Coal Production and Consumption in Protective United States and Germany and Free-Trade United Kingdom from 1860 to 1902Evidence of Much Greater Business Activity in the Protective Tariff Countries. This table shows the production and consumption in the two protective-tariff countries, the United States and Germany, compared with that in the one low-tariff country, the United Kingdom. Coal consumption is an important measure of manufacturing activity and growth, since it is the chief supply of power for manufacturing and transportation. It will be seen that the consumption of coal in the United Kingdom only increased about 44 per cent. from 1875 to 1902, while that of Germany increased about 200 per cent. and that of the United States nearly 500 per cent. The importance of these figures of coal consumption is very great as a measure of manufacturing activity. This statement of relative increase in consumption in the three countries is especially important because in most cases the figures of production only are shown, while the fact that the United Kingdom exports a large share of her coal production makes a comparison based upon figures of production misleading. It is the consumption which measures the activity in manufacturing, and these figures of consumption in the protective and free-trade countries, respectively, are worthy of careful attention. Coal production and consumption in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States for the years named. 80,043,000 131.867,000 114.044,000 1860.. 1865. 98,151,000 1870.. 110,431,000 1875.. 1880.. 1885.. 159.351,000 128,585,000 1890.. 1895.. 1900.. 1901.. 1902.. No data. 47.562,000 * 16,731,000 *28,553,000 * 34,003,000 47,804,000 59,118,000 57,002,000 73,676,000 70,729,000 181,614.000 142.955,000 89,291,000 90,798,000 189,661.000 146,768,000 103,958,000 225.181,000 166.786,000 149.788,000 149.804,000 240,789,000 234.781,000 219,047.000 161,271,000 153,019,000 152,138,000 261,875,000 256,412,000 227,095,000 166,365,000 150,600,000 148,785,000 269,277,000 265,791,000 105.876,000 *Figures for the German Customs Union. (The amount of British bunker coal not found prior to 1875.) Growth in coal production in free-trade Great Britain, compared with that of the protection countries, United States, Germany, and France; also the total coal production of the world and the per cent supplied by the United States at quinquennial periods from 1868 to 1895, and annually from 1896 to 1902, in tons of 2,000 pounds. [From reports of the United States Geological Survey.] 52,703,970 18,694,916 164,605,738 65,177,634 21,346,124 178,473,588 81,227,255 157,770,963 203,408,003 98,398,500 28,756,638 193,217,530 212,320,725 114,561,318 30,877,922 191,986,357 218,804,611 123,943,159 32,167.270 200,229,199 226,385,523 132,762,882 33,938,987 219,976,267 226,301,058 144,283,196 35,656,426 253,741,192 246.506,155 149,719,766 36,215,026 801,976,021 31.63 269,684,027 252,203,056 164,805,202 36,811,536 846,041,848 31.88 293,299,816 245,332,578 168,217,082 35,506,536 869,037,199 33.76 301,590,439 254,346,447 165,826,496 33,286,146 308,419,177 16.95 369.413,780 20.62 21,510,359 447,783,802 24.82 563,693,232 27.99 644,177,076 29.98 664,001,718 28.92 697,213,515 28.72 738,129,608 29.80 TARIFFS AND TRADE BALANCES, 1790-1903. Years in which low tariffs and protective tariffs, respectively, have been in operation in the United States, showing the excess of imports or exports in each year and the total excess of imports or exports under each system. [Compiled from official statements of the Bureau of Statistics.] Net excess of IMPORTS under low tariffs. Net excess of exports over imports from March 1, 1897, $514,954,931 4,099,026,861 380,028,497 3,594,829,826 3 Killed by Lack of Protection. [From St. Thomas (Ontario, Canada) Daily Times of April 14, 1904.] The directors of the Canada Woolen Mills Company have decided to close their business and sell out their plants at Hespeler, Carleton Place, Waterloo, and Lambton Mills, throwing 700 people out of employment and destroying an industry representing a million dollars capital. The directors have been losing money because of the preference given to British goods. Those 700 employees must live somewhere, and will probably be forced to leave the country. Loss of population of this class means loss to every kind of business; hence a loss in wealth to the province. The question for our lawmakers and people to consider is: Would it not be better to protect this industry sufficiently to keep these people in employment here, rather than allow them to be forced out? The strength of a nation is its people; the more industrious the people, the more strength and wealth. The Tariff and Wages. Foreign workmen flock to the United States because of the high wages paid here, but the large number that come help to reduce wages. At Turin, in Italy, according to the consular reports, the rate of wages paid by the city for day laborers is from 40 to 60 cents a day. Bricklayers receive from 80 cents to $1, carpenters from 60 to 70 cents, and painters from 40 to 50 cents, not one-third of the average rate paid in this country. The Italian workman can earn enough in the United States during the summer to go home and live without work during the winter, as comparatively little is required for his sustenance in a warm climate. But low wages are not confined to Italy. In London, for instance, the pay of a policeman at the start is $6.25 a week, and that is increased yearly by 25 cents until the amount reaches $8.14 a week, and that is the limit. In this country, in New York, a patrolman receives $25 a week, or three times as much as the experienced member of the British force. The pay is less on the Continent of Europe than in Great Britain. With such low wages and all the advantages in machinery that the workmen in the United States have, nothing could prevent a similar reduction of wages in this country excepting the tariff. That is why the Republican party will stand steadfastly for the protective tariff, and will only make changes after careful investigation and certain knowledge that the changes would be justified. Wages are much lower in Canada than in the United States, and that has to be taken into consideration in any negotiations for a reciprocity treaty. The wage question is of the greatest importance in this country. There will be no legislation to cause any reduction, such as took place under the last Cleveland Administration, unless the Democrats are again returned to power, which is improbable. Protection and Wages in Germany. The Spanish Economist and Financier has the following in a recent issue : The Chamber of Commerce of Essen, Germany, has just published an interesting memorial on the influence of protective tariffs on wages and on the conditions of the working classes. Referring to the district of Essen, the Chamber establishes the fact that the average wages, which were 3.30 marks in 1871, were 3.89 marks in 1875, but went backward till they descended to 3.30 marks again. In 1879 a system truly Protectionist was inaugurated. From that time on wages went up from 3.57 marks' in 1882 to 3.71 marks in 1888, 4.06 marks in 1892, 4.10 marks in 1895, and 4.78 marks in 1900. The conclusion drawn by the Chamber of Commerce experts from the facts cited is that wages remained practically at a standstill during the years 1875-1879, just preceding the Protectionist era, while the advance during the later, or protection, period was' fully 58 per cent. To meet the objection that foods have gone up faster than wages, thus neutralizing the increased purchasing power of the laborer, the Chamber shows that the foods consumed by the laboring classes dropped as follows: Bread, 20 per cent; potatoes, 29 per cent; while beef increased only 5 per cent; veal, 21 per cent, and pork, 27 per cent. INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IN ENGLAND AND UNITED In an article on occupation as a test of prosperity, the Fortnightly Review presents statistics to show that during the twenty years, 1881 and 1901, the increase in the number of persons engaged in the leading industries of Great Britain has not increased in proportion to the population, and on this showing it bases an argument in favor of tariff reform. Without entering into the economic discussion which is the occasion of the Fortnightly Review's article, it is of value to compare the statistics of Great Britain with those of the United States in this matter of the number of persons engaged in the leading industries. Such a comparison is in every way gratifying to this country. It shows conclusively that the industrial growth in the United States has been much more rapid than in England in the past twenty years. In that time the percentage of increase in population in the United States has been 52 and in England about 25, and yet in eight selected industries the increase in the number of persons engaged in them has been in the United States 56 per cent and in England only 6.7 per cent. In other words, in these industries the number of persons engaged has increased more rapidly than the population in the United States, while in England the increase is very much less than that in the population. In order to show this more clearly the following tables are given to exhibit the number of persons engaged in eight industries in 1880 and 1900 in the United States and in 1881 and 1901 in England and Wales, with the percentages of increases in both instances: Number of persons engaged in eight industries in England. Number of persons engaged in eight industries in the United States. Share of the Iron and Steel Manufactures Produced by the United States Steel Corporation. The table which follows shows the share of iron ore and iron and steel produced in the United States in the calendar year of 1902, by the United States Steel corporation and by independent companies. This table has been prepared with great care by the Secretary of American Iron and Steel Association, Mr. James M. Swank, and its accuracy cannot be called in question. Mr. Swank is and has been for many years an accepted authority in the United States on all matters pertaining to iron and steel production and this statement prepared by him is therefore of special value in indicating the share of iron and steel product of the United States produced by the United States Steel corporation and by independent companies, respectively. It will be seen that of the finished rolled products of iron and steel produced in the United States in 1902, 50.8 per cent was produced by the United States Steel Corporation and 49.2 per cent by independent companies. The table is especially important in its relation to the question of control of prices by this greatest of industrial corporations. The fact that practically one-half of the iron and steel products of the United States are produced by independent companies in competition with this single organization, suggests the impracticability of control of prices by even this greatest of the manufacturing combinations of the United States. A similar table prepared by Mr. Swank for the year 1901 shows similar results. The table for the year 1903 is not yet available and the table covering conconditions in 1902 is presented as the latest available data on this subject. Statistics of the United States Steel Corporation for 1902. [From Bulletin of American Iron and Steel Association, Jan. 25, 1904,] With the single exception of iron ore the statistics presented below have been carefully compiled from the returns of production made to the American Iron and Steel Association for the whole of the calendar year 1902 by all the constituent companies of the United States Steel Corporation and by all other iron and steel manufacturing companies. The statistics of iron ore shipments and production by the Corporation in 1902 have been obtained from the Corporation itself. Other statistics of iron ore production have been obtained from the Census Bureau, and other statistics of iron ore shipments have been obtained from the Iron Trade Review, of Cleveland, Ohio. |