Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-10-11
COST OF PROTECTION.
Figures That Tell y SurpFising Story o1
the Eject OF Tariff Laws.

COST OF PROTECTION.
Figures That Tell y Surprising Story o1
the Eject Of Tariff Laws.
Perhaps the most extraordinary feat
ure of the situation concerning the
tariff lies in the circumstance that few
people have any idea of the amount OF
It's burden. even tariff reformers usual
~ combining themselves to mere gen.
eralities concerning it We know what
our military and naval establishments
cost. what we pay for pensions. and
what we appropriate for rivers and
harbors. 1t is always open to any
citizen, in or out OF Congress, to object
to the amounts expended for any of
these purposes. But the amount which
we expend for the support of certain
favored industries in this country Is
an absolutely unknown quantity. Not
only are the great majority of intel
ligent persons utterly ignorant of this
amount. but it frequently happens that
writers for the press. whose special
business it is to treat these queStionss
proceed upon an entirely false basis in
estimating it.
The customs duties collected in the
year ending June so, 1887, amounted
to $214, 600, 600. But this does not in
any way measure the cost which the
nation incurs in supporting its pro-
tected industries. 1t does not, indeed,
form any part of that cost. These
$214, 600. O00-if, for the sake of SIM
plicity in the argument. we ignore the
existence of a surplus-are expended for
the general purposes Of the Govern
ment. They have to be collected some
how, and whether customs duties are
the best way or not is a question of
general fiscal policy. 1t is true that
protective duties are apt to bear moro
heavily on the poor than on the rich,
unless chiefly confined to articles of
luxury; it is true, also, that they are
open TO the objection of being difficult
to alter without disturbance to indus
try and trade, which is serious OBJ
lection to tax; but these points have
nothing to do-at least directly-with
the question we are now considering,
viz: How much is the country paying
to encourage the protected industries!
1t is the money which never reaches
the Treasury, but is paid out by con-
sumers in the high prices of domestic
articles, that constitutes the expense
of protection. Though it would be
impossible to estimate the amount of
this tax with any degree of accuracy,
clear recognition of its nature is suffi-
cient to show that the aggregate must
be StupendOus. Let us take a single
item, that of steel rails; the sim plicity
and uniformity of this article render
ing comparison of prices and quaint
ties comparatively easy and reliable
The Statistical Abstract - of the
United States for 1887 gives the follow
ing figures of Importation and of home
production of steel rails for the last
twelve months covered by it: Imports
ton for year ending June 50, 1SS7)e
1900 tons; home production Cyeae
ending December 81. 1SS6)e S.579. 900
tons. The duty on steel rails gae
(and is) ST per ton, so that she cusa
toms revenue from this article waE
about 81, 500, 900. Inasmuch as q r@
spectacle quantity of foreign rails WAC
imported, upon which 1t wae possiblG
to pay the duty and still 20 sell them
|. in competition with domestic rails, il
is plain that the price here must have
been something like sig higher shan
we should have had to pay for foreign
rails in the absence of the duty.
Reckoning the excess at only $15,
however-and a comparison of BritisA
and American prices current FOR Che
year shows that this is well within the
mark-we have in this single item a
bounty of about $24, 600, 900 paid in q
single year to the steel rail manafaces
ures alone. Something over $1a
100000 has been paid into the
Treasury for the expenses of Che pee
pies Government; twenty times as
much has been given away to the steel
rail men, and has entered into the co9
of our railways. to be a permanene
charge on farmers and merchants an&
the community generally.-Matioas.