PROTECTION.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2231, 1 July 1870, Page 2

PROTECTION.

The following facta from the )•</»« are as instructive on the question •of protection as they are interesting from their bearing upon our wool-growing industry : Assuming that the principle on which orr present tariff is founded has not yet been finally adopted as the basis of our whole future fiscal legislation, wo think it worth while to recur upw and again to. the subject of protection v. free trafe, and especially when something transpires in the history of other countries which proves. the. superiority of that free trade policy which we have always done our best to maintain. ! Inpuisuanc.e of this course, we have now something to say in regard to the “wool and woollen” trade of the United States of America, which is singularly pertinent to the discussion in question, and which should have some effect in opening the oyo of protectionists to the real nature and tendency of their favorite doctrines, i ■ . ,

The breaking out of the American war in IB6f caused a curtailment of .the supply of raw cotton, au4greatly increase! the tie. maud for wool and woollen fabrics, both in America and in Kurope. Prices consequently advanced,;,and ip the Now York,market the valuo of domestic fleece wools went up from 35c and 480 per lb in April, .1861, to from 90c and 117 c per lb in August of 186 ! ; and manufacturers who had large stocks on hand in the earlier years of the war realised immense profits. At the close of the war wool rapidly fell in price, to thO ruin of the wool Sowers of the Union, and they took it into eir heads that if foreign wool odtild he shut out, the war prices could be maintained, to thoir great gain. They thereupon set an agitation on foot to that cud. This mdvei ment brought the woollen manufacturers to the front. Seeing that a decrease in the supply and consequent increase in the f pricc of wool would place them-at a disadvantage as compared with th^ir,foreign they prqposcd to cp-qpenata with. tqe woolgrowers, and a joint association was formed to influence legislation iq its own iiitereftts. Arjil tlje dl'ortg of tips uowqrfu] ,yniop proved' highly'successful. A duty'was imposed xm raw qr -unwashed lyoois ‘'KfflFlMii! of froip 10c to 12g.per Jb, apd from |Q to i f per cent ad valorem, while the duty on im* ported doth was fixed at 50c per lb, and 23 uer ctsat'ad'mhrm, A flutter customs duty was imposed to compen sate the manufacturer for payment of an internal tax of' 6 per cent, which brought up the aggregate duties on cloth, shawls, and woollen goods generally, fo 50c per lb, and 3J per cent valorem.

Now, mark the result of this enormous im. position. As regards ihe domestic produo tion of wool, the following figures will show that it was simply disastrous. Within two years of the imposition of the- duty oh Hi 6 raw material, the price of American wool was lower than it had almost ever been before. From 1827 to 1862 the average price had been 42c ;in 18(58 it was 35c. In the same period there was a do;reasoia thenum. her of sheep in the United States, as esti. mated -by -the Minister -of Agricnlturep-of 4,000,00 ); while ottyer, authorities show that the total decrease was equal to 25 per cent, during the two years. The import duty on woollen goods has proved Oven more in. jurious. At the close of last year the woo}* len manufacture of America was more - de. pressed than any other branch of industry in the country, except shipbuilding. The hiajority of the manufacturers was incurring heavy lossess at that t’niej while th tVwere numerous and constantly recurring failure# iti the trade. In November Of i860,' V largo woollen-mill property was sold at at' loss of 85 per cent, to the proprietprs, and this is understood to afford a fair measure of.jtpc deterioration which this kind of suffered through the operation of those protective duties which were imposed for its advantage. . Some of the facts in connection With' this case will astonish the most enthusiastic of free traders, aud show. that, in attempting to limit or prevent the übcrchauge of com. raoditiea, as between nation and nation, a resisting force is evoked which is scarcely ex. plainable by the moat advanced coonomip theories. Under the operation of the ppof. raous duties imposed top the protection-of the native Anpricap woollen manufacture, in 1867, the importation of foreign fabrics greatly increased, while during the first year of the new duties there Mas also an immensely increase! importation of woollen goods into Canada, the extra supply nlti. umtciy coining into consumption in the Bfates, free of duty. It is thus seen that the immediate result of the imported duties on wool and on woollen goods was to lower the price of wool and lessen the quantity produced, while at the same time if; ruiupd the woollen manufacture Thu classes that had agltatqd, and spUemed, and iulrigued ten an alteration in 'the fiscal systeiq of America for their own private gain,'and carried their point, were the first and greatest sufferers by the change which they managed to bring about! *

But this is not all. Besides injuring the wool growers, ruining the woollen manufacture, and encouraging smuggling (to the demoralisation of the public) these wool ciutjea have robbe 1 the American public of an immense sum during, the fewoyears in which they have been in operation. It is not easy to discover the precise effect of the above described on the selling;arice‘bl\fo<Jt-' len goods, but it probably, increased it by at least 100 per cent, which would prove a most onerjoue ami irritating tax upon the poorer, awffJjy lacthexuimt numerous, ..cks* of consumers; To double the price of every workman’s coat and feveiry child’s stocking in a great and populous country, is to indict a direct and positive injury of the most serious kind, ahd something liko this waS'ddni when the American \vod duties of 1867 were imposed, for the benefit |of the wool trade. these .duties,?>lso jirpyoil djsa§trpua to the Classes for. whose adyantagp f^rcy.jftnj enacted, affords that t{jQ - ■ s,.' ; U