Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-14
WHAT THE TARIFF DOES POP THE
PEOPLE

from Nevada county Tor 1nIormatlcn con-
cerning the tariff question. He says
"The more l consider the question the
"more convinced do I become that it is
"a measure which at the present time Is a
"proteciion and benefit to the rich rather
than the poor man" That is hardly
correct way to put the case. The tariff
benefits a few at the expense OF the many,
but it does this without regard TO the rel
ative prosperity of the parties. Our cor
respondent, however, asks us TO publish an
article on the protective tariff, embodyipg
our views and giving reasons. Our friend
Of course wants TO know what it is that
the tariff does. In the first place, it "pro-
teots less than one-tenth OF the Ameri-
can people, at the expense Of the other
njne-tenths. Let us give concrete Illus
tratIon. A farmer or miner or mechanic
wants TO buy quantity of goods which, il
he could procure them in the cheapes.
market, would cost him 500. Bat
the tariff claps a protective duty of 80 per
cent. on all importations. and counting
freight. warehousing commissions, etc.,
at another 10 per cent, sixty per cent. Is
added to the prime cost of the goods
The European consumer can get this article
for Sl0O The American consumer has to
pay $3.50 for it. OF course the protective
tariff enables the American manufacturer
to charge as high rates. The Government,
that is to say, by artifcially increasing the
cost Of the foreign goods, compeis the con-
sumer to pay the full extent OF this arti-
fetal increase to the home manufacturer.
Bat in practice the increased cost to the
consumer is really greater than we have
stated. Instead Of being so per cent. it is
frequently -, and sometimes even 100
per cent. higher than the European cost.
The consumers, who constitute nine
tenths Of the nation, have to pay these
enormous rates in order to sustain the one
tenth Of persons dependent upon "pro-
"tected" manufactures. But in truth
Protection does not protect the artisans
supposed to require it, for they are con.
sumerz, and every hing they consume is
subjected to the same increase of cost.
The Protectionists pretend that their sys.
tenn keeps up wages, and therefore they
claim that the workingmen ought to sup
port it. But their pretense III this respect
is false. II we compare wages in England
and the United States we find that even
nomiually there is only difference of from
ten to fifteen per cent. in favor of the
American rate; but when we inquire into
the relative purchasing power Of the wages
in the two countries, We discover that the
English mechanics money will buy from
forty 20 fifty per cent. more than that OF
the American. AS a fact, therefore, the
English workingman is better off than The
American, though he gets less wages nomi.
nally. His shilling, in short, goes almost
twice as far as the American quarter. The
Protectionists have tried to make it appear
that their system provided home market
for all the produce of the country This
is nonsense, since it Is clear that Free
Trader consumes just as much as a Protec-
tionist, and since no amount of Protection
can make men consume more than they
need.
The truth is that more than three. fourths
of all the people belong to the non pro-
tected classes. These are taxed for the
benefit OF the protected. The farmer,
however, has no protection. He must go
into the markets of the world with his
corn and wheat, and he must compete on
equal terms with England and France, and
Russia and Australia. So he has to sell all
his products on Free-Trade principles. and
he has to buy all his supplies on Pro-
tectionist principles. The result is that
he pays forty or fifty per cent. bonus on
everything he consumes, and yet he gets
no return at all for this sacrifice. The Pro-
tectionists pretend that their system is
necessary to foster home industry. But as
o matter of fact it does lot lester home IN
dustry. For in country SO large as this
home competition is much sharper than
foreign, and there is no protection against
this. For example, all efforts to establish
manufactures in this State have been
hitherto futile, for the reason that we could
not meet the competition of the Eastern
States. The outcome is that Californians
are made to pay heavily to support Eastern
manufacturers, who, being thus artiicially
bolstered up, are enabled to undersell our
own citizens, and prevent us from manu-
featuring. Thus we are made to contribute
to the maintenance of the most formidable
obstacles in the way of our own prosperity.
If there were no Tariff, we should no
doubt have to meet the competition of the
the world in some respects, but then We
should not be handicapped. We should be
able to afford the instrumentalities of COM
petition, because we should buy all we
wanted in the cheapest market. Our work
ingmen would be better off, because their
wages would have larger purchasing
power Our farmers would save fifty per
cent. on all their purchases. and their
| wheat would bring them in just the same
profits as now. Our manufacturers would
be better off than they are to-day, for they
would have less to fear from Eastern RI
valry. And with the abolition of the
Tariff our foreign trade would expand.
At present we cannot trade on satisfactory
terms with foreign countries, because we
cannot exchange products evenly. We
exclude the foreign products, and as for
eigners have not always cash at hand to
pay for what they want, they deal with
some other country which is willing to take
raw material in payment. Our tariff, in