PROTECTIVE TARIFFS AND PRICES. 63 



CHAPTER XIV. 



PROTECTIVE TARIFFS AND PRICES. 



FOR years the Chicago Tribune has discussed the tariff question 

 on the dogmatic plan assertion without proof. Not long 

 ago that paper contained an editorial article under the title of 

 "The Export Problem," in which a parcel of absurd allegations 

 were presented as so many established facts. Our cotemporary' 

 should have learned by this time that it is far easier to make than 

 it is to prove an assertion. For example : 



The most material bearing that the American tariff has upon the export of 

 American breadstuff's is, that since 1861 the American producer has received in 

 exchange for his exports from one quarter to one third less in quantity in other 

 commodities, such as iron, and cotton, and woolen clothing, than he did between 

 1846 and 1861. 



Here,, as usual, we have assertion without proof. The facts con- 

 tradict the Tribune. Little more than three months ago a woolen 

 manufacturer in Indiana, whose business was started in 1854, made 

 the following statement in our columns a statement derived from 

 his personal experience : 



But to show you just how cheap you are buying woolen goods (cotton goods 

 will make nearly the same showing), I will give a table of prices in 1860 and 

 1874, simply for a contrast : 



Choice tub wool, well washed, sold in 1860 for $ .25 per ft). 



Average highest wages paid for hands in 1860 1.50 per day. 



Price for g-oz. jeans, wholesale 6operyard. 



Tub wool, poorly washed, 1874, sold for 50 per ft). 



Average highest wages paid in 1874 3.00 per day. 



Price of 9-oz. jeans, wholesale 50 per yard. 



This exhibit emphatically denies the assertion made so dogmatic- 

 ally by the Tribune. The wool-grower obtains double the price, and 

 the mill-operative double the wages he did in 1860, and the whole- 

 sale price of the same class and grade of goods has declined 165/3 



