 



combined, in a position to supply any 



considerable part of the requirements of 



America. 



British and continental manufacturers 

 can, no doubt, greatly increase their pro- 

 duction, which is, at piesent, quantitatively 

 adaptoti to their own home consumption, and 

 a well-ascertained foreign demand ; but that 

 will take time. On the other hand, the con- 

 suming capacity of a population approaching 

 a hundred millions in number is so huge that 

 it would be absurd to expect or to f<^ar that 

 any largo part of the American manufac- 

 turer's p'roduction for his home market can 

 ever be displaced. It follows that at the 

 worst only a small fraction of the productive 

 plants of tho country will be forced to idle- 

 ness, unless competition should depress prices 

 to an unprofitable basis. Tliat does not seem 

 probable; for it can never be good policy 



for foreign co.npetitors to lower the prices: 

 of their wares unnecessarily. They are far 

 more likely to take advantage of the high 

 prices prevailing in their new market. There 

 will be many exceptions to the general rule 

 here suggested, but for the most part they 

 will not affect the great commodities in uni- 

 versal use, produced and consumed in large 

 quantities. 



WOOLLEN GOODS. 



The situation, though, with regard to 



w^oollen and worsted goods is peculiar. 



The promised advantage of free wool is so 

 great that it goes far to offset the 50 per. 

 cent, reduction of the tariff rates on woo! 

 manufactures. The United States is a great 

 producer of wool. It produces an average of 

 more than 300,000,(K)0 pounds per annum, 

 none of which is exported. Yet the imports 

 of foreign wool usually exceed 200,000, 000 

 pounds per annum. The high duty hitherto 

 laid upon wool makes it inexpe<Jicnt. be- 

 cause too costly, to import some desirable 

 wools. The phrase "suitable for America" 

 is a well-known designation of certain Aus- 

 tralian wools, whicli inipli(\s that some other 

 wools are not suit^able. The wool manufac- 

 turers of the Tnited States have always sup- 

 ported the demand of tlie w«m>1 growem for 

 a duty, as being a netc^ssary feature of a 

 general system of protection, but now that 

 this duty is to be withdrawn independently 

 of any action of theirs they hail its disap- 

 pearance as a boon. The projjose;! reduc- 

 tion of duty on th?ir manufactiinxl goods is 

 very severe, and will surely expose them to 

 much foreign competition — more, perhap-^, 

 than will be experienced by any other in- 

 dustry. Yet the large concerns are not 

 wholly despondent. What is to he fearetl is. 

 that the impending changes will clost> per- 

 manently hundretls of small-neighltourlKKxI 

 mills, sc-attered all over the country, that 

 give the only semblance of life to the nllages 

 in which they are situated. 



NOTHING REVOLUTIONARY TO BE 



EXPECTED. 



If the views expressed by Mr. Slan- 



wood are sound, nothing revolutionary 



is to be expected as the practical result 



of the new tariff. 



That thcro will be larger importations is 

 a matter of course; but it does not seem pos- 

 sible that the increase can l>e so great as to 

 disarrange the markets except in the few 

 cases specified, and in others of a similar 

 character. If that be so, it follows also that 

 in an extremely small number of cases will 

 prices be affecte<l in either direction to a 

 marked degree. That, in turn, implies on 

 the one hand that labour will not suffer 

 greatly from lack of employment or from 

 lower wagevs; on the other hand, that the 

 people for whose supposed benefit the reversal 

 of national policy is undertaken will not 

 realise any substantial relief from the high 

 cost of li%'ing. Moreover, it implies that, al- 

 though the door of the American market, is 

 to be opentxi, b.y at least a crack the i»i- 

 vitation to enter will not. and in many cases, 

 cannot, bo largely accepted. 



