adopted in this as well as in other countries is that it is good economy to pay the highest wages possible, because this influences the efficiency of labor, which is one of the main elements in the profits of capital. There is scarcely any need of pointing out the almost universal experience in American manufacture, that with labor receiving much higher returns American products have been able to compete successfully with the foreign, and that this competition has never been more successful than during the last few few years, when the movement of combination in capital has made the greatest progress. BETTER unnecessary protection than not quite enough.-American Economist. B THE BELGIAN IRON WHAT A VERMONT FARMER [From Dana's History of Woodstock.] IT is related of Daniel Lake that for twenty years he tapped six hundred trees, and made on an average annually about 4,000 pounds of sugar. About the year 1825 he raised 700 buhels of corn, and on the same land, the next year, 450 bushels of wheat. He once mowed an acre in fifty-six minutes, using a scythe five feet long, and cutting a swath twelve feet wide, forward three feet at every clip. He mowed six acres in one day, which yielded nine tons of hay. He could reckon in the latter years of his life that he had cleared 300 acres of new land, and made a million of shingles. Mr. Lake was a cooper by trade, and one of the best workmen. in town. His bass and tenor drums, the work of his own hands, had a great reputation. AND STEEL TRADE. ments of the last four years are shown in the following tables: 1896 1899 [By a British Economist.] ELGIUM has long held a place in the world's iron and steel industries altogether out of proportion to its size and population, and has more than once in the past proved a severe competitor to some of its greater rivals. Last year, however, the home demand appears to have put a strain upon the trade which diminished the foreign branch of it, and an increase in the value of the imports was accompanied by a considerable decline in exports. Thus the steady expansion in the latter has met with a decided check, and there has been practically a reversion to the figures of 1897. The move The great specialties of Belgian manufacturers are beams and girders for constructive purposes, and steel rails, and in both these there was a setback. On the other hand there proved to be a scarcity of the raw material, and the imports both of pig iron and old iron increased, indeed these more than account for the total gain. The entire position, however, is best shown by the following summary: Though the import of iron ore is considerable, it is as a matter of fact nearly all obtained from the adjoining territories of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which is almost a part of Belgium. From Spain, which is at present the great source of European supply, only 350,000 tons was received. Of the pig iron 67,000 tons was also from Luxembourg, but the largest import of this was British, the quantity being 140,000 tons against 85,000 in 1898. Germany yielded an increase of 15,000 tons, bringing the quantity up to 55,000, but from France there was a falling off to 83,000 tons from Amer 96,000 the previous year. ican pig iron figures for 11,500 tons, an increase from 7,250 in 1898 but against nearly 15,000 in 1897. From an international point of view, the most interesting item is steel rails, and here there has been rather a persistent falling off, the decline in 1899 from 1898 having been preceded by one of 9,000 tons in 1898, that is, exports are nearly 20,000 tons less in 1899 than in 1897, which can hardly be ascribed to any decrease in railway construction throughout the world. Some of the principal items for the three years are interesting: With the exception of England and Holland, these countries have to look abroad for railway material, and Belgian manufacturers do not appear to be quite as successful as formerly in securing contracts. For beams and girders, England is the great outlet, having taken 34,000 tons iron, and 31,350 tons steel, out of the total given in the table. The next largest purchaser of steel girders was Holland, with 1,385 tons only, but in iron some fairly substantial shipments are made. To the Argentine in 1899 they were 5,200 tons, to Russia 4,725, and to Sweden 4,600 tons. Steel sheets and plates are shipped principally to England, Holland, and France, but the iron ones are much more widely distributed, distributed, though Holland and England again lead the way with 15,000 and 12,750 tons, respectively. But other good customers were Russia for over 10,000 tons, Japan for 6,300 tons, and British India for 6,150. The Argentine Republic figures for 2,570 tons, and Brazil for 1,050, but there are no shipments to note either to bars, hoops, angle and T iron and the miscellaneous assortment included in the unclassified, some of the principal outlets are in the East, though Holland is again the largest purchaser, heading the list with But British nearly 35,000 tons. India took 24,000, China 21,000, Russia 25,000 and Turkey 8,000, while in South America, Argentine figures for 17,000, Brazil for 5,000, and Chili for 1,950 tons. The miscellaneous steel manufactures destined principally for European countries. Considerable quantities of nails, both of steel wire and iron, are shipped to India and China, but very little in this instance to South America. are of iron and steel, Belgium obtains abroad to a much greater extent than she supplies them, the import in 1899 being 1,700 tons and the export only 415. They are, however, mostly of German make. France and England supply a few, but the United States as yet, apparently none at all Machinery of cast iron, including detached pieces, but not further classified is likewise imported in larger quantities than exported, and of it, the United States furnished 2,040 tons out of a total of 28,000. Germany again heads the list with 11,500 tons, followed by England and France with 8,650 and 4,950 tons, respectively. The exports are principally to Germany, France and Russia. Germany, England, and France have so far largely monopolized the supply of Belgian requirements in this department of industry, American manufacturers having not yet secured a very firm hold. These three countries furnished last year: Protective Tariff exists, and English manufacturers, time and time again, have acknowledged that they sold at low prices abroad to retain an old market or to gain a new one or to choke off troublesome competitors.-Boston Journal. COMPULSORY ARBITRATION IN NEW ZEALAND. [Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.] It has been easy for certain theorists to point to the splendid results of compulsory arbitration in New Zealand, for the simple reason that New Zealand is so far away that nobody has been able to find out whether their statements were true or not. Recent reports, however, indicate that the system is not brilliantly successful. Its author, Premier Seddon, according to information received by the Philadelphia Record, has declared that the ar bitration boards have provoked instead of having prevented strife and have caused the workingmen to grow more discontented and contentious, and he has said that the abandonment of the plan is imperatively necessary in the interest of industrial peace. Compulsory This is not surprising. arbitration means that an official board may say to a wage-earner that he must, even against his will, work for a certain employer on certain terms, or may exercise like dictation toward employers. This would take the decisions out of the hands of the interested parties, set up a system of paternalism, and work oppressions which no self-respecting person would endure. It would work as unjustly one way as another, and would inevitably fail in practice. The United States can work out its labor problems without resort to slavery, despotism or the destruction of individual rights. The bursting of the New Zealand bubble should put an end to much of the fallacy which has lately been advanced on this subject. THE TARIFF AND THE MANUFACTURERS. AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT OF THE POSITION OF REPRESENTATIVE AMERICAN INDUSTRIES. A [John Gordon Gray in "The Manufacturer."] RECENT article in the Inde pendent, entitled "The Manufacturers and the Tariff" conveys so erroneous an impression of the situation as viewed from the manufacturers' standpoint, that it seems proper that some reply should be made to it. In the article in question it is stated that President Search of the National Association of Manufacturers, in common with the great majority of the manufacturers of all kinds assembled at the recent national convention of that body in Detroit, expressed views in discussing the question of the tariff and reciprocity, which indicated a great change in their opinions on the question of the tariff. It is stated that such expressions as-"We now want a different protection. We want a protection that will give us larger markets," and "It is an absurdity to ask for an open door in other countries and keep our own door closed," and "It was. pharasaical and dishonest to expect to sell to Europe when we would not buy of her," indicated the general feeling of the assembled manufacturers. Now, in the first place, before discussing the question of whether these be wise or unwise, it must be said at once that they do not fairly reflect the deliberate opinion of even the manufacturers who were assembled at the convention in question; and since the close of that convention, in discussing the results of its deliberations, President Search has explicitly stated that he was misunderstood when his remarks were taken to mean that his views on the tariff had undergone a change, and that the expressions and action of the manufacturers assembled at the Detroit Convention troit Convention have been misunderstood when it was supposed that they exhibited any tendency to a reversion to free trade. It is unfortunate that the question of tariff and reciprocity should be so often discussed by doctrinaires who have had no opportunity for practical experience in industrial conditions. Such thinkers inflated with the ideally drawn picture of free interchange of products, cannot free themselves from the idea that the only way to sell is to make it easy to buy. |