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

= republican system OF the | nited states into an
sOlute, or, at best, mixed monarchy
THE TARIFF.
One of the first glaring violations If the con=t
tuition was perpetrated when the United STATE
started what IL called the protective policy. IN
right 10 collect taxes and tariff duties, was g,
pTessly granted in the constitution: bGt the sam
sentence when confers the power, limits its exc
else ito pay the debts acd provide for the CommO
defense and general welfare Of the United States.
This taxing power was never intended to be il
strument for transferring wealth from the man
to the few, as il now is. Now, M friends, befor
lnveiling 10 you the rank injustice and part ALT
10 special classes Of our tariff laws, let me apped
TO your reason and ask you 10 try the justice o
those laws before the bar Of your own Judgment
and consciences.
The great trouble with the American citizen in thi
money making age s that he is always hunting
dollar instead OF watching and stopping the meth
DDS by which bis government gets that dOlla
away from him after he has earned it. Every sur
| OF tax IL a hardship; hut when your country de
| mands us payment to protect by lawful and eco
n"mical means your lie and property, tax is
necessary hardship. When it is paid to sustain
extravaganza IN operating government, then the
| tax becomes an unnecessary evil. VIII IN it is col
lected from the many, that the few may grow rich
! under the pretense of protecting them against
competition, then it becomes not only wrong and
! oppressive but ineXcusable robbery. Men often
talk about tariff as If their audience was com
posed OF statesmen Let the young also under.
stand.
The tariff is a tax collected under a law of con
gress on goods from other countries, and this
tarln OF tax ts sometimes called duty.
All foreign goods must pass through custom
houses, where they are measured weighed, and
the tax or tariff must be collected there The
average tariff tax now on foreign imports is an ad-
yalorem OF about fOrty-seyen cents. So, if New
York merchant wishes to bring hundred dollars
worth of goods from London to New York, he
pays one hundred dollars to the London merchant
and fOrty.seyen dollars 10 the New York
custom house collector as United
hlt ha ON
receive his goods from the customhouse Now if his
one hundred dollars worth of goods have cost him
one hundred and forty-seyen dollars, and the Bas-
trOp merchant goes to New York 10 buy those goods
he must pay the hundred lars they first cost the
f9rty-scyen dollars which the New York man had
to pay for the privilege OfimpOrting them, and
The profit OF the New York merchant say, / per
cent. This profit is profit on both the first cost
and the amount paid as tariff, and is increased aC-
cording to the number of hands the goods are pass
ed through before they are finally purchased by the
consumer
IT Is PAID BY THE PEOPLE.
Thus, you perceive, that this tariff tax though
paid at first by the merchant in New York, is, in
the end saddled back on the shoulders and must
he paid by the consumer; and that with some addi-
tional profit at every step Of change OF ownership
Of the goods.
Revenue to meet the expenses Of the government
has always been collected chiefly by tariff from
the beginning. The great contest has always been
between those who cOntended that tariff should
De imposed so low az barely 10 meet the wants OF
an economical government and those who clamOr-
ed for high protective tariff The latter, first
claiming that a high tariff was needed to protect
and afterward that it was needed to
protect factory laborers,
now THE PEOPLE ARE PLuNDERED
Under the operation of an unjust tariff, for the
asst twenty-five years, our people have been plum.
Tered by the republican party 10 sustain an extrava
CAN'T government and to enrich special classes. Lei
ne appeal to figures; In 1917, under democratic
ullf ha a.
which extended our territory to the Pacific ocean,
his government was administered ON fftv.one
Millions of money, raised by tariff of only ,! per
,ent
In 1860 II was administered under democratic
ule on sixty millions of money. Then our aver
ge tariff was IL per cent ad YalOrem, it is Sc
,er cent. Now, if we leave out of account the in
crest on the public debt, which in 1884 was but |
Orty-eight millions of dollars, would sug-
,est that this government should he sustained |
With lighter tax on our people than II was in i,6J |
For the expenses of a government, properly adj |
should decrease after its expensive |
fractures are completed.
over half a century had passed from the origin |
# the government to the war between the states,
nd during that time the federal capitol building |
ad been erected and nearly every other costly pub
C edifCe at Washington. Forts, arsenals and |
OCkyaIds had been built, and custOm-hOuses along |
he coast line, while federal court houses had been
INSTRUCTED in nearly all the old states Interest !
m the public debt presented the only honest i'm |
sediment to more economical government Yet |
n 1884 a republican administration expended two !
hundred and fOrty-fOur millions Of dollars. The
interest on debt, as ! have said was but forty
light million dollars that year. Now we paid into !
he treNaury that year, as a direct tax on spirits,
malt liquors, and tobacco alone, one hundred and
eyenteen millions of dJlars Thus. you perceive
hat If this government had been administered
nth honest economy and regard for tax paying
eople that distinguished democratic rule in 1860,
he tax on liquor and tobacco alone would have
efrayed all the expenses of government, paid the
- 81. 81 1.
inc millions in the treasury, without raising one
ent of revenue from tariff tax. And yet, in that
ear, SSi, the government under republican rule
objected from taxes on foreign imports one hun
red and ninety five millions OF dollars, four mil
ons on Internal revenue from other sources than
II liquor and tobacco, and nine millions from
iles of public domain; in all, when we add the
svenue from liquor and tobacco, three hundred
nd twenty-five million dollars. Consider how
revious this taxation is, when we remember that
)r the support of our state governm mt, in the
OF laws, the education of our chill
rem, and all the expenses of protecting life and
rOperty. our state taxes ia less than one dollar
II every hundred dollars worth of property
WHAT WE PAY PER CAPITA.
Now, under the operation of this tariff and inter
al revenue system combined, We paid to the gen.
raj government in 1891 three hundred and twenty
We millions OF dollars, or, over SIX dollars per
lpita for overy man, woman and child in Texas,
hte and black. or about seven times as much AS il
Dsts us To sustain our state government Though we
tand appalled, at the magnitude of this legaliz I'd
DbbeTy, its worst feature Is seen in the motives
nd means that inspired anu continued il. IL il
lspired by the greed of manufacturing cl sses-
nd was established under the pretense of necess,
" to pay the war debt, and yet it endures long
tter all excuse to collect so muCn TO pay interest
nd create Il sinking fund has ceased. With all
Ne extravaganza that has marked the disburse-
tent of so large sum, two hundred millions of
Ollars were piled up in the national treasury in
le first months of the year, which should have
cen among the people, paying debts, giving life
nd prosperity to industrial efforts and restoring
VINO ARE PROTECTED:
The cry of protection to labor is a deiusion and
sham. Under democratic rule no strikes were
'en and no labor riots heard of in our land Pros
Gritty was in all our borders, and mutual good
selling among all classes. The only people pro
'cted is the moneyed class, who own the ma
hinery and who have monOpuliZed both steam
nd electricity the great agents of production and
Intelligence. And who are they: The great in.
ustries of cotton, and irOn and steel manufacture
re owned by five thousand men. To these five
lOusand men our fifty-hve millions of people
lust, under the operation of the tariff pay an
verage tribute of nearly forty seven cents on
very hundred dollars worth of iron and cotton
pods used: or in other words, every eleven thou.
md among our people must submit to this burden
II the benefit of one capitalist. The bare state
ent of such injnstiCe should shock the conscience
every honest man.
If we admit that the laboring operatives in these
dustries are benefited by high tariff still the
ct remains that there are but two hundred and
ghty-three thousand of them working in iron,
eel and cotton factories so that for each one.