The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1888-10-02
THE TARIFF ILLUSTRATED.
The Tobacco Trust-Proposed Con-
vention at Durham Oct. 18th of
Tobacco Planters. ...--7Gh
CHATHAM Co., Sept. %, 'ss.

LII d IecenC ISSUE VI your Paper,IA
find the following: -. Geo
EDITOR FARMER.-Dear ST.
noticed in your last paper that if a
mar buys suit of clothes for $23 he
pays 50 for protection. This is moth
ing in comparison with my experience!
I had an overcoat sent from England,
cost So the freight on same was So.
When | went'to the custom house to
see if there was any duty to pay, i'm
agine my surprise when l found | had
to pay fourteen dollars. I said [
could not afford to pay this price, and
asked to have same shipped under
bond to England again. l was in
formed 1 could leave it alone, and
that it would be sold at some future
date at public auction. EtI-IhLt
These are just the absolute facts,
and when man can buy an overcoat
in America shipped from England Tor
So, which in America cost one hun.
dred per cent. more, why shouldn't he
have this benefit, instead of having to
pay $l4 for protection :? ..e.,e
Yours truly,
HOWARD E. STRUDw1cK.
Auburn, n. c., Sept. 5, 'SS.
AS soon as I read the article, / was
satisfied that there was something
wrong, and that it could not be COR
rect. Our tariff act is that of March
Sd, 1883. And l am not quoting in
this article anything at secondhand.
l am quoting from the tariff laws as
published by the United States Gov
eminent. Section $3.50 and SS defines
the tariff on ready made clothing,
composed wholly or partly of wool to
be- 40 cents a pound and 35 per centum
ad valorem. Now, Mr.. Strudwick's
overcoat cost $40, hence 35 per cent.
ad valorem was $3.50. He says the
whole tariff was S14; now there was
also a specific tariff of 40 cents a
pound without any reference 20 value
and subtracting $3.50 the ad valorem
tariff, we have the weight of the over
coat to be 264 pounds. The tariff
would have been five per cent. more if
of silk wholly or partly. d.,
AS we manufacture both the cloth
and the ready-made clothing, the idea
of our. tariff laws is that if Mr.. Strud-
wick prefers to %patronize an English
man as against his neighbor and
fellow-citizen who pays his town,
county, State and National taxes, why
he must pay for the fun of giving his
money to any Englishman in prefer
ence to his neighbor who bears the
burdens of the government which the
E~nglishman does not.
1t will be seen that the overcoat
must have been'of the most ordinary
kind of cloth. 1t certainly is a very
common overcast that weighs 264
pounds and sells for $40 at retail. |
have not the slightest doubt but that
he could have bought just such an
overcoat of American manufacture
for the same or less money. Certain
it is that American-made ready made
clothing is wonderfully cheap, espe-
cially of cotton cloth.
Now, if Mr.. Strudwick had shipped
100 pounds of leaf tobacco worth 10
cents a pound, freight prepaid, to pay
for bis overcoat, he would have found
himself confronted by a higher tariff
on his raw leaf tobacco worth $40,
than on his $40 overcoat here. He
would have been told in the British
custom house that he must pay a tariff
Of $72 before selling his $40 worth of
common leaf tobacco. Or, in other
words, he would have to pay II cents
a pound on common tobacco; and
higher as the grade of tobacco rose,
until he would find himself surprised
at the price of Durham smoking to-
bacco. Everybody here in America
can smoke Durham smoking tobacco;
none but the wealthiest can smoke it
in England. If Mr.. Strudwick's over
coat had been the finest made, the
tariff would have gone up on the value;
but, not on the weight-the very re-
verse of the British tariff on our to-
bacco when we want to sell. The
idea is to make Americans wear
American clothes.
Now let US see how this tariff
operates TO our advantage. The very
same principle applied to cigars. At
the close of the war, there was no
such thing as the cigar manufacturing
industry. Congress determined to
call it into existence. Sec. 245 i'm
poses a tariff of $3.50 a box without
regard to value, and, in addition
thereto, % per centum ad valorem.
Now, if l, like Mr.. Strudwick, want
to import a box of common cigars
from a foreigner instead of buying