OCR Text |
Show TARIFF PREDICTIONS FALSIFIED Things work out vory differently In prnctlco from tho way thoy took on papor. Theoretically tho now tariff was to make a big cut In tho cost of living. Tho tariff orators alwnyo said that protection increased prices by tho amount of duty. If tho duty was forty per cent tho protective tariff lifted tlte prlco forty per cent. How perfectly ridiculous this claim looks In tho light of recent history! Dy this tlmo, it is apparent to overy ono that tho tariff was ona of tho most minor losues In tho matter of prices. High prices are caused hy high cost of land nnd by tho high wages paid to labor, moro than by nny other causes. Lelgslation can not affect such conditions. It Is true that ,somo of tho more disastrous results predicted by en thusiasttc protectionists have not yet been realized. Tho reason appears ap-pears to bo this. European manufacturers manufac-turers have not looked at onr tariff changes ns permanent. Thoy know how quickly tho Wilson-Gorman tariff of 1891 wn's undone. To capturo tho trado of n foreign country is a work of tlmo. It takes study of tho market mar-ket and the creation of a selling- organization, or-ganization, i KV'J No doubt It has Boomed vory foolish fool-ish to European manufacturers, to make a bid for American trade, until un-til thoy could sco It this tariff showed nny signs of permanenco. Many of their correspondents have no doubt predicted that it was a mere temporary tem-porary arrangement, duo to a split In tho party of protection. No doubt they havo beon oxpoctlng to see the, rates raised again soon. Thoy have beon slow to Invest thousands of dollars in cultivating a now market that may soon bo withdrawn. Beforo Be-foro they could lay any plans for such trade, alone" carao tho war, making new projects Impossible for now. Under theso circumstances, tho Tact that moro Industries havo not boon undermined by foreign competition compe-tition Is no sign that tho protection Is adequate Tho election of a Democratic Dem-ocratic Congress this fall would be nn encouragemont to European manufacturers man-ufacturers that havo been contem plating nn nttompt to capturo American Ameri-can trade, and who will bid for It whenever tho war closes. |