EXPORTS OF INDIAN MEAL. 27 



classes be robbed by a system of custom-house legislation under 

 which they prosper under which they get better prices for the 

 produce they sell, and pay lower prices for the finished products 

 they buy? 



A multitude of facts, of daily occurrence, show that the ten- 

 dency of Protective tariffs is to cheapen the prices of manufactured 

 articles. Such a fact is found in the following statement, which 

 we copy from a Philadelphia paper of recent date : 



Our enterprising Philadelphia saw and tool manufacturers, Messrs. Henry 

 Disston & Sons, have a full-page advertisement in the London Ironmonger, stat- 

 ing the location of their works and offices, and the nature of their business, and 

 adding that they have an agency at Durham, England, for the sale of their saws, 

 tools, and sheet steel. 



Here we see that Protective America is beginning to find a market 

 for some of her manufactures on the soil of Free Trade England. 

 That could not be, if the necessary effect of Protective duties is to 

 increase cost in production and to enhance prices. Some months 

 ago, the Sheffield (England) Telegraph stated that an agent of 

 Messrs. Henry Disston & Sons had arrived in that town with sam- 

 ples of the firm's wares, and was offering to fill an order for any 

 article in the lot at 15 per cent, less than the current prices charged 

 by Sheffield manufacturers an announcement which created no 

 little stir and uneasiness. In the face of facts like these, we are 

 told by Free Trade'rs that a reduction of the tariff would enable 

 the Sheffield manufacturers to undersell Messrs. Henry Disston & 

 Sons in the United States, and thus cheapen to farmers the prices 

 of saws and tools. Meanwhile, the American firm is seeking cus- 

 tomers in the home market of those very rivals who, it is claimed, 

 would overmaster competition in this country were it not for our 

 Protective tariff. Now, we wish Free Traders to answer this ques- 

 tion : How is it possible for the Sheffield producers to outdo the 

 Philadelphia producers in cheapening prices in the American mar- 

 ket, when those Philadelphia producers are able to outdo those 

 Sheffield producers in cheapening prices in the English market? 



