THE TARIFF AND PRICES.

Those Free-Traders who are so much concerned over the higher rices of commodities should read the speech of Representative fill of Connecticut, delivered in the House February 18, 1904. In this speech Mr. Hill presents the two tables below as showing he difference in the prices of certain commodities July, 1896, nd since. He takes a certain number of articles on the free list nd a certain number of the dutiable list in order to show what ffect the Tariff may have had upon the change in prices. The wo tables are as follows:

Of the eleven items on the free list, every one of them has greatly advanced in price since 1896, the average advance on all being 53.54 per cent. Of the twenty-one items on the dutiable list twelve have advanced in price, three are the same now as then, and six have been reduced.

The average advance on the dutiable list is 8.6 per cent., as against 53.54 per cent. on the free list.

The articles are all taken from the list of articles controlled by trusts, found in the Democratic campaign text-book, beginning on page 369, and includes every article named therein as free and twenty-one dutiable ones. The prices from 1896 to 1902 are as therein given, and the 1903 and 1904 prices are from the Bureau of Statistics.

PRICES OF COMMODITIES.

Middling Cotton and Staple Manufactures of Cotton in the New York Market: Average Prices, 1858 to 1905.

Prepared by Mr. Joshua Reece, Jr., to 1892; since then by Mr. Alfred B. Shepperson, of New York.)

*Including 1881 and since, the prices of standard drillings are net; raw cotton prices are also net for the entire period.

Free trade will offer free raw materials without power to use them, which is no more than to give a man ruffles who wants a shirt.-Senator Justin S. Morrill.

When I talk about wages I use the word in its broadest sense, as the price and value of service, whether of brain or muscle.--Hon. Thomas B. Reed.

Under our policy of free trade we have lost that commercial and industrial superiority we acquired under the policy of strict protection. Our policy of direct taxation bears heavily upon our industries and reacts on the working classes in reduction of wages and employment. Our agriculture has been ruined and our industries are struggling hard for existence. Other nations, under a policy of strict protection, are beating us in the race of competition, not only in neutral, but in or own markets.-Sir Guilford L. Molesworth on Free Trade England,

PRICES OF FLEECE WOOL.

Fine, Medium and Coarse Washed Clothing Ohio Fleece Wool in the Eastern Markets: Prices at the Beginning of January, April, July and October, 1860 to 1905.

(Data furnished by Messrs. Mauger & Avery, New York.)

Note by Messrs. Mauger & Avery.-This table exhibits in a concise form the prices of the three grades of a standard domestic fleece wool in the seaboard markets at the beginning of each quarter. In its present shape it is deemed to be intelligible to all interested in wool. In the special features of character and condition, "washed Ohio fleece wool" is less subject to variation than any other description, and thus is more a basis of value than any other class. Wool, owing to its wide variety, difference in character and condition, and liability to shrink in cleaning, is precluded from speculative operations which apply to products which may be dealt in as "futures.” For these reasons the prices of wool are not liable to the same changes as cotton, wheat, etc.

Commerce of the Lakes.

The commerce on the Great Lakes during April and the first four months of this year exceeded that of like periods in any arlier years, and suggests a new record for lake tonnage for 906, and that notwithstanding the labor troubles affecting that rade. For the month of April shipments from all points on these great bodies of water, according to the Railway World, amounted to 4,365,505 net tons, while for the year 1906 to April 30 they ag gregated 5,418,481 tons, a gain for the month of 1,275,042, and for the four months of 1,592,656 net tons, as compared with the corraonding movements of 1905.

PRICES OF DOMESTIC IRON.

Pig Iron, Rolled Bar Iron, Iron and Steel Rails, Steel Billets, Per Ton, and Cut and Wire Nails, Per Keg of 100 Pounds: Prices, 1858 to 1905.

(Furnished by the American Iron and Steel Association.)

(a) At Philadelphia. (b) At Pittsburg. (c) Net price from store at Philadelphia. (d) At mills in Pennsylvania. (e) First made in commercial quantities in the United States in 1867. (f) Wholesale base prices at store, Philadelphia. (g)Base prices from factory, f.o.b. Chicago, in carload lots. (h) Superseded by the manufacture of steel rails. (i) Prices based on a new classification adopted in 1893, the base price and schedule of extras being changed to correspond with the wire-nail schedule. In December, 1896, the schedule for cut and wire nails was again changed.

The tariff affects trusts only as it affects all other interests. It makes all these interests, large or small, profitable; and its benefits can be taken from the large only under penalty of taking them from the small also.-President Roosevelt at Minneapolis, Minn., April 7, 1903.

We ought to let the tariff alone; we ought to defend it against all comeis for the good of the nation. We are doing more than well and need not hunt for disaster. That will come in due time.-Hon. Thos. B. Reed, in the North American Review for December, 1902.