doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com McKinley Tariff of 1890-Would Fox have survived?

Mr. Hadoke, an occasional poster on this forum, makes the below assertion that Fox and LC Smith made a product inferior to their English counterparts prior to 1890 on his website. Would those of you well acquainted with the respective quality of output both countries prior to 1890 speak to the accuracy of this premise and the potential unfairness of the result of the tariff?

" Bonehill and other British makers, like J.P Claborough, had solid export trades with the USA and appeared to be going from strength to strength until that most capitalist of countries betrayed its faith in the free market when it introduced the McKinley tariff in 1890.

This imposed a charge of thirty five percent plus six dollars on every imported gun and almost overnight broke the back of several large gunmaking businesses in Birmingham�s gun quarter, allowing American makers, like Parker, to succeed with what was an inferior product. Had the market been allowed to decide which products survived and which failed, one cannot help but wonder if Fox and L.C Smith would have lived beyond childhood."

Fox came well after the 1890 tariff.

It's speculation. But totally reasonable speculation IMHO.

The whole point of tariffs is to protect and create an environment where local production can thrive, from a financial standpoint. It's NEVER about the best product, processes or value to consumers. Absent the best of competition, protected companies almost invariably make inferior product. However, in the world market place, I suspect Fox may have found a way. I think Ithaca, Remington, LC Smith might have had a much harder time.

Much more complicated. But who are we to educate our superiors?

The McKinley Tariff of 1890 set the average ad valorem tariff rate for imports into the United States at 48.4%.
�Sporting, breech-loading double-barrel shotguns� had a 35% ad valorem PLUS an import duty of $1.50 if priced less than $6; $4 if $6 - $12; and $6 if priced greater than $12. �Single-barrel breech-loading shot-guns� had the same 35% ad valorem PLUS an import duty of $1.
�Forged rough shotgun barrels� i.e. non-joined tubes, however, were exempted which allowed the US makers to continue to import damascus tubes from (mostly) Belgium to fit and finish here.

The Tariff contributed to the Panic of 1893 with 500 bank closures, the bankruptcy of over 15,000 businesses, and the failures of the Philadelphia and Reading, Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroads. An estimated 18% of the workforce was unemployed at the Panic's peak, especially in the west and in farm states as the price of wheat and cotton fell. A series of strikes followed in 1894, the worse being the Bituminous Coal Miners� and Pullman strikes. The U.S. economy, and U.S. gunmakers, did not recover until 1896.

But the U.S. makers did survive, likely by selling their inferior guns at an affordable price to the average Colonial, including Winchester's 1893 & 1897 repeating shotguns.

At the Riverton Handicap March 8, 1895 only one of the (wealthy) 15 competitors used an American made gun.
�It may be interesting to some to note the guns and loads used, and we give it below. It was a lamentable fact that of the 15 guns used only one American make was represented. This was a special pigeon gun of the Parker Brothers' manufacture, and was a beautiful weapon in every way, and was owned by Mr. Post, whose score of 93 on a hard lot of birds did not show that the shooting power was lacking.�
�All the guns were 12 gauge, and it was noticeable that not a full pistol-grip stock was among the number, and most of them were the straight-grip �pigeon gun� model, nine being of this description, and six of the half-grip style. All were of the hammerless pattern excepting two; Mr. Welch and Mr. Robbing using hammerguns.�
Following is the make of guns and loads used:
Capt. A.W. Money - Greener, 7 1/2 pounds.
George Work - Purdey, 7 1/2 pounds.
Post - Parker pigeon gun (AAH introduced in 1894)), 7 11-16 pounds.
Jim Jones - Scott, 7 3-16 pounds.
John B. Ellison - Scott, 7 1/4 pounds.
Fred Moore - Purdey, 7 7-16 pounds.
Leonard - Westley Richards, 7 1/2 pounds.
Mott - Crown grade Greener, 7 2-16 pounds.
J.S. Robbins - Greener hammer gun, 7 1/2 pounds.
R. Welch - Purdey hammer gun, 7 1/2 pounds
Downing - Scott, 7 6-16 pounds.
J.K. Palmer � Francotte, 7 1/2 pounds.
Edwards - Scott Premier, 7 pounds.
J. Wolstencroft - Greener, 6 15-16 pounds.
Eckert - Scott Premier, 7 1/4 pounds.
Shells were 45 - 49 grains (3 1/4 - 3 1/2 drams) smokeless powder and 1 1/4 oz. shot.
Capt. Money (2nd in the 1894 GAH) and George Work (3rd in the 1893 GAH) tied at 94 killed.

In 1895, Mr. Will K. Park, Gun Editor for Sporting Life began to aggressively promote American maker's guns in a series of editorials.

Feb. 16, 1895 Sporting Life (Spelling is as written)
During the past three years on visits to such sporting clubs as Larchmont, Carteret, Tuxedo and Riverton, we have noted the peculiar fact that out of 20 or 30 guns on the grounds at one time there will possibly be one gun of American manufacture. All the others are �Crown Grade Grenier's,� �Premier Quality Scott's,� �Purdy's� and other foreign makes.
The remarkable state of affairs, which is not creditable to American manufacturers, would indicate that there is something lacking on their part. We know that men with �hobbies� are willing to spend much money to gratify their �hobby;� but we are not willing to concede, if only from a patriotic sense, that American manufacturers are unable to satisfy their countrymen's �hobby� in guns.

April 6, 1895 Sporting Life
�Some Facts About the Retail Gun Trade - The Mania For Foreign-Made Guns�
Parker Bros., of Meriden, Conn., are producing a Special high grade pigeon gun which is certainly equal to an imported gun in every way, and best of all, the shooting quality is not lacking.
The Hunter Arms Co., of Fulton, N. Y., also make a special gun which is finely finished, perfectly balanced and contains the best workmanship.
The Lefever Arms Co., of Syracuse are also catering to this better class of trade, and have already filled many orders for guns costing $300 to $400 which were equal in material, finish design of engraving and general workmanship to any foreign gun costing much more money.

At the 1895 (3rd) Grand American Handicap at Live Birds the majority of competitors choose a British or Belgian gun. VL&D aggressively promoted Francotte
http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1895/VOL_25_NO_04/SL2504015.pdf
Won by J.G. Messner using a Parker; the first GAH win with an American maker's gun.
Guns: Greener � 17; Capt. �Jack� Brewer, Capt. A.W. Money, E.D. Fulford, J.A.R. Elliott
Smith � 11; Apgar & Lindsley
Parker � 6; O.R. Dickey, Noel Money, A.W. DuBray
Winchester Repeater � 2; Rolla Heikes
Francotte � 7, Scott � 3, Lefever � 2, Purdey - 2

Gun choice changed for good after the First DuPont Grand Smokeless Championship Handicap Live-bird Tournament October 1895
Fred Gilbert (L.C. Smith) and Charles �Hayward� Macalester (Purdey) tied at 25; Gilbert won the shoot-off 5/5 to 4/5.
Charles Wagner (Parker), E.B. Coe (Smith), Capt. John L. Brewer (Greener), and A.H. King (Scott Monte Carlo) tied at 24; Wagner won the shoot-off taking 3rd place.
Guns
http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1895/VOL_26_NO_06/SL2606012.pdf
Smith � 13, Parker � 8, Greener � 11, Lefever � 6, Francotte � 4, Scott & Remington � 3 each, Francotte � 2, Colt, Grant, Boss & Purdey � 1 each

Nov. 8 Sporting Life
Harvey McMurchy (Hunter Arms professional representative) was undoubtedly pleased when he learned that Gilbert won the Du Pont trophy, using a Smith gun. It is also gratifying to us to know that the big prize was won by a gentleman sportsman using an American made gun, which was loaded with American made smokeless powder, shot and wadding, in American made shells.

It should be noted that the best British shooters, with their British best guns, were soundly defeated by the American team with their farm implements at the 1901 Anglo-American match
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=185YOyQl7GIB9OYLs9Hr3tnMLHqs4rjEdR4j_E9l4HLw

The debate over how to reduce excessive federal revenues occurred during the election of 1888. Before the Civil War, total federal debt was climbing from a low of less than thirty million dollars in the middle 1850's to double that amount in the year 1860, the last full year of peace. After the Civil War, the federal debt was nearly 2.8 billion dollars, or two thousand eight hundred million. Just over twenty years later, the federal government had reduced the national debt by one third, put the nation back on a real gold standard, and there was excessive deflation, and the wonderful problem of excessive government revenue, it was thought at the time.

https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo2.htm

Deflation was particularly hard on small farmers, then the majority of the country, and on laborers. They would borrow in dollars worth more, than they had to repay in. Each year, wages fell and the price of commodities the small farmer sold, became less. Farmers wanted to expand the money supply and fight deflation. The Democrats catered to those who favored reducing tariffs, to reduce federal income, and increase exports, thereby raising wages and the price of commodities.

The wealthy had prospered, under deflation. Large corporations had profited selling more goods every year, as wages fell and the prices of commodities used to make the goods fell along with them. And each year, the savings of the rich became worth more, not less. The Republicans catered to those who favored a strong dollar, but also wanted to reduce federal taxation, but by raising tariff rates, in order to reduce imports, and protect American businesses.

The prolonged, mild deflation that occurred from about 1870 to 1890 is called the Great Deflation, but the deflation rate was only about two per cent a year, and was said to have been caused by increases in productivity during the Second Industrial Revolution. Curiously, although the gold supply increased, there was still a prolonged deflation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Deflation

What ever the merits of the two arguments, the Republicans won the election of 1888, big time. Republican Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland, although Cleveland won the popular vote. The House shifted control to Republicans, and previous Republican control of the Senate expanded.

Elections have consequences, and as a consequence of the elections of 1888, the McKinley tariff was passed October 1, 1890.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinley_Tariff

The Democrats promptly busted the Republicans in the elections of 1890, regaining control of the House and, picking up two seats in the Senate, although the Republicans clung to a slim Senate majority.

Grover Cleveland would be reelected in 1892, but maybe it was because he had a smoking hot young wife, less than half his age, and the people wanted her and her new infant Baby Ruth back in the White House, to class the place up a bit.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c...m_Cleveland.jpg

But then again, it might have been because of Cleveland's opposition to the McKinley Tariff. It was repealed in 1894 with what was supposed to be a major reduction in tariffs, but the large trusts and their friends managed to keep most of the high tariffs intact.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/ency...rman-tariff-act

In any event, mankind was not crucified upon a Cross of Belgian Clunkers, at least not until the Belgians figured out some way around the tariffs, and flooded the Sears and Roebuck catalogs with genuine T. Barker twist barreled hammer guns.

As to the problem of excessive government revenues, Congress started spending more money for a steel navy, even though we lost the first battleship to a mysterious explosion in Havana harbor, and blamed Spain, and whipped them in one summer. The Maine was only a second class battleship, anyway.



But in an alternative history, where there was no McKinley Tariff, there would still have been a John Moses Browning who invented the first popular pump action repeater, the Winchester 1893, and he would have still improved it in 1897, and it was those cheap repeaters that caused Parker, L.C. Smith, Ithaca, Lefever, and eventually A.H. Fox to lower prices in order to compete.

Which led directly to the production of my beautiful 1911 Fox Sterlingworth "pin gun", which only cost twenty five dollars the day it was new.

The McKinley Tariff of 1890 couldn't have stopped John Moses Browning from coming up with the pump action Winchester shotgun, any more than it stopped all those Belgian guns that poured into the country, anyway.

Thanks to everyone for this great thread: real facts and thoughtful analysis!

On the issue of comparative quality between British and American SxSs of the time, Dewey Vicknair wrote a true knowledge based analysis on his blog a couple of years ago that none here should miss:

A Dispassionate Look at the Design of American Doubles

http://vicknairgunsmithing.blogspot.com/search?q=American+guns

Very thoughtful comments. Dr. Drew's news clips are very interesting. Perhaps the wealthy continued purchasing British guns after the tariff as they were indifferent to the additional costs. Certainly in the 1895 articles reprinted we see that only 5 years after the tariff went into effect, the wealthy were still shooting British guns. However we feel about the anti-free market effect of the Tariff, it could be argued that the Tariff allowed the American manufacturers to attain financial stability and launched them on a path to providing more technologically innovative products which were better received by American sportsmen into the early 20th century. It would be interesting to see if the guns used in these high-dollar competitions evolved in over time to favor more domestically produced guns, whether or not directly related to the Tariff. If the incidence of utilization of American guns increased post repeal (1900-1930), perhaps the perhaps the rise in popularity of the American gun as it related to the Tariff was more indirect or consequential. Or perhaps repeal was illusory.

Tariffs are not aimed at top dollar guns, those buyers are not price sensitive. To be particle it most likely impacts middle to low priced guns the most. So more than anti British I think it was aimed against cheap Belgian imports. Most cheap hardware and "Sears" guns seemed to from Belgium not Birmingham.

The funny thing is that in gun terms they all would be replaced by repeaters within a decade. The day of the double was almost over before the tariffs took effect.

Doc Drew has the perfect photograph of the American double in all of its glory, 1905, I believe, or possibly 1915, two of the three people pictured are holding repeaters.

Use a picture

1895 DuPont Tournament, Cinn.
The World Record squad: Harmon Dando, Smith; E.D. Fulford; Greener; Ferd. Van Dyke, Winchester 1893; John Connor, Daly; Sim Glover, Greener; Charles Young, Young Repeater.



4 B's of Ogden, Utah
"Gus" Becker, John M. Browning, A. P. Bigelow, and Matthew S. Browning from the Gustav Lorenz Becker Photograph Collection. Date and location unknown, but Becker is holding a Winchester Model of 1887 lever action shotgun and the Brownings Winchester 1893 Repeating Shotguns. Possibly at the 37th annual tournament of the New York State Association for the Protection of Fish and Game June 1895 at Saratoga Springs, N. Y. http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1895/VOL_25_NO_15/SL2515025.pdf



The great Rolla Heikes started shooting a Remington Autoloading Shotgun in 1905; image courtesy of Chris Lien



Jay Graham Gold Medal 1912 Olympic Games with a Remington pump



West Chester Shooters at the DuPont Gun Club 9-25-1912. Still traditionalists, but at least one SBT and ? repeater 2nd from right



Nemours Trap Shooting Club probably 1915; 6 repeaters



World's Record Trapshooting Squad with 4 SBTs and 1 Repeater - no doubles. July 4th, 1915, Maplewood Club in the White Mountains, New Hampshire. A.G. King - 99, Ralph Spotts - 100, Chas. Newcomb - 99, A.B. Richardson - 99, Fred Plum - 100. Newcomb won the 1915 GAH. Spotts and Newcomb both used Charles Daly SBTs http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1914/VOL_63_NO_13/SL6313028.pdf



1920 Gold Medal Olympic Team - Frank Troeh used a Smith, the others repeaters. Mark Arie a Marlin 28, but he did use a Smith for ATA doubles.



1924 Gold Medal Olympic Team - Frank Hughes used a Smith, the others Model 12s