THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
43 
port his goods and pay the additional duty. The Florist 
who imports the hyacinths, tulips, azalea indica, roses, 
pot grown lilac, deutzia’s and other shrubs from foreign 
countries because they are not grown here has to pay the 
duty, and, after caring for the imported stock, paying 
wages, cost of greenhouse room and heating, the necessary 
cost of forcing this stock in bloom, he has no way of re¬ 
covering the additional duty from the consumer by charg¬ 
ing a higher price, but has to sell it at the moment it comes 
in bloom at the market price which he can not control but 
which is regulated by the natural law of supply and de¬ 
mand. So the duty paid on nursery stock is not paid by 
the consumer, but by the trade and should be treated as 
raw material. 
Foreign Labor Schedules. 
No. The protectionist will reply, we want protection 
against the foreigner. In what way do they want to be pro¬ 
tected? To know that let us go over the reasons given by 
Mr. Pitkin and others given before the Committee of Ways 
and Means in Washington. In the first place the Labor 
Question. They claim: In France and Holland the 
average price for labor better skilled than curs is 40 to 60 
cents per day for men and 30 to 50 cents fer women, as 
against $1.50 to $2x0 per day in the nurseries in the United 
States. That sounds well for American labor. 
But why not have stated what our men in Holland, (we 
do not employ women).earn per year against the men here? 
Or compare what we in Holland pay per acre cn wages 
with the American Nurseryman? 
If our men in Boskoop could double or treble their income 
they certainly would immigrate and come here to work. 
But I do not see many coming so far, and the few who have 
come, went back as soon as they had a chance. They prefer 
the 60 cent wage in Holland against the $1.50 or $2.00 here 
because they get their wages the whole year around , rain 
or shine and whether there is work or not. In Holland we 
keep our men and in this way we are able to have skilled 
men the whole year. In America the nurseryman does 
not employ more help than he is compelled to have at the 
moment and discharges the men as soon as work is slack, 
the consequence is that he has very little skilled help to 
look after his growing stock which has to grow as it pleases 
and as soon as digging and planting is done his discharged 
men may flock to the overpopulated cities and multiply 
the army of the unemployed. And to continue this dis¬ 
crimination against American labor they ask the co¬ 
operation of the Government. 
If the capital spent for duties by the nursery trade was 
turned in to labor, our American friends would not only get 
as good skilled labor as we have but they would get a nice 
high interest on the money laid out as he could grow better 
trees and save many trees which he grows now for the brush 
pile, this would help the workingman and be better than a 
protective duty. 
Adaptation. 
On roses they want a duty of \V 2 to 5 cents each. 
For what? The climate, soil, etc., enables the Holland 
nurseryman to grow 80,000 plants to the acre against the 
American grower only x8,000. 
Being a Hollander of course I know what the Holland 
climate is, but what they mean by comparing this with 
American climate I have no idea. I should think that be¬ 
tween the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific and between 
semi-tropical Texas and cold Manitoba nearly all climes 
and conditions can be found, and if Rochester or any other 
place where they have tried to grow roses is not profitable, 
why not try another place? Suppose the figures were 
true, do they mean to say that if we in Holland, plant the 
same number of roses or cuttings on an acre of land, that 
the American grower plants on his acre, that we can pro¬ 
duce a harvest of four times the number of plants which he 
can produce? And do they want their incompetence'pro¬ 
tected by law and have the consumer pay for it? If the 
present duty on roses is removed the Hollanders will in¬ 
crease the price. I wish we could, but as there are more 
than 500 growers in Boskoop alone I think the regular rul¬ 
ing of supply and demand will be enough to prevent us 
raising our prices, and what they say about the inferior stock 
in Holland, we will pass over unnoticed and let our cus¬ 
tomers judge about it. Why the fib was told about Ger¬ 
many placing a prohibitive duty on Holland nursery stock 
is more than I can understand. 
The German Tariff. 
Germany has enacted a tariff and nursery stock pays by 
the weight. This may be hard on the trees and plants 
which are generally shipped with a ball of earth as pot- 
grown lilac and conifers but that deos not amount to much 
on roses, as they do not weigh much. A bundle of 50 
roses does not weigh more than a single pot-grown lilac or a 
conifer of 3 foot. And if that is meant to bar Holland 
nursery stock from Germany it is a sorry failure as in the 
last two years more nursery stock is shipped from Bos¬ 
koop to Germany than ever before, and of course the Ger¬ 
man florist has to pay the piper. 
Specific Duty Unfair. 
A specific duty instead of an ad valorem duty on coni¬ 
fers and Ornamental shrubs is unjust and impracticable, 
as the common shrubs and Conifers which cost least to 
grow will pay the highest rate of duty; for instance, 
Hydrangea paniculata or Spirea will cost 5 cents from duty 
just as well as the grafted shrubs, and a Retinospora pisifera 
will cost 60 cents for duty if it is 4 feet high and a Retinos¬ 
pora Obtusa nana or Filifera aurca of the same size which 
cost ten times as much will only pay the same. Why they 
want a duty of 5 cents on Peonies which are offered in the 
florists papers at $30.00 per 1000 I cannot understand. 
The law as proposed is so complicated that no custom¬ 
house official who is not a nurseryman can understand it 
and will give lots of trouble to the importers of this kind of 
merchandise. 
If you ask my view about a tariff for the general good 1 
must say, make it as low as possible, and it would be for the 
interests of all, to place all plants and nursery stock on the 
free list. 
