How The Mckinley Bill Affects The Cycle Trade

John I. Worman, of Worman ,& Hazelwood. Coventry, who Is in tnls country virh the intention of erect ing a factory for the manufacture o ttii"i tor th' American market, and of whtcb mention wns made last week is quoted aa foJlows by a Phlladel pliin paper: "We -.-m manufacture l)icyclo in thia country, and pay the regulai Kcnlo of Amorican wages, and even then the amount of the cost -vvill not b:' near so gfreal as íhe tariff on blcyclea under the JIckinley bilí. I havi not, as yet, reached a dofinito conclusión where I shall lócate the factory, hut as Philadelphia is tlie largost bicycle importing center in the United States, naturally it has a serions claim on the eonsideration of the conipany. Our company is a limitod one, witli a paid up capital of 070,000, and the abares command a high prprainm in Enjrland. Thorefore, tiiere is a stront probabillty that any venture bncked up by tho company wlll be succpssful. Wlth our tivo factories in Rngland, our output is 25,000 1 icycles anuually. We employ, during our busy season, 1,000 hands. and the rest of the time about flOO. The factory we propose to bulld here wiil be on the same linea as the ones we have in Coventry, aad th product oí this plant will bs entirely fop our American fcrade. I teave to-night ior a tour of the west, and upon ïny return I will make a report to the directora of the company, who will b" gutded mainly by the suggestions forwarded from America." T. Henry Sweeting is reported as saying: ■■'J'lie McKinley tariif bill increased duty on btcyclee ten per cent. Tliis means juxt $10,000 mor. on a bill of $100,000 than before the inreased duty was imposed. Our im)ortation.s amount to hundreds of thousand.s of dollars yearly, uid thus t can be seen tliat the loss is considerable on a year's trading. The United States, with its nearly 70,000,000 of people, has ouly about 22 bicycle actoris all told, whereas England, witli only 0,000,000 population, has over 580 bicycle faetones, showing ■nat there is an immviist' field in this country. For every $100,000 worth oí bicycles imported by us we pay ,he United States Government ."rl.".000. The frelght charges amount o about $15,000 on tlie same 1:11 of goods, making an aggregate ol (50 cr cent. By having our factory lere we can give employment to niany ïundreds of our own people, and keep noncy at home that we now send to BaiRland."