The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-10-28


= cent. Our American crop in 1884 was only on
E hundred and forty-two thousand tons But W
consumed that year $4,000 tons. The valu
2 Of imported sugar, which paid the tax OF nifty
three per cent, was ninety-eiIht million dollars
| Thus, for the protection OF few sugar planters
we paid that year f0rty-seyen million dollars as
tariff tax, above wha our sugar, with the tariff of
would have cost Us.
rs UNEQUAL on CLAssEs.
The day labOrer with his wife and children pay
more OF this tax than many millionaire who's
tea and coffee are carried on the free list. Tn
money thus collected as tax on what has becOm
an article of consumption would, in one year, bu
every sugar plantation in America, and leave
balance 10 sustain American sugar makers in com
fort for life. Rice must. when imported, pay
duty of oAe hundred and four cents adj yalOrem
and salt duty of thirty-seyen cents VIII lie salt 81
paws an adj yalOrem of twentyeight per cent Thu:
sugar and rice growing states have been de
! hauChed. and now strike hands with the manufac
! turers OF New England, the iron men Of Pennsyl
yania, and the owners of the hundred ishin.
! smacks who crowded the congressional lobbys L
mske one grand combination, Cemented by mutua
! interest and the hope of mutual plumber, to influ
! ence congress in the dirty work of imp0si Q un
| equal burthens on the great consuming masses Of
| our people These unequal burhens, this i'm
posed, condemn the whole scheme of custom du
ties as systematized robbery-the robbery of pa
tent industry for the benefit of favored capitalists
WHO COLLECTS AND WHO PAYS IT:
1t opera'es like the deadly malaria, invisible, hut
destructive, for it converts every merchant into
tax gatheTer who collects the tariff tax without
aluding to it as often he barters' his merchan-
disc and il il always paid in the end chiefly by the
men who toll in the furrOw.
How unequally it bears on different classes NAV
be seen when we remember that the diamonds with
which the wife of the millionaire adorns herself
in public places pay tariff tax of only ten per cent
and the costly otto of Roses with which she per
fumes, comes duty free. So, also, while the pro-
ducing element of the country must pay an aver
age tax of tOrty-seven per Ceut. on articles of
prime necessity, the wife of the millionaire reioices
in a diamond studded watch, silk cords and braids,
ostrich fans, costly furs silver plate Partisan bon.
nets, gorgeous carpets and ivory ornaments that
pay an average of less than twenty-iv per cent ad
yalorem. No dollar of this tax is collected on the
accumulated wealth of the millionire, on his pal
atial rosiuence, or his bonded wealth.
PROTECTION OF LABOR A SHAM.
Wallowng in riches secured by partial laws the
American manufacturer now seeks to Justify a
high tariff in the interest of American labor, when
for years ne has been engaged in cheapening il by
importing foreign labor on long time contracts,
and even now eyades laws to prevent this free trade
in the pauper labor of Belgium So content have
our factory owners been with home plumber that
they have disregarded the smaller profits they
could make Hhen competing with foreign goods in
the worlds markets, and thus our merchant ma
rne has been neglected and eightv-ive per cent of
our commerce floats under foreign flags. With
our tariff prohibition against fair trade with the
world, even the products of our soil canLOt sail
1Orth IN American bottoms, Tor they can bring no
returning cargo.
HIGH TARIFF NO PROTECTION.
Our ability to enter the worlds marker with our
products is shown by the fact that in 1854 we sold
in foreign markets. of cotton goods, ten million
dollars worth; of steam engines three million dol
lars WORTH of leather goods, over seven million
dollars, of refined sugar, five million dollars; and
Of irOn nails and spikes nine million dollars, ana
yet the American citizen must pay an average of
forty-seven cents on every dollar worth of those
goods more than the same goods are sold for in
foreign markets TO show how strong these infant
industries which in Mr., Jefferson's time only
claimed few years Nursing have become,we have
only to remember that in 1881 the value OF the run
and steel products of America was three hundred
and thirty ave million dollars, which was protected
WITH ar average tariff of fifty per cent
Whenever the agents OF people collect taxes
beyond an amount necessary and proper to admin
ster an economical government they perpetrate
'obbery, even though they do it under the forms Of
law,
RESULT OF THE PROTECTIVE POLICY,
Observe now the terrible fruits of this general
Welfare doctrine, - much dreaded by the early pa
riots of Virginia, Observe tn eife It's of this taX
NJ power imposed by northern majOrities once so
lreaded and prophesied of by Patrick Henry, Tn
Ter the inspiration # the general welfare clause We
ave seen this once proud ship of state |
lrlft out on of eXpedienCy, |
md in plain violation of the constitution, we have
cen unequal burdens placed on the many under
he pretense of protecting the few Thus the as. |
las centralized political power there at Washing |
on and the direct result of its exercise has been
. create and centraliZe financial power in the
lands of the few who own the manufacturing |
machinery of the country.
This machinery now does in America alone, the |
work of over one hundred and fifty millions of
men, and is capable of manufacturngi in six months
III the fabrics the American people need. Those |
Who own and operate this mighty power eyade the |
responsibility for wrong which attaches to indi- |
idua action, by hiding themselves behind a cor
crate mask, and the labOrer in whose name they |
lvade the obbies of congress must often work on
alt pay, or half time, or both, whenever the cor
Grafton sounds the cry of over production. Con
mt with the spOils gathered at the expense of the
ONE consumer, they invade the halls of congress
nd battle every effort made to enlarge the bounds
( American commerce, by striking down the
nackles with which it has fettered trade The
manufacturers OF New England, under the trip
lie shield of tariff on their products, patent ON
ieir machinery, and a corporate eXistance,
ere the first aggressive forces TO pro.
uCe great financial inequalities among
nr people. This mighty power merged
ested rights feels not, and has no morality eX-
opt that of eXpediency and gain. SOulless and
devoid alike of blood and human
ympathy, the corporation brushes individuality
hen it invades its domain COrrupts legislatures
nd courts, and enslaves lis own servants in the
Jiis of necessity
.Argus-eyed and Briarean-a armed, its eternal vig-
lnCe battles control, while it muZZles or inspires
le press, stocks conventions, places the pad lock
n the lips of candidates and often selects the very
'gislators whose sworn duty should demand its
Jntrui.
INCREASE OF MANUFACTURES
How rapid has been the increase of factory pro-
ucts in this c untry you Will understand, when |
III you that in 90 the annual value of all our
Manufactured articles was one thousand millions
money. In 1880 the yearly value of american
lctory products was five thousand millions of
honey, only two per cent of which was sold in
reign markets. When you remember that on