Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-08-31

| VI hish 'a@alion' as ain, thes nave
the audacity to say that this
tariff tax is not paid by
by consumers of the article which is
taxed. Why, if the consumers of these
taxed articles do not pay the tax would
| like to know who does. Do these protec-
ZIONIST orators pay it: Do menufactur-
ers pay it? Who psys it if the people
| who consume articles that are taxed do
not pay it? No man can ans yer that
| question satisfactorily. Now my friends,
| il you will reflect for moment
| you will see that it is necessarily
| the case that these taxes are
paid by consumers of the articles which
! are taxed, and of all domestic articles of
| like kind, which are manufactured in the
| United Stetes, for it is a curious fact
| and one of the worst things about the
tariff tax, that, while the government gets
| one dollar resulting from the tax,
THE DOMESTIC MANUFACTURERS GET S.
as it is best estimated, that never goes
| into the treasury at all. Great cheerlng.l
| The amount of goods imported
able goods in the year 1887
the last year for which we have any re-
turns, were in value $450.325 322, and the
duties collec ed were $212 ,032, ,424. There
were, therefore, in that single year, taxes
levied upon The United States by the
operation of this tariff law $212,032, ,424,
which went into the treasury of the
| United States. Bat that, as l have told
| you, was the least part OF the burden.
| The domestic manufactures of the same
kind of commodities that year amounted
to $5,369, ,579, 191. That is, In
other words, to five thousand
three hundred AID sixty nine
million dollars and as the price of these
goods was raised by the tariff on nearly
equal proportions to the price of goods
that were mported into the country the
amount which people pay on these high
prices of what they had to buy and had
to use, amounted to about one thousand
millions of dollars, or ave times as much
as the tax received by the government
for the use of the government. In other
words, the whole country was taxed about
one thousand million dollars for the
benefit of comparatively small
portion of the country; and that is said
to be justics; 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? Why don't they, when they find
in Port Huron lawyer-I think | may
name them because | am lawyer myself
when they find one the proceeds of
whose profession don't afford him and
his family comfortable sup
port, why don's they tax you
all for his benefit, SO as
to protect him, or when they find
doctor whose income is not sufficient to
support him or his family, why don't
they tax all the people of Port Huron in
- 4 &rxrt tt,,, g hot i lNrp
And SO on with everything else, why
don't they do it? The principal and gen
eral fact is that til is tax Here the speak
er was interrupted by cheering and ap
plause which followed his producing
bandana handkerchief.) Well, gen
tlemen this is good honest
handkerchief and 1 could hav. bought it
good deal cheaper if it had not been
for the tariff tax (Great laughter and pro
longed cheering). Now there are men
who say the consumer don't pay the tax.
have said that that is most audaoious
assertion, and | have tried to show that
he must necessarily pay it. These gen
tlemen who are bowling around about the
benefits of protection and the ruin that
the democrats are bringing on the coun-
try will tell yon that this thing which
President Arthur recommended only go
lately Is nothing in the world but
FRKB TRADE.
They are more afraid OF free trade
than they are of n rattlesnake.
They are terribly alarmed lest they
should be bitten by free trade. Well
now, SO far from this being free trade the
most striking thing about the Mills bill
| is that it is the most mod erato reduc
| tion of tariff duties that has
ever been attempted in thi.
| country average duty levied under the
present tariff was AZ per cent and under
| the Mills bill the average would be only
| about 40 per cent. a reduction OF only z
| per cent. upon all commodities taken to-
| gether. OF course there are some things
upon which duty was reduced more. For
instance, the duty is taken off of num-
| Der of articles called raw material, which
are used by manufacturers in their work
| in completion of their products
and as they receive this great benefit Of
! having their raw materials free, or with n
comparatively small duty, the bill wisely
| provides that articles manufactured by
them when brought into this country
shall pay lower rate of duty than they
did before. But that is nething more
than compensation for taking off the
duty from the raw material. My friends,
there is another thing to which | wish to
call your attention. They say, all at
| once, I say all at once, for it is a very
late doctrine) that these advocates of pro-
lection are all at once seized with a
WONDERFUL soLIoITUDE FOR THE IABoRING
of the country and they want high pro-
tective tariff, not to benefit the capital
ist, not 20 benefit the monopolist, not to
benefit the manufacturer, according TO
! their statement, but to benefit the labor
ing man He is the man they seek to
| protect. And how are they going to pro-
tect him? Why, they say that high pro-
tective tariff will better his condition,
give him more wages aud higher wages.
l would like to know how that can
be. would like to know
how taxing ths lsboring man on
every thing from the crown OF his hea d
to sole of his feet is going to enrich him.
| daughter and applause.) Yes, this is
exactly what this tariff tax does. 1t taxes
him on the hat he wears, or the cap put
on my head to keep it warm. 1t taxes
him on his shirt, on his
necktie, on his underclothes, on his coat,
on his vest, on his breechcs, on his
stockings, on his boots; on everything,
and yet they say this is for the benefit OF
laboring men. My friends, that is a
very bold faced statement if there ever
wac one in the world. But there is
another thing about it. How is he to get
these high wages Why, he is to get
them because his employer, the capital
ist or monopoli.t, will make more money
and therefore can afford to pay his
employees, or hired men, higher
wages than he paid them before.
1 agree that he could. | agree that it in
creases his profits. l agree that he
might, having these increased profits
pay his lsboring men more than they
were paid before, but does he do itg
That is tie question (apelause and cries
of 'no," "no.") Did you ever know him
to do it. (Cries of mo-" ''no.''l The
tariff has been raised again and az ain and
again. It was immensely raised
by the tariff of 1861
or 1862, forget which of these years il
was. 1t was raised in few years again
and it hes been raised again, and again,
and again; and yet in sll that time l have
never been able to find a manufacturer OF
capitalist who upon the raising of the
tariff has increased the price paid to hi:
laborers. If there was such q case it ha:
escaped the attention of everybody
But there is one class of laborers thstil
want to call your attention to especially