| Show I 1 I 1 A it REVENUE EVENUE I 1 TARIFF REFORMER MILLS GIVES HIS OPINION AS TO ITS EFFECT 1 taj it t would increase In creane import imports to an 0 o enormous extent without any correspond log ilig in export tho the would no ile a general it of wage Wages that great free trade reformer ar yr roger Q mills of texas spec speaking akin ot of the issues of the day in a recent jinter interview ter view was asked his opinion as to the effect of a redaction reduction of the tariff in answer mr mills said A reduction of the tariff to 25 21 per cent above a revenue basis would increase our imports and that amount of exports would have to to pay for the imports this estimate of the effect of a tariff redaction reduction coming cout ing from a man of mr mills milli prominence as a reformer may be accepted as a fairly accurate one ono I 1 we shall therefore assume his figures to be correct that a redaction reduction of the tariff would resul resulting tin a large increase in the amount of our importations is self evident according to mr mills this increase would be about per yes jear r now what docs does this mean why I 1 dimply that it if we consume W worth orth more of imported articles per year we will consume worth less our own manufactured articles in other words our homo home manufactures would be decreased by that aino amount the suffering that this would entail Is almost incalculable all the workingmen that are at present engaged in producing these worth of manufactured articles would bo be thrown out of employment and being a drug on the labor market wages would fall throughout the whole country this would mean a diminished purchasing power on the part of the laboring population a resulting smaller demand for the goods of producers of every class and consequent industrial stagnation and hard times but says mr mills voicing the bame same old free trade theory this would not beso be BO for that amount of exports would have to go out to pay for the imports Is this so time and time again we have a shown that the amount of exports has no connection at all with the amount of imports the following table 1 of our exports and imports since sine ISSO proves that an increase in exports does not necessitate a corresponding increase in imports but that often an increase in exports is accompanied bya by a decrease in imports exports imports ii 1880 aa wa ax W 6 ll 11 VA wd 1883 7 1683 18 1881 GOO CM 1885 a issa lm arl no 1111 7 68 IM 1889 ISOO im wm 1801 It iOL what then can we expect in the future experience has shown that the very opposite of mr mills theory is true so that while giving foreigners a market for over worth of goods good s we could not expect to sell them much more than in the past since therefore we could 9 ot pay for their goods by sending them ours in return we would have to pay for them thein in money and the exporting of such an amount especially now when the interests of the country demand a stable monetary system would cause a financial panic the like of which even during the golden ere era of revenue tariff the country has never known mr mills is to be commended for his frankness and when tho the people want a system that would bring about a state of affairs such as we have described they will put the reformers into power again |
