Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-09-05

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ter and that without any Just reason
whatsoever for doing soi Amt that a
singular way to make anybody richi And
yet that Is precisely the plan that those
folks advocate when they tell US that the
country Is 10 be made wealthy by means of
high taxation Again, they have the au-
dacity to say that this tariff tax is not paid
by the consumers Of the articles which are
taxed. Why, IL the consumers of taxed
articles do not pay for the tax, would
like to know who doesl A voice: $50
would L" and cheers.l Do those proteo.
tion orators pay it, Do the manufacturers
pay itl Who pays it, IL the people who
consume the articles that are taxed don'ti
Can any man answer that question to the
satisfaction Here Judge Thurman was
interrupted by the presentation of q note.
be looked at IL a moment and said:
am afraid there are some high protection
lists in this audience, for q lady sends
me this note to read to you.
A lady has just had her pocket
picked. She thinks 1t is high tariff.
lLaughter.J Well, / hope the high tariff
man who has taken that lady's money will
be caught and made to refund before he
leaves Port Huron Laughter and ap-
plause. Now, my friends il you will re-
feet for moment you will see that it is
necessarily the case that tariff taxes are
paid by the consumer of the articles which
are taxed, and all domestic articles of q
like kind which are manufactured in the
United States. It 10 q curious fact and one
Of the worst things about this tariff tax, that
while the Government gets 81 resulting
from the tax, domestic manufacturers get
IS. as 1t is best estimated, that never goes
into the Treasury at all How does this
happenl A man called an importer brings
goods into the United States to be sold.
he can not sell yard or pound until he
pays this tariff tax. He pays It, therefore,
and then sells 1t to the merchant OF
course he must get this tax back In the
price for which he sells or he would lose
money. His business would break up at
once Therefore, he puts the tax on the
original cost Of goods, and with that price
added with the cost Of transportation and
his reasonable commercial profit he sells
the goods to the merchant. The merchant
sells to the retail merchant, and, Of course
this tax which entered into the price con-
tinues in the price and to It is added the
profits Of the merchant Then the retail
merchant sells to you and of course he
must get in this price, for otherwise
he would sell for less than he gave
for the goods, and no man would con-
sent to do that. Therefore the tax Is on
when the cloth, for instance, is sold to you
and In the price you pay this retail mer-
chant you also pay the whole Of the tariff
tax, the importers profits, the wholesale
merchants profits, and the retail mer-
chants profits, besides the interest on
their money. 1t is as plain as that two
and two make four. If was a school
master and a boy Of ten years could not
understand that after ten minutes teach
ing 1 would give him up as a hopeless
idiot GLaughter.l That is the fact In re-
spect to this branch of subject Now, how
much do you payi The amount Of duti-
able goods imported into the United States
in 1887 was in value S45O, 900, 900 in round
numbers. The duties collected on these
goods-the tariff tax-was S2l2, 600 900 and
fraction. Therefore, in that single year
tax was levied on the people of the
United States by the operation of this tariff
law OF t212, ,0O0, 900 and fraction, which
went into the Federal Treasury But that,
as have told you, was the least Of the
burden. The domestic manufactures Of
the same kind Of commodities amounted
that year to S., 800 000, 900, and as the price
Of those goods was raised by the tariff in
nearly or equal proportions to the price of
goods that were imported, the amount
which the people paid by reason of these
high prices Of what they had TO buy or had
TO use amounted to 81, 900, ,OO0, COO That
Is about five times as much as the tax re-
ceived by the Government for the uses of
the Government. In other words. the
whole community was taxed about 81, ,OO0,-
OOO,OOO for the benefit of comparatively a
small portion Of the community. And that
is said to be just; that is said to be fair
play; that is said to be for the benefit of
the American people. Why don't they
carry 1T out furtheri When they find in
I1orf L.. 4 Il
lawyer because / am a lawyer myself-the
proceeds Of whose profession do not afford
him and his family comfortable support
why don't they tax you all for his benefit
so as to protect him. When they find a
doctor whose income is not sufficient for
himself and family, why don't they tax all
the people Of Port Huron in order to add
to the wealth Of that doctori And so on
with every body else. Why don't they do
ttl Because they know perfectly well that
the people would not stand it And yet
they do tax a man, or did tax him, and do
yet. pretty highly, somstimes ON the medi-
cine he is obliged to take.
THE BANDANA IN SIGHT.
remember that one Of the most satisfac-
tory votes ever cast in the Senate of the
United States was to abolish the tax on qui-
nine. so that O man with the fever and ague
D
know there are a few cases, and they are
very few and exceptional, and not of suf.
dcient importance to make il necessary
for me to speak of them to-day in the linn
tied time i have to speak, in which the
duty or tariff tax is not all paid by the con
sumer. They are so trifiing in amount and
so insignificant that it is not necessary
that should occupy your time with them.
The principle, the general fact Here q
tumultuous cheer caused Judge Thurman
to cease speaking, the crowd having caught
sight Of a bandana which the speaker was
lifting to his nose. Mr.. Thurman looked
amazed for moment, but on discovering
the cause of uproar, saidI: Well, gentle
men, it is good, honest handkerchief, and
i could have bought 1t good deal cheaper
| IL it had not been for the tariff. Laugh
ter. AS have stated, there are men who
say that a consumer does not pay tax.
have said that is q most audacious asser-
tion. have tried to show you that the
consumer must necessarily pay the tax.
| But If you want authority on that sub
| ject let me refer to some men who have
spoken on the question and whose words
can scarcely be gainsaid. First, will 20
back to John QGincy Adams, and dare
say there are plenty of Republicans and
sane Abolitionists in this crowd who have
| kACos lOT tuhb u1au y memory.
knew him well Iserved in the House OF
Representatives with him / know how
intelligent he was. know how frank and
outspoken he was In the year 1881 he was
Chairman Of the House Committee on
Manufactures, and in q report made BY
him in that year he said: "The doctrine
that duty on imports serves to cheaper the
prices Of commodities which they are
levied upon seems to conflict with the first
dictates OF common sense" Laughter. /
Thcduty constitutes part Of the price of
the whole mass of article in market 1t is
substantially paid on the article Of do
mestic manufacture, and as well as upon
foreign production Upon one 1t Is a duty,
upon the other il is q burden, and the re-
, peal Of the tax must operate as an equiva-
lent reduction of the price OF the article,
whether foreign or domestic. We say so