[Philadelphia Press.]

Mr. James M. Swank, in his "Annual Statistics of the American Iron Trade," draws attention to the mastery of the iron and steel trade of the world by the iron and steel trade of the United States, which has been a significant event of the past year. No authority in this trade has a better right to point out that this is a legitimate result of the Protective Tariff which through thirty years he has urged. For years Mr. Swank was virulently attacked by FreeTrade papers in this country and abroad. His presence at Washington was denounced, interested motives were imputed to him, and the vocabulary of abuse exhausted in assaults upon his efforts and labors in behalf of the iron industry of this country.

It must be a source of just pride to him, and it is one of sincere gratification to those who admire his ability and appreciate his labors, that he has lived to see his efforts accomplished, his predictions filled to the letter and all he once urged as certain to result from a steady adherence to Protection come to pass within a single generation. It would be difficult to overstate the public service he has done by collecting the statistics of this great trade, uniting its energies and awakening in its members a common consciousness of mutual and national responsibility for the pursuit in which they were engaged.

The result of these labors has not

merely been the most complete and perfect record of a great industry which exists anywhere in any nation. The trade, as a whole, has become consolidated, it has come to act together, a mutual knowledge has existed of mutual progress and all parts of this industry have advanced together. The prices which Mr. Swank records for 1898 were lower than those abroad on a scale never before presented. When the increase in price in the first five months of 1899 began for the first time in our history the advance here followed and did not precede an advance abroad. To-day iron and steel exports are still continuing on a great scale, because the advance in price abroad makes them possible in spite of the advance at home. Remembering the days when Mr. Swank was laboring to exclude English iron and steel in order to produce a manufacture here equal to English competition. there is a singular significance in his record that in the fiscal year 1898 our exports to Great Britain of iron and steel were $12,752,016, while our imports from Great Britain were but $8,369,866. Our total imports of iron and steel in the calendar year 1898 were but $12,473,637. Our exports in the same calendar year were $82,771,550. Our total iron and steel imports in 1898 in all forms were 67,222 tons. Our exports of pig, rails, billets, wire, plates, nails and spikes were 775,027 tons, and this makes no account of advanced manufactures like locomotives, bicycles, implements, machines, etc.

Of 1,875 locomotives built in 1898 almost one-third, 580, went abroad, and this export steadily continues. Our export trade is now so established that it continues under an advance in price expected to check it. The battle of Protection has ended in overwhelming victory, and the first and last reports of Mr. Swank might well be bound together as the prediction and fulfillment of a great advocate and defender of the national policy for national industries.

Republican Conditions.

The news of the advance in wages of woodworkers which has just taken place in Cincinnati is in line with what has been going on in other fields of industry all over the country for the past few months. All the wages lost in the successive reductions during the Democratic panic days of 1893 and afterward have been recovered, and in many instances increases have been made on the amount received before the cuts took place. There are fewer idle persons in the country now than were ever known before.

Everybody has work

who wants it, and wages are up to the highest mark of the past, or above it. These are great Republican conditions. -Lewisburgh (Pa.) “Saturday News."

HYPOCRITE OR IGNORAMUS.

He Who Preaches Free-Trade as a Remedy Against Trusts.

[Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.] The theory of the Democracy is that trusts are the creatures of Protection, and that they cannot exist under FreeTrade. It should be explained that this is the avowed theory of the Democracy, rather than its honest belief; a theory put forth for political effect, to be introduced into the next campaign somewhat as follows: Trusts are an unmitigated evil; they are created by the Protective Tariff; therefore we should have a FreeTrade Tariff; therefore the Democracy, with its pledge to take Protection out of the Tariff, should be put in power.

Now all this is the veriest pretense. There is no evidence that trusts owe their establishment and maintenance to the Protective Tariff. Trusts are a business development of the past few years, and they exist under all Tariffs. An article in the May "Forum" states that 180 trusts were organized in Germany two years ago, that their number has greatly increased since then; that among them are a big German coal trust, and an Austrian rolling mill trust; that there

are

French combinations controlling iron, petroleum, sugar, chemicals and numberless other products, and that Belgium is overrun with trusts. These countries have various kinds of Tariffs.

Trusts are not the outgrowth of any special Tariff system. They flourish or fail independently of Tariffs, and are no more prevalent under Protection than under Free-Trade. So when a Democrat or a Populist comes around saying that the American people, in order to kill the trusts, must slaughter their home industries by subjecting them to unrestricted foreign competition, it is safe to set him down as a hypocrite or an ignoramus. In either case he is intent only on making political capital by raising a false issue. He wants to advance the fortunes of his party, and he cares not whether the means be fair and truthful or foul and deceptive.

But the American people are not to be hoodwinked. They have had some instructive object lessons in Free-Trade and Protection. They like the latter because of the prosperity it has brought, and they are not going to give it up at the behest of demagogues whose fabrications have not even a kernel of truth and whose motives are transparently selfish.

One iron plant has been closed and its big force of workmen released indefinitely. But the thing happened over in Canada. Iron works on this side of the line begin to need more storage room for their surplus orders. -San Francisco "Chronicle."

IT IS A WONDERFUL SHOWING.

Development of an Industry Under the Protection and Stimulus of the Tariff.

[Philadelphia Inquirer.]

The efficacy of the Protective system as an agency for the development of industrial enterprises and the enrichment of an active people with great natural resources at command, has seldom been so convincingly and impressively illustrated as in the case of the duty which a Republican Congress nine years ago at the instance of President McKinley, then chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, imposed on tin plate. No feature of the famous Tariff of 1890 provoked a more virulent, vindictive and unscrupulous opposition. The Democratic and Mugwump Free-Traders directed against it their loudest batteries. Their great point was that while imposing a tax on the dinner-pail of the workingman, it would certainly fail to accomplish its intended object. Tin plate simply couldn't be made in the United States, and if they were asked why not, their only answer was because it couldn't.

It was an unconvincing argument, and seldom has argument been more overwhelmingly refuted, seldom has the ingenuity of the special pleader been so utterly confounded by the logic of the facts. The statistics of the industry for the past ten years supply a demonstration of the value of a Protective duty intelligently laid which can neither be contradicted nor explained away. Figures are generally dry reading, but in this connection they surpass the eloquence of the ablest orator and are more interesting than the latest scandal. Prior to the imposition of a duty on tin plate, which became operative on July 1, 1891, the tin plate industry of the United States simply did not exist. The Tariff immediately began to get its work in. During the next succeeding six months the domestic production of tin and terne plate amounted to 2,236,743 pounds.

That was pretty well for a starter, but it wasn't a circumstance to what was coming. In the first full year of manufacture under the Protection and stimulus of the Tariff the production of American tin plate had increased twenty-fold to upward of 40,000,000 pounds, and still this was only a beginning. By 1893 the output had more than tripled. It now aggregated 123,600,000, and the advance since then has been rapid and uninterrupted. Thus it happens that last year the mills of the United States turned out 732,290,000 pounds of plate, and that since the Tariff was enacted the production in this country has reached the amazing total of 2,235,590,629 pounds.

Scarcely less notable and satisfactory is the fact that the predictions of the Free-Traders with regard to the effect of the tin plate duty on the price of the

66

poor man's dinner-pail" have been as effectually exploded as all the rest. The creation of another great American industry has been accomplished without placing any burden on the consumer. So far from that, the consumer has been benefited. Tin cans for packing are sold to-day to packers at prices twentyfive per cent. less than were paid in 1891, and the same statement is true of tin plates for roofing. It is a wonderful showing, and to the Republican party in general and Mr. McKinley in particular belongs the credit for it.

Free-Trade Trusts, Too.

The theory that trusts are essentially a product of the Protective Tariff has been a favorite one in Democratic arguments on the subject. The fallacy of this claim is shown by an article from the pen of H. W. Macrosty, an English economist. in the March "Contemporary Review." It shows that the trust principle is already established and gaining ground in Free-Trade England as well as in the United States. The writer quotes, for example, a few English trusts controlling such interests as steel and iron rails, petroleum, warship building, lead pipe, fish supply, metal utensils, antimony, nickel, mercury, thread, salt, alkali and rubber tires. One engineering combine is mentioned as having a capital of $56,000,000. This goodsized bunch of centralized industries managed to get together under the English Free-Trade system, and is said by this writer to be only a portion of "a steady movement toward combination and monopoly." With the trust system flourishing so briskly under absolute Free-Trade, it will readily be seen that the suggested removal of the Tariff from all articles handled by trusts would be an inefficient method of suppressing their growth.

As a matter of fact, it is unnecessary to look outside of the trust itself for a reason for its existence. The increased economy of production and decreased expense of distribution possible under a combination of small industries into one large one is ample explanation of the growth of the trust system of doing business. The trust problem stands by itself and will have to be dealt with by itself. Sioux City (Ia.) "Journal."

The total production of tin plate by American mechanics since the passage of the McKinley Tariff has been 2,235.590,629 pounds, and the price to consumers has declined one-fourth. That is the Republican style of carrying on business.- St. Louis " Globe-Democrat."

PROTECTION IN THE SOUTH.

The Secretary of Agriculture Reports Progress in that Section.

'Troy (N. Y.) Times]

The

The Protective policy continues to be justified by its fruits. Secretary Wilson of the Department of Agriculture has just returned from a trip to Louisiana and Texas. Those Southern States have found that they need the Protective policy of the Republican party. secretary says of the sugar industry: "Very extensive improvements have lately been made in the sugar factories in anticipation of a life-and-death struggle with sugar countries where labor is cheaper and conditions quite as favorable. The encouragement given by the Dingley Tariff will have a tendency to increase the area of production and attract capital to the enterprise. The people are much more concerned over the future policy of Congress respecting their industry than they are over the heavy loss on the coming crop by low temperatures. They are pleased to note the great increase of sugar production from beets in the Northern States, judging that they will not be alone in the future when public policies are framed regarding the importation of their product. The large amount of money being paid to foreign countries for saccharine matter gives abundant opportunity for enterprise in the production of sugar within the United States, and every effort will now be made by the producers of sugar to earn that money." In regard to the political situation, the Secretary said: "The people accommodate themselves to circumstances politically. The Re

publicans say, 'We want Protection.' Others, who do not like to use the word 'Protection,' say, The Government needs revenue.' But, however it is put, the present policies of the Government are very popular.”

The Secretary expressed the opinion that the encouragement given by the Dingley Tariff has had a marked effect on the rice producers around the gulf, and that extensive arrangements are generally being made to produce all the rice consumed in the United States, which he thinks will soon be brought about.

The Republican party is the party of prosperity, and the more prosperous the people are the better they like the policies of that party.

Sheep and wool clip in Kansas last year increased 13 per cent. under the favorable operations of the Dingley Tariff. Under the Wilson bill the Kansas sheep industry slumped to practically zero.-Topeka (Kan.) "Capital."

Wages and Cost of Living.

A comparison of the wages paid and their purchasing power in 1898 and 1870 reveals some interesting facts in support of the contention that of all the work people in the world those of the United States are the best paid, the best fed, the best clothed and the best housed. It was shown in the Massachusetts Labor Bulletin for January, 1899, that, taking the average of daily wages for eighteen different occupations in twelve American cities, there had been gained in 1898 over 1872 an advance in sixteen of the avocations, while in the remaining two the wages remained the same. But it also appears that the workingman has gained in another direction, that of lower prices for the necessaries of life. The prices of groceries and provisions, the articles for

which the greater part of ordinary wages is spent, have decreased as wages have advanced. In these two general classes the only articles that are higher now than twenty odd years ago are cornmeal and mutton chops. The purchasing power of wages is set forth in the following table:

Flour, wheat.....

Rice......

Beans

Tea.....

-What 81 would buy in1872. 1897. .18.18 pounds. 30.30 pounds. 8.93 pounds. 12.82 pounds. 10 52 quarts. 14.29 quarts. 1.45 pounds. 2.16 pounds. Coffee (roasted)...... 2.35 pounds. 3.57 pounds. Sugar (good brown) 9.80 pounds. 21.28 pounds Soap (common)......12.50 pounds. 23.81 pounds. Beef (roasting)..... ...... 5.20 pounds. 6.85 pounds. Rent (4 room apart. ment)..... 2.03 days. Board (men). 1.24 days Board (women)...... 1.87 days.

3.53 days. 1.52 days. 1.92 days.

It will be seen from these comparisons that the condition of the wage earner, estimated on a purely material basis, is about 30 per cent. better than it was twenty odd years ago. It must also be remembered that the comparisons here made are on scales of 1897. In most lines of industry wages have been advanced from 5 to 30 per cent. within a year, and as they are still advancing and prices of provisions are still falling, the wage earners' condition is even better now than here indicated, and will be still better a year hence.

It is the boast of Protection that it has raised wages and lowered prices at one and the same time. It has made life easier and happier to countless millions of people, and it has made the United States the spot toward which the toilers of other countries look with longing eyes.

Beginning to Realize It.

Workingmen in the Southern States are beginning to realize what Protection and prosperity mean to them. Ten thousand miners employed by the Tennessee Coal and Iron and Railroad Company, and the Sloss Iron and Steel Company, will receive a fouth advance in wages of 2% per cent. per ton. Since March 1 last there has been a total raise of ten cents per ton, or 25 per cent. Wages of miners were never before so high as now. This is due to the continued rise in pig iron prices, which, in connection with the sliding wage scale, accounts for successive advances. The mines are running steady, a condition heretofore unknown in the summer season. No wonder the American policy of defending home industries is making headway in the South.

An Honor Well Bestowed.

It is practically settled that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Fifty-sixth Congress is to be the Hon. David B. Henderson of Iowa. Truly an admirable selection, and one which the country will have every reason to cordially applaud.

It is a matter of poetic and political justice that the West should be called upon to furnish the next Speaker of the House, for it was the West, loyal to the great cause of Protection, loyal to the administration of President McKinley, and loyal to every principle of true Americanism, that came to the rescue of the Republican party in 1898 and by its splendid gains overcame the losses in the Middle and Eastern States and saved the control of the Lower House to Republicanism and Protection. Well has the West deserved the recognition and honor involved in the selection of the strong man from Iowa as Speaker, and well has the honor been bestowed upon the successful candidate.

Incidentally it may be added that it is particularly appropriate that a member of THE AMERICAN PROTECTIVE TARIFF LEAGUE should be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, especially to succeed such an able Speaker as the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, who, like Mr. Henderson, is a member of this organization.

Questionable Distinction.

Those are indeed doubtful honors which college students have won in competing for the prizes offered for essays by the New England Free-Trade League. Rightly does the Philadelphia "Inquirer" protest against the granting of aid and comfort to the enemy by the Pennsylvania University through the contributions of its undergraduates to the literature of Cobdenism. has been a citadel of Protection located in the heart of a region immensely benefited by the policy of defense of American labor and industry; firmly settled it is, too, in the hearts of a people grown prosperous and powerful through the operations of that same policy.

U. P.

With much malign satisfaction, therefore, must the New England Free-Trade League have disbursed its prize money to the U. P. essay writers. Not having been permitted to ascertain the quality of these lucubrations, we cannot speak of them with certainty, but it is safe to say they are not of a character to reflect credit either upon the students or their alma mater.

Increasing wages and enlarging manufacturing plants has become a continuous performance.-Jersey City (N. J.) "Journal."

The wool Tariff has not promoted the sheep raising business, and the woolen Tariff has not extended the manufacturing business.-Newark (0.) "Advocate."

These observations curiously illustrate the truth of the saying that "There is something in the anti-Tariff mind which prevents it from thinking." Free-Traders think they think, but in point of fact they are mistaken. They simply prate without thinking the prattle they have prated so many long years. If the Ohio Cobdenite thinks he has thought out the question of the effect of the Dingley Tariff upon the prosperity of those engaged in sheep raising and the manufacture of domestic woolen fabrics, let him take an easy method of undeceiving himself. He has only to ask some of his neighbors who, during Wilson Tariff times of free wool, sold for 50 cents each the same grade of sheep now worth $2. Then, going further away from home, let him obtain the opinions of foreign makers of woolen goods as to whether they fare as well in sales to America as they did under the FreeTrade Tariff of 1894-1897. He might also take some account of the many thousands of hands forced into unproductive idleness by Mr. Cleveland's Tariff follies, but who now find plenty of work in busy woolen factories.

But to comply with these suggestions would involve some mental activity most distasteful to anti-Tariff intellectuals. Therefore we don't expect our suggestions to be heeded. To think is

not only unpleasant to the Free-Trader, it is positively destructive of all that he holds dear in the way of doctrine and theory.

A Matter of Wages.

The efforts which importers of chocolate are now making to get a lower appraisement on imported chocolate recalls the report which was made to the Ways and Means Committee in 1897, when the provisions of the Dingley law were being considered. It was stated in that report that "in the United States in our [the chocolate] industry men are paid for 10 hours' work from $10 to $20 per week; women are paid for 19 hours' work from $6 to $12 per week. In Europe, in the largest factories, their rates for men for 12 hours' work are from $4 to $5 per week and for women for 12 hours' work from $2.50 to $3 per week." It will be seen from these figures that wages in this country are from 250 to 400 per cent. higher than wages in Europe. The slightest investigation will show, furthermore, that what is true in respect to the wages of the employees in chocolate manufactories is true, in a greater or lesser degree, of workers in all branches of industry. In the face of such facts arguments in favor of a Protective Tariff would seem to be superfluous, and conscientious efforts to collect the rightful customs duties should be appreciated by every American workman as well as by every American manufacturer.

Protection Did It.

English iron and steel and machinery manufacturers have been startled by a series of surprises which have marked the entrance into their own home markets of formidable American competition on lines that had previously experienced only fitful Continental competition. That a far away country with a Protective Tariff should build up iron and steel industries that would beard the British Free-Trade lion in his den is a revelation that they had not dreamed of. But the unexpected has happened.London" Economist."

There is nothing unexpected in this American competition. The AMERICAN ECONOMIST refuses to believe the assertion of the London "Economist" that our competition was unexpected. If we had to go to England for pig or other forms of iron and steel our competition could well be unexpected; it would be impossible. All of the London "Economist's" warnings against a Protective Tariff and its forebodings against new mills that were sure to produce a surplus were made through fear that any surplus would so reduce the price that exportation in competition with English goods would ensue.

The London "Economist " should have said the pretended unexpected has happened.

The sugar trust has at last exhausted the stock of raw material it laid in to get ahead of the Dingley bill and now must buy more. The Government is therefore now receiving revenue from sugar.-Erie (Pa.) "Dispatch."