Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-10-26
Tariff Policy.
lDaily oregonian, April 70, l8s2.

lowing: Tobacco, tea, coffee, chocolate
and cocoa, wine (classed AS one), dried
fruit, chicory, spirits, gold and silver
plate (classed as one, beer, vinegar,
playing cards, pickles. malt and spruce
This is the whole list os commodities on
which England imposes tariff duties.
The first five are commodities not pro-
duced in England; the duties on these
cannot, therefore, be in any sense pro-
tective. With respect to the others the
protective feature is obViated by the i'm
position OF corresponding excise duty
/ on the like commodities produced in the
British islands, Thus the English tariff
is strictly and literally. tariff for rev.
enue only. 1t creates no monopoly,
licenses no spoliation, sanctions no prac
tice Of reciprocal rapine. 1t is not the
product of jobbers banded together to
! force up prices OF commodities in which
they are personally interested, and to
compel the consumer to pay them.
! On the other hand the American tariff
list comprises some four thousand arti-
cles or commodities, more than two
thirds of which return practically no rev.
enue at all over the cost of collection
The duties are not levied for revenue,
manufacturing class at the cost OF con-
sumers generally. Under proper tariff
system the object is revenue for the use
OF the government. Under our system
the object is the shutting out of compe-
tition from abroad SO that home monop-
olies may charge what price they like.
But We are told that our manufacturers
cannot compete on equal terms with
those Of Europe. This requires us to be-
lieve that the incalculable national adj
vantages OF the United States are not
enough to sustain manufacturers Hence
it is necessary to grant the American
manufacturer the privilege Of extorting
an advance over the market price of his
goods. As American manufacture are
not and cannot he remunerative sys-
TEN mus, he employed to enable the
manufacturer to extort from the con-
sumner a bonus over the natural price OF
the goods and so cover his losses and
make profit. This is the protective
system on the showing of its own adro.
Gates.
By-whom is this bonus paid? By the
, whole people, but chiefly by the working
and agricultural classes, who are sad.
died with the burdens and have none Of
the benefits. Bnt it is claimed that the
artisan is furnished. with employment
. and the agricultufist with "home mar
ket." How is the artisan protected
. The manufacturer is secured against loss
by being privileged TO exact high prices
from the consumer; but where is the
protection for the workingman? There
are no customs to keep out labor. Com
. petition has unrestricted sway, and as 8
matter of fact the mass Of toi!ers in the
protected manufactures are foreigners
whose small pay in the great manu-
featuring states, as Pennsylvania ant
, Massachusetts, gives them no advan
tage over the so-called pauper labor o
England. Hence the distress, strikes
and turbulence so constantly reported
True, wages are something higher, bu
r only nominally SO. The workingmar
S loses more by high prices than he gain.
by the better wages. Again, as to wages
: the protected employer does not pay hi,
a operatives on philanthropic plan. HI,
is ruled by the market rates, and hi
takes advantage TO the fullest extent o
the competition which the necessities o
the worklngmen force among themselves
The 'home market argument is equal,
unsound. Though protection were aban
I doned wheat and corn and beef and porl
would still be eaten. The farmer canno
= lose his market. The "home market
argument, OF which SO much is made
comes to this, viz: Pension consumer.
to buy the products OF agriculture sub
sidize artisans TO settle at the farm gate
pay them for making goods at loss, anc
out OF their profits they will purchase
; the farmers abundance. But the farmer
gets no more for his wheat in the home
: market than in the foreign market. Ii
fact the foreign market regulates and
governs home market. American grain
sells in the markets OF the world on pal
with the produce of the serfs OF Russia
and Roumania, and the American farmer
cannot help himself He has no pro.
lection, and it is he who completes with
"pauper labor" Hence, also, though
protection cannot raise the price of a
bushel OF wheat by single penny, it can
and does repress and obstruct the export
OF our agricultural products. There are
countless points to which the fruit of our
soil might be shipped If we were per-
mitted to take our pay in the commodi-
ties there produced. We should not be
forced to pay the enormous ocean freiehts
exacted on the wheat we do export il YES
sells could carry cargoes both ways. But
fexchange is INSTRUCTED by law; there is
no free exchange; projection" allows
only partial and indirect trade, and a
partial and indirect trade means such
costs for ireights. insurance and ex-
change that the American farmer is
beaten before he begins the competition.
But the progress and thrift of the coun-
try are appealed to as proofs that pro-
lection has been benifcent policy. All
is attributed to protection. 1t does not
occur to those who look at the subject
only in superficial way that this prog
ress is not the result OF protection, but
has been gained in spite of it, The
wealth of nature is here and all our
errors of industrial policy cannot pre- vent
its development. We have had slavery.
droughts and pestilence, a great civil
war, and we know not how many other
moral and physical evils. Yet see how
the country has prospered, Is it's pros
perity due to these evils? Has it not
prospered in spite OF them and of all the
other evils it has ever known? So. too.
it has prospered in spite of protection. y
No folly OF our own can as yet overcome
our great natural advantages. But here.
indeed, is an almost ncompreheDsible
folly. 1t is admitted that our people
would trade freely with foreign nations
|if they We're allowed. Their interest
would lead them to it. Recognizing this
fact, in steps the man who wants to oh
struct trade that he may get high prices.
and induces the government to take his
part. The tine will come when men
will find it as difficult to conceive that
this obstructive and absurd policy could
ever have prevailed as they now find il
to account for the perversity which once
denied freedom OF speech and press. or
the infatuation which heliarud In 1880