New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-15
4 EREE.TRADEMS CHOICE.
A CONSUMER OPPOSES A CHANGE OF
TARIFF.

SHALL WE sCUITLE OUR SHIP BEFORE ANOTHER IS
II sIGHTP
To the Edtt0F me tribune.
SIR: The producers of iron and steel, of woollens
and cottons, and of many other things, have been
heard in opposition to Mr.. Morrison's Tariff
bill Some of them number thousands, some
tens Of thousands, and some hundreds Of
thousands But the consumers number more
than fifty millions, and they have not been
heard On their behalf something ought to be SAID,
not only about this BILL but upon the broader ques
ton whether the policy of the Government as to
the tariff should now be changed
You have always known rs a free-trader.
That name still fits to theory, better than any
other. look at a tariff from the consumers point
of view. If it makes my clothes cost me one
cent more than they need, want TO know INTO
whose pockets the 00OO0,OOO cents have gone.
When a new mill has been opened. before rejoicing,
want TO know whether it is going to support it.
self or to be supported by me and others. The
producers Of any one thing are few; the consumers
of it are many. Whatever makes things dear takes
from ne part of every dollar earned. Nor has 1T
ever seemed to me that nations industry could
best be developed on the dollhouse plan. If Mr..
Greeley found that potatoes grown on his own land
cost him 81 per bushel, lac was FREQ TO buy them
from some one else for 81 and the Nation ought TO
have the same freedom. This is my point of view,
and these my beliefs Speaking for the consumers,
therefore hold the Morrison bill worse by far
than the present tariff and ask space to state my
reasons.
The first is that it is not good sense 70 scuttle the
ship we are on, before we have a chance to get
aboard any other.
For building or living no plan is worse than any
plan. 1t Is possible to live under the tariff that
have, and even to prosper 1t is the fact-to many
the unwelcOme fact-that there is absolutely no
popular demand for vital change. Mr. Mouis,n
has not the courage TO propose one. ii his biI
would give us a new industrial system based upon
care for the interests of consumers that would bea
different matter But an industrial system that
has been growing for twenty years cannot be
wiped out and replaced. as a School-boy cleans his
slate for a new sum. II the bill would give the adj
yantages at which free-traders aim, those might
COMPENSATE for some loss. But this bill oilers not
one Of those advantages.
II does not make raw materials free. Ont OF hun
dreds it puts but three the free list Free salt
can in no case help consumers much as four cents
each I'm year. for we consume less than one bushel
per CAPITA. We shall have 10 go abroad Tor our
lumber in a very short time If we DO not begin 10
save our forests now. What good does IL do to
take OF our duty on coal We shipped
to Canada $6O0O,O00 worth last year, in spite Of
the duty of 81 ,OO0,O 900 which the Dominion eA'
acted.
THIS bill does not make the tari1 more simple
All that is blind, tricky or uncertain IN the present
tariff Is retained, for the duty under 1t must 20
found before the reduction can be made. men, ~
make confusion thrice COMPOUNDED, itmust be a'cvf
tanned what the duties would have been under ''o
obsolete tariff and crude classhcationS "I i9oi,
II cannot be pretended that the OH wiz i'''oo
revenue. The larger imports vi" Pio'"''' pay
more. in spite Of the lower rate
mo very essence Of evil, in the oI ue'-liaHeS'
l. IL discrimination in favor OF some Industries AT
tIooxnense of others. Yet this " robbery as Dir.
N,,r,son would call it, he takes care 10 keep up ny
a. =. horizontal mode OF reduction.
Tins Mr. Morrlson's bin offers 10 better OF other
s,.f,,n. and vet 1t would break down the one We
L,Ve. The burden ofdlscrmiuation he retains, bat
thc only end for whchit was imposed he deiea'S no
DESTROYS the adjustment where duties were Sudpou
ith care 10 protect land so STRIPS them Oi power ~
helm nybodV Industries depend upon cdch oluet
The rate OF reduction which some can bear II ~
plied 10 all alike, would bring rum tOo'NS'S; "h
they fall they drag down the rest ne S'il % ln
shin that keeps US ailOat Is not an "l q -
Here are six inches OF plank and sheathinSi oeI"m,
nothing buf a half inch plate Is between lAoSo "
hoard and a hungry sea. Mr. MORRISON PROPOSES "
cut down that half inch all the way IOU''. ,A"0'1
The blanks are left below, he makes ho'e' "NN
let's In the sea. . -. for mora fhlB
tventV wears has been shaped by tailu l"i III
tsctin1 bousauds of millions have been IuNoA'0I
i'm reliance upon that system. Mon, M", WI nnos
rbildreu by The hundred thousand' u.pJInu ruoi
il for their bread. lie wLo would lear iIu'"A