An American Manufacturer Interviewed.

Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 155, 30 December 1887, Page 3

An American Manufacturer Interviewed.

AMERICAN TRADE WITH NEW ZEALAND. Mr. J. B. Sargent, of tho firm of Sargent and Co., iron manufacturers, of New York and New Haven, being on a visit to Auckland, the Evening Star, which advocates protectionist views, sent a reporter to interview him. Mr. Sargent, although an American manufacturer employed in probably the moat heavily protected industry in the United States, proved to be an out-and-out freetrader, and avowod himself as snoh at the beginning of tho conversation. Whut follows is taken from the Star's aooount of'the interview : — a The firm of whioh' Mr. Sargent is a memhot employs about 2000 hands, and manufactures 'alt kinds of iron, brass, 'and 'steel WorV. Th"c firm has done 1 an extensive frade with New Zealand in the p'ast.bnt has not hitherto been represented personally by a tnotnber of the firm, and Mr. Sargent is now jnakinsj a j;our of tjie polony to remedy this defoot. Mr. entered at once into American expprieflQfig ofprotootion We have, he said, 6fl millions of English-speaking people ip the yr.itcd States, or moro than all the test of woild put togother. I supposo you know that wo have absolute freetradn amongst ourselves. As affeotingthe outside world, we have protection from 30 per cent, to 30 per cent., and as high us 50 por cent, on metals. This in our foreign trade, 1b a great drawbaok to us when we go to export goods. It makes our raw materials ooefc more, for wo have to pay for pig iron a prioo at least as much as from 7dol to lOdol por ton higher on account of protection, and considerably higher— 2s per cont. probably — on all metals that enter into our goods. THE WOOL TARIFF. We keep a duty averaging 55 per cont. on foreign wools_ in order to protect the American wool raisers. The eight wool States whioh joined the metal men in getting this high tariff immediately after tho war, have B3on their sheep and their wool crop deorease 25 per cent, in the first 20 years after they got a high protective duty. The manufacturers of woollen goods got a duty varying from 50 per cent, to 75 per cent, on tho high grades for gentlemen's wear, and that high duty and the high duty on wool, together with the duty on the supplies they woro obliged to buy, mined them entirely, so that five or six mills are all that aro running on the higher grada goods where hundred* were running before this high protective tariff was imposed. An effort is now being made to either repeal entirely the dnty on wool, or at least a large part of it, as well as the duty on the raw material that enters their manufacture. This was recommended by President Cleveland in bis message to the Congress on sth December. As to tho effect of protection on wages in the United States, it bos done the workmen no good whatever, for the reason that wo have freotrade in tho importation of labour, which comes from Europe absolutely free. A manufacturer pays no moro wages to tho factory workman than is sufficient to keep him from agriculture, and, agriculture is without protection beoanso' wo export so much of its product. With protection tho expenses of the workmen aro much lighter than they would be with freetrade, and that is exactly the way it works with us ; we do not pay a particle moro on account of protection for wages. In the United States there has been a great increase in the manufacture of pig iron. We have on immense quantity of iron ore aear the surface of the ground, and coal and limestone aro found in close proximity, 80 that wo can produce iron as cheaply as it can be produced in any part of the world. Onr production foT the ptst few years has varied from five to nix millions of tons. LAND AND BAIT/WAT POT.IOT. A largo item in the consumption of pig iron is rails for railways, and we constructed in the year ending July last over 12,000 miles of railway. In tho yeat preceding, • over 10,000 miles of railway were constructed entirely by private companies, and every six milea of railway involves a station and at least a Bi&all village. Men in the United States give away land to -people who are willing .to settle upon it, and this is a great , I believe in putting every penny of the taxes upon the land, and I wpuld not have a customhouse in the world unless it was a quarantine station. I EON PROM IROKSAND. Wo do 'not deal with ironsand at all. There is iroDSand.on the Facifio coast, bat it is not used, because it would not provo payable. > : , A FREKTP.ADE ADVOCATE. I havo written and' lectured considerably on' the question of freetrade ip the United Statfts, and I think we arc gaining ground in. public 'opinion I aha think that tho workmen are changing their ideas very much. They see no manufacturers getting rich, but they .do not see their own wages going up at all. It may be of benefit to the manufacturer himself, perhaps, to take a narrow view of th<» matter, but to the oonntry at largo I contend that proteotion is of no benefit. I have come right to' New Zealand, and I intend to sell goods cheaper than I do to our own people, because here we meet in competition with the markets of the world and at Home we have protection*. Oar market at Home is very large, the demand that 60,000,000 of peoplo give being very great, and yet we aro constantly seeking new channels for the disposal of »» our goods. Protection in the United Statos, especially since tho higher tariff has come into effect, has caused the growth of many immense manufacturing ooncorns and the absorption into them of the smaller concerns whioh were unable to exist on account of the fluctuation in the demand for goods in the United States. I believe in absolute freetrade, and would not have a single ustomhouse on the face of the earth. ,