The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-04-07
THE TARIFF.
To be the Political Issue i'm 1884.
THE DEMOCRATS NOTIN IA.
VOR OF FREE TRADE.
An Able Conservative View of
The Question.

]
oath, all article under the head o
"Protection to American Industry
| and sent out what it. calls supple
ment, purporting to be an account o.
a mass meeting held at the Cooper
Institute in In New York on Feby Isl
1883, by the New York Association
for the protection of American Indus
try. Why is all this labor expended
at this time? What does it mean?-
Does the writer of that article aspire
to some high State or National office
in the near future; and present this
! as his hobby to attempt to gull the
uniformed voter, or is it the success
sor Of the bloody shirt issue Of the
past now dead and loathsome? On
is this intended by that meeting oil
notablcs to be the issue in 1884?
In either aspect we opine the labor
of the mountain will bring forth a
mouse.
The people have met that issue be-
fore and know how to TO itagain. They
They know full well that every cent or
dollar they pay in the shape of a
tariff makes the article bought cost
them (the consumers) that much
more than it would cost them but for
such tariff. And that too, no matter
whether the article is manufactured
at home or abroad. For all know,
that the foreign manufacturer cannot
sell his goods for less than they cost
him at heme, with the cost of impor-
tation and whatever tariff we may
put on them added. Let us suppose
the tariff to be an average of 40 per
cent, advelorem, as it is about that;
then the consumer foreign goods
has to pay 40 per cent more for them
than il there was no tariff on them.
That 40 per cent tariff goes into the
United States Treasury for the sup
port of our Government. and thus
saves the people from the necessity
Of direct tax to that extent. Now
if this was all there was Of it, we the
laboring and consuming classes could
say amen to it; for we could buy our
goods at home and those manufacture
ed at home, free of this duty and in
crease Of price over the cost. But
when we see and know that no soon
er is the 40 per cent put on foreign
goods than our home manufacturers
raise the price of their goods up to
that price or within fraction of it;
so that the consumer is compelled to
pay the 40 per cent increase over the
cost of the goods, no matter where
they are manufactured, and the 40
per cent of increase paid by the con-
sumner on goods manufactured at
home goes into the pockets of the
capitalists or manufacturers at home
and not into the United States Treas
ury, as is the case Of goods imported !;
and suppose that we buy wholly at
home, then while the consumer paws
the same price as for the imported
article; still the government gets not
a dollar of this large gain Of our man
ufacturers over the real cost of the
article and the result is, that direct
tax must be laid on the consumer for
the support of the government and
thus the consumer is made to pay
twice for this protection to the home
manufacturers which would make
such protection as these Cooper Insti-
tute men want, cost the consumer 100
per cent more than without the pro-
lection.
But it is said that this increase of
price will enable our manufacturers
to pay higher wages to their en-
ployees than they can do without this
protection. And suppose it does in
crease their wages say rs per cent.
and they have to pay from 40 to 400
pr cent. higher for what they buy,
eat and wear, is it not plain that in
stead Of their being gamers they are
losers thereby; and then again it all
laborers could be manufacturers and
participate in this increase of earn
ings it would not be quite so destruc-
tive and oppressive as it must be,
when we see and know that the great
mass of the American laborels are
and must be mere consumers as agri-
culturists whose soil and capital re-
ceives no benefit from this protection
and vet they are compelled to pay
nearly double for what they buy from
the manufacturers. Is this fair, and
can it be expected that an enlightened
American people can act so suicidal
as to adopt such policy of protection
to one class of her people at the ex-
pense of the great mass of her con-
sumers, and yet this is just what
these protectionists for the sake of
protection mean.
But it may be said by these men
that they do not mean to prohibit
the importation of foreign goods and
thus cut off our revenue from that
source; yes, but that is just what they
do mean, or else they mean nothing
but to rob the great mass of laborers
of this country to enrich the capital
ist because he is manufacturer; if
they don't mean to prohibit but to
continue to buy on Of these goods OF
foreign manufacturers, then instead
Of keeping our money at home they
will have to send more of it away to
pay for these goods; for if we have to
buy them the higher the price the
more money it will take to pay for
them and this tariff will be part of