Untitled - Clpdigital.org

LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.
No manufacturer and no farmer now needs to be told that he can
not sell his products as freely and as profitably under a revenue tariff
as under a protective tariff, and no skilled or unskilled workingman
is now ignorant of the fact that a protective policy yields hint higher
wages and more steady employment than a purely revenue policy.
There is a branch of the work of this office which shows no signs
of decreasing—the work of replying to letters from all parts of our
own country and from many other parts of the world asking for statistical
and other information. While it is not possible in every instance
to give the information that is requested it is usually possible
for us to do this, and in exceptional cases we are enabled to indicate
where this information may be found. To meet the demands of this
branch of our work our large reference library is invaluable.
The Bulletin has received my personal attention during the past
year, as usual. One leading object of its publication continues to be
the preservation of a condensed record of current events and opinions
which are of interest to the American iron trade and which relate
more particularly to revenue legislation and general economic subjects.
The passage of the Senate tariff bill by both houses of Congress
on August 13,1894, the bill becoming a law on August 28th through
the refusal of the Executive to cither veto or approve it, ended
all tariff legislation during the lifetime of the Fifty-third Congress,
which expired by constitutional limitation on the 4th of March last.
The country, therefore, secures present rest from tariff agitation, although
legislation to correct the errors of the present tariff is desirable
at the earliest day that is possible.
The care of the tariff interests of the American iron trade must
always remain one of the principal reasons for the existence of this
Association. This object has never for one moment been lost sight of
during the" serious conflicts of public opinion upon the tariff question
which have existed in this country during the last thirty years.
The financial condition of the Association during the year 1S94 is
shown by the following abstract of the statement of our Treasurer,
Mr. Andrew Wheeler, at the end of the year: On January 1, 1894, the
balance in the hands of the Treasurer was $1,562.99; the receipts from
members during the year were $12,575; the expenditures were $13,-
259.55; and the balance on hand on December 31, 1894, was $878.44.
These figures do not include that part of the cost of our publications
in 1894 which was met by the income derived from their sale to persons
not members of the Association.
In the collection and tabulation of the statistics for this Report I
have had the assistance of Mr. William G. Gray and Mr. Edward H.
Sanborn. I also express my thanks to Hon. Worthington C. Ford,
Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department, for statistics
of imports and exports of iron and steel and for other valuable
information. Credit is given to others in the proper connection.
Very Truly Yours, JAMES M. SWANK, General Manager.
No. 261 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia, April 25, 1895.