New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-04-12
A FREE Traders CHOICE.
A CONSUMER OPPOSES CHANGE OF TARIFF.
"oUR INToLERABLE RDENs."

OIK INlOIERABLf Bt NpENs'
To the EditOr Of The TrtbHne:
SIR: To the argument that cannot afford 10
break down home industry, aud thus to become de-
pendent upon foreign sources of supply answer
is heard The burden of the tariff is intOlerabe."
This i, passing strange. How is it that we exist
at all then We are a seIf-goyernIng people, and
it is quite remarkable that tolerate ntOlerable
burdens. Ii they are so bad, hOw comes it to pass
that we grow aud thrive beyond all other nations.
and excite the admiration and envy OF our neigh
borsg When runner in first in the race.
beating the best time record one does not quite
understand how he can be a helpless cripple. For
about a quarter of century, now have been
hearing cheap dcmagogues tell of our intolerable
burdens and looking for the Nation TO get crushed
by them and the Nation has been getting rich and
strong all the time. l begin TO feel As President
Lincoln did about General Grants dreadful
habit: he wished some Of the other Generals would
get at the same bottle
And we are making the rich richer, aud the poor
poorer 1t must be So, for our friend David A.
Wells proved it as far back as 1866. But the poor
people keep coming here from everywhere else-sO
many of them that making OF trying to make
laws to keep of them away. VIII some
tell ne why two millions of foreigners within tha
past three years should seek homes ia country
where the burdens are intoerablc! They came
from almost every other land and not by accident
or bliudy. They came because relatives or friends
had told them what they woald find here 1t is
really wonderful that Of these friends wrote to
them about the intolerabo burdens.
But what arc theyG II, at tremendous risks to
ourselves we are asked to get rid Of the present ys
ten because of its burdens it would be well first to
have some definite idea as to the cost of that sys-
tenn. Those who want change give no definite
facts but only very large gUesses which do not
agree. Here is pamphlet which asserts: On all
goods of home manufacture, we pay tax nearly
equal to the duty on similar foreign goods" That
would be about s.. 90 0Oo. But it is papably
false that any such tax is paid on all god, ma Ia
here. For We export many largely. Many other,
as has been shown, are sold far below the cost of
like imported goods with duty. Those iyepound
blankets, for instance. for which pay about So.
actually cost over 50 when imported. So one
writer estimates" that the tax on homemade
goods averages about half the duty. aud sets down
cost .Of protection, 81 O0O,0OOOOO". another
guesses One-thlrd, and puts the cost at
$500 900 900; and Mr. Springer. with a courage
born of ignorance, puts on Tecordhls twelve hepa-
S5J7 600. 600. Men who make such random guesses
prove that they have no facts to give.
The truth is that no man can enter upon candid
comparison Of prices without showing that tbs
general level here differs but little from that Of
the other most prosperous countries. The single
of almost every branch of manufacture proves this
beyond doubt. Years ago the difference much
greater That the country has paid heavily
for the establishment of its industries and more
heavily than it should have paid, yOu are aware
that believe. But the question now is not what
these industries did cost. but what they do cost,
aud whether it is worth while TO keep them IL you
had paid 800 for a horse and found him worth
only $400 wOuld You shoot himf
Every estimate that ! have seen of the present
cost of retaining protective duties is essentially
false, because based upon the assumption that
present prices abroad have been reached. and will
be held, without regard to duties here But the
truth is that no man can say how much prices of
things have been put down abroad by the manufact-
here. or how high prices might rise if this
country were to buy abroad the vast quantities We
81 per ton. 1t is not true that the same tax Is
aid on rails made here. for they sell al 1898 so,
against S22 30 in London. Neither is il true that
the difference, 81 per ton, is tariff tax" for tho
freight and other costs of importing exceed IS per
ton. Moreover. the price abroad has been de-
pressed-hOw much we know nOt-because this
country has become able 10 supply its own needs.
and it is a deception to ignore that fact. And,
finally. ii would be dishonest 20 assume that tho
price abroad wOnd not rise If we should import
rails largely, as il did rise above $50 in lS79lsO
when we imported only One-sixth of the quantity
used Ia the light of these facts. whoever asserts
that any tax whatever is now paid by consumers
on rails made here is simply deceiving himself or
trying TO deceive others Yet the forms of decep-
ton here illustrated run through every one of tho
many estimates that have seen OF the cost Of
protection" EDAX.
NOc- York April 10, 1854.