The New York Star
The report to accompany the Mills;
bill is a very interesting and lucid
document. It presents the issue be
tween tariff taxation and tariff rob
bery clearly and vigorously. It shows
that the bill which has been agreed
upon by the democrats of the ways
and means committee, which is ap
proved by the speaker and by a large
majority of the party, and which
should be unhesitatingly accepted by
every democrat in the country, is a
measure in the interest of not only the
consumers but of the manufacturers.'
This country has reached a point
when 1 commerce must relieve it of a
glut of merchandise. The productive
capacity of the people and the land
has been so great that we have over
produced for our own market. The
protection theory that wo must grow
and make all that we consume, and
that we must consume all that we
grow and make, has not been vindi
cated. In the last year of the war our
exports were valued at $166,000,000:
last year they were s7l(.>,tXkl.(HX\ In
the same years our imports were
fJJ‘J.OOO.OOO and5092,000,000 respect
ively. Our relations with the rest of
the world are growing more import
ant every year; and every year too,
the products of our manufactories
are increasing in value. Since ISSO
they have grown from s7>,ooo,tXX\tXX>
to S7,O<X\tXXI,(XX>. We cannot con
sume either the products of the facto
ries or of the fields. The latter are
now sold in competition with the
breadstuffs grown anil harvested by
the cheapest labor of Europe and the
ryots of India. Our manufacturers
are sending their goods abroad, seek
ing markets in other countries and
selling their products to foreigners at
a lower price then they charge our own
people. This state of things must
continue so long as a protective tariff
comjiels Americans to par high prices
for all that they buy.
