The McKinley Tariff of 1890 set the tariff rate for “Sporting, breech-loading double-barrel shotguns” at 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.
The wealthy Pigeon shooters probably didn't care
Only 1 Scott at the March 2, 1894 Riverton vs. Carteret shoot
Fred Hoey - Purdey
Charles Macalester - Purdey
Capt. A.W. Money - Greener
George Work - Purdey
Edgar Murphy - Parker
T.S. Dando - Parker
H.Y. Dolan - Scott
R.A. Welsh - Churchill
The average working man likely did. The “Panic of 1893” was 3 years after the Tariff went into effect, with 500 bank closures and the bankruptcy of over 15,000 businesses and 18% unemployment.
In response, U.S. double gun makers were forced to lower their selling prices.
In 1890 the Parker GH, Ithaca No.3, Lefever F, Colt hammerless & L.C. Smith No. 2 were each factory listed at $80
In the 1895 Chas. Godfrey catalog the selling price of the Smith and Ithaca was $60. The $100 Parker DH sold for $72.
Prices never increased, and then "The Panic of 1907" hit; a credit crisis similar to that of 2008-2009. Strains in the financial system started to appear in 1906 when American industry and railroads found it increasingly difficult to obtain credit from Europe, prior to then a large source of capital flow into the US. Liquidity became increasingly tight through 1907 and on October 23 panic occurred when New York’s third largest trust, the Knickerbocker Trust Company, collapsed related to an attempt by then President Charles T. Barney and Otto Heinze to corner the copper market. Banks began to fail when depositors at other trusts sought to withdraw their money and other banks in New York were forced to retract loans. Lending ceased and the credit crisis spread world wide. Were it not for the intervention of J.P. Morgan, and President Theodore Roosevelt’s agreement to set aside the Sherman Antitrust Act to enable his plan, the entire US banking system may have imploded.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 48% of its value from January 1906 to November 1907. Industrial production dropped by 11%, imports by 26%, while unemployment rose from less than 3% to 8%. The stock market, and the economy, did not recover until the summer of 1908.
Page 544 of John Houchins’ L.C. Smith “The Legend Lives” shows a price comparison between Smith and Parker guns. Prices for both, and in every grade, fell from 1908 to 1913. The $105 2E in 1898 went for $95 in 1908, and became the $75 AE Specialty grade in 1913.
