, 1888-08-23

treasury at all. Well, how does this hap
pen? A man called an importer brings
goods into the United States to be sold.
lie cannot sell a yard or pound, until he
pays this tariff tax. He pays the tax
therefore, and then sells to the wholesale
merchant. OF course he must get this
tax back in the price for which he sells or
he would lose money. He therefore puts
the tax onto the original cost of the goods
and with that price added and with the
cost OF transportation and his reasonable
commercial profits, he sells tho ,e goods to
a wholesale merchant. The wholesale
merchant sells to theGetail merchant, and
of course this tax which enters into the
prices continues in the prices, and to it is
added the profit of the merchant. Then
the retail merchant sells to you, and of
course he must keep within this price for
otherwise he would sell for less than he
gave for the goods. Therefore the tax is
in when cloth is sold to you, and you in
the price you pay this retail merchant for
goods pay tie
Who'll OF THE TARIFF,
the importers share of it, the wholesale
merchants profit and the retail mer-
chants profit, besides the interest on their
money.
Ii L were a schoolmaster and teaching a
boy 10 years old and he could not under
stand that with ten minutes instruction
| would give him up as a hopeless idiot.
L have said the consumer pays the tax,
and if you want authority let me refer you
to men who have spoken on the subject.
We have for twenty-seven years had the
highest tariff we ever knew and during
that time has the laboring man grown
rich? Every year we hear of the strikes
OF laborers because they cannot live on the
wages they receive and every year we hear
OF lockouts because employers cannot
afford to pay more wages. Why these
strikes and lockouts2 Why such organiza-
tons as the Knights of Labor and various
other labor unions for the protection of
laborers if high tariff gives high wages?
They say the tariff does not raise prices.
If that is a fact why are manufacturers in
favor of it. Do they want high tariff in
order to lower prices? Ii it don't increase
prices you may be sure that manufac-
turers and capitalists would not want it.
II NEGRO LABoRER.
| want to call your attention to the ne.
groes. The result of the war was to free
about four million OF negroes and | am
very glad that they were freed, and they
have increased now to about six million.
Now, how do these negroes make their
living? In the country the negro makes
what he gets by the cultivation of the
earth throughout the whole South.
Whether he cultivates his own land or
whether he rents it the crops that he gets
from it are the remuneration he receives
for his toll. That crop is mainly cotton.
How can high protective tariff benefit
that negro who raises cotton? There is
no tariff at all on cotton. 1t comes in as
free as the air. The price of cotton is
not raised. as they say, nor lessoned by
this tariff tax, and yet here is all the
negro has for his labor. He can't get a
cent more for his cotton by reason of any
high protective tariff. He has to sell it
at a price made by a foreign market.
But, on the other hand, everything he
buys is taxed by this protective tariff, and
there can be no pretense whatever that
the tariff is anything but an unmitigated
injustice to him.