The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-08-29

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the profession, merchandise, tranpOrta-
tiOn, &c. His little taxes are a panaeea
| for them all. Every one shall be rich
by selling high and buying cheap; re-
ceiVing big wages and paying little wa
ges. He will do it with his taxes!
LITTLE TAXES AND HIGH WAGES.
Smiling upon labOrer he says: ''YOur
wages shall be high, very high, and you
shall buy all you want very eheapl I'll
do it with my little taxes" But now
he sees manufacturer and he says:
''Never mind the wages, will raise the
price of your products double the
amount of the wages, and you shall buy
| friend Hayseed's products very cheap.
I'll do it with my little taxesW Now
he sees one of those consumers who have
nothing to sell; everything to buy and
wages to pay at that, and he says: "Ah,
my friend, don't look so sour; that man
ufacturer shan't have big prices after
all. You shall buy all your cOmmOdi-
ties very cheap. I'll do 1t with my lit
tie taxes. and competition" But now
he sees the manufacturers eye upon
him, and he says: "Ah, never mind, |
didn't mean competition after all;
for I'll shut out all competition from
every country on the globe. I'll do it
with my little taxes" But now the con-
sumPr frOwDs and says: "Oh, my
friend, didn't mean exactly that after
all. By shutting off foreign competition
| will simply give our manufacturers a
monopoly of competition. You know
what mOnOpOlies can accomplish. We
shall have a most spirited home cOmpe-
titiOn. I'll do it with my little taxes"
Now he turns to a farmer who looks ril-
ed and says, "Friend Hayseed, it's all
right; you shall sell very high and buy
very cheap. I'll do 1t with my little
taxes" But friend Hayseed is not ap-
peased, "just muchly." He is talking
excitedly to the manufacturer and the
consumer (whO don't look overly pleased
himself), saying he has to compete un-
protected with the world, and in that
competition he Ia robbed of n large share
of his products by the large profits of
the middle men, the cost OF transpOrta-
tiOn and insurance, and the profits Of
the home exporter and foreign importer,
and then robbed again when he buys
anything, by being compelled to pay
double what his foreign competitor pays,
and moreover vigOrOugly denOuncing
the sham OF home competition, which is
manifested only by the periodical meet
ings of the manufacturers to fix prices,
limit production, and buy off mills that
will not Voluntarily agree to stop.
Now he is utterly desperate, but no.
ttcing the absence of the labOrer he
gathers courage and shouts to the excit-
ed group: On it, men, its all right;
can't you understand? Spainl friend
manufacturer, Spainl friend consumer,
Spainl friend Hayseed; my little taxes
work wOnderSl Why, look, England
with scarcely more than quarter OF a
century of free trade already pays
double the wages of Spainl Only have
patlence-that fellow QabOrer) shan't
have big wages-his share shall be
coarse bread, vinegar and wayside herbs,
and You, my friends, shall divide all of
labOr's products between you'll I'll do it
with my little taxesl Glorious tariff,
the sun do move.
Yes, there was a method in his mad
ness" Spain has its moral; she is an
appropriate episode in protection argu
ment. Alas for friend Hayseed, ii he
thinks his fate will be different from the
labOrer's.
FoRAKER'S sUGAR-CoATED PILL.
Foraker seems troubled about the con-
sumer, and makes special effort to sugar
coat his pill. Probably facts come to
his mind, like for instance, the fact that
those apostles of protection to American
labor" the iron and steel manufactur-
ers, have themselves, in the last four
years, imported from abroad no less
than two million tons of pig iron and
paid thereon in addition to freight and
Insurance a tariff duty of $14,O00000,
just about $2,OO0,OO0 more than all the
wages annually paid in the pig iron in
dut try. And he is afraid that the con-
sumner will not believe that they did not
pay these extra $14,O0O,OO0 because they
could not buy it any cheaper here, but
simply to show their adherence of the
British free trader and their love for
American labor.
SO, for the consumer, he evolves a
pretty school boy theory, that a prOtec-
tive tariff does not enhance the price of
commodities, but on the contrary di-
minishes the price, (very true in respect
to the farmers prOduets) and that in
fact the abolition of protection would
result in large increase in the price of
the protected products, because the su-
periOr capital Of England would destroy
our industries by temporarily selling
very low and having destroyed them
would raise prices ad libitum.
TIE TARIFF ON PRINT PAPER.
And to demonstrate his theory he says
to the consumer look at the paper mills,
they are very prosperous under prOtec-
ton; yet without lowering wages, paper
has declined 33 per cent; 1t is 3 cents
pound cheaper than before the war.
But 1t happens that there has not
tariff for such paper; that the sO-called
free trade" but purely revenue tariff Of
1916, provided the same tariff for it that
it provided for the other manufactures
viz: 80 per cent, and which was the
rate provided by the otherwise high
tariff of 1912. In 1857 our first Republi-
Congress, with Banks as Speaker, passed
Lewis Campbelrs (Of Ohio bill which
reduced the tariff TO "a per cent. Dur
ing the war the tariff was reduced to 20
per cent; in 1872, to Is per cent, and
afterward to 10 per cent, and to-day the
duty is 10 per cent.-just one half Of the
rate provided by the sO-called free trade
tariff of 1854 mere nominal rate, that
the most extreme of extreme tariff re-
formers or sO-called free traders would
never dream of applying to our manu-
factures generally, and which, if so ap-
piled, would in a short time stop the
government for want of funds to admin
lister il.
Foraker's proof, therefore, Tefutes his
theory, and If it proves anything, proves
that our manufactures can subSist un-
der tariff duty far less than an absO-
lutte revenue tariff" calls for; not only
subsist but prosper, pay high wages
and TndUeA THAR Drioqa RI nar cent All