The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-05-31
NEEDS OF THE NATION.
LET NO MAN TIRE OF ssTALKING
TARIFF
Few, and are Hostile to the Great
Majority.

Tariff Laws are for the Benefit OF th
Few, and are Hostile to the Grea
Majority.
ARTICLE x.
1t will not be denied that in fxin
the policy of country, those meas
ures should be preferred which vii
confer the greatest good ON the great
est number. In our country it ha
become a maxim, faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation. |
simply means that the general interes
must overrule the particular interes
of individuals. It by no means i'm
plies sacrafce of individual interests
for, as M. Bastiat says, an essentia
element of each mans prosperity is the
general prosperity. Therefore, willis
each one is more or less benefited by
the general welfare, it is not true thai
the general welfare is to the same ex.
tent promoted by the advancement Of
a few. In short, the prosperity o1
nine men is of more value to the tenth
man than the prosperity of the tenth
would be to the nine The maxim is
too obvious to doubt, and too humane
to assail. In our legislation, then, we
should unquestionably be guided by
it, and ask, first of all. what is the gen
eral interest, and how can it be pro-
noted
The first grand division of our peo
pie, or any other, is into producers
and consumers. This division has
reference to tariff taxation, for, in
the general sense, all human beings
are consumers. So, in one sense, all
the II, 100000 of persons put down
in the census as engaged in gainful
occupations are producers, or doing
work which assists production. But
we are to consider only those who are
engaged in the production of articles
which are "protected" from competi-
ton by tariff duties. Farmers and
those engaged in all branches of agri
culture are producers, but with slight
exceptions none of their products are
protected or can in any way be increas-
ed in price by the imposition of tariff
duties. So of builders, of those enga-
ged in transportation, personal service
and all the rest of the vast army of
toilers-none are protected. The di
rect recipients ofthe benefits of tariff
legislation are whitfield down to those
engaged in creating manufactured
products alone. 1t is not necessary to
claim, as in fairness l might, that it
should be further cut down to factory
owners, excluding the operatives.
Putting into the count all persons
employed in manufacturing, the case
stands thus that we legislate for some
two and half millions of producers,
and against some fifteen millions of
men who are both consumers and pro-
ducers; or, counting the entire popu-
lation, our laws are made for the in
terest of less than ten millions, and
against the interest of more than fifty
millions of our people! The conclu-
sion is unavoidable that the major
interest is that of the consumer, whilst
that of the producer is the minor, and
therefore tariff laws are for the benefit
of the few, and are hostile to the great
majority.
Who is injured by protection?
To this question it may be answer
ed, every one who is not benefited.
Protection can only benefit anybody,
as has been shown, by increasing the
prices of those things which they have
to sell. Now, ifit increased likewise
the price of that which they had to
buy, the one would set off the other
and there would be no benefit at all.
Surely this is self-evident. To make
protection a benefit to somebody,
therefore, it must, in the necessity of
thinge, either increase the price of
products, leaving the price of their
purchases the same, or it must main
tain the price of their sales and lower
that of their purchases. 1t it does
neither it does nothing; if it does e.
her it Injuries somebody. Every
man, therefore, in the United States
is Injured who, having (by protection)
the cost raised of all which he has to
buy, does not also, by the same law,
have the price of all that he has to
sell increased to the same extent.
First and foremost, then, it Injuries all
who only consume and do not produce.
As they have nothing to sell, but all
their transactions are purchase, it is
impossible to compensate them for
losses by the increase in prices. This
large class includes the professions,
merchants, all persons engaged in
transportation, personal and govern
ment service, women, orphan children,
and all who live ON fixed incomes, and
the like. Perhaps, however, their
injury is not so great as that done to
the farmers and planters, for though
the expenditures of the frst-named is
increased by protection, their incomes
are not necessarily diminished. But
with the farmer both are done The
price of his purchases is increased,
and being compelled to sell his surplus
products in the markets of nations
who cannot exchange with us on equal
terms, the prices are necessarily low
cred and his income 10 thereby lessen
ed. He is wasting at both the spigot
and the spile. There is no proposition
more obviously just than that when
the farmer is forced to send for sale
his wheat, his meat and his cotton to
Europe, when the price is fixed for
him by the competition of the world,
he should be permitted to buy his sup
plies of wool and iron and the like, in
the self same markets at prices regu-
lated by the same competition.
I have seen it stated by reputable
authority that in many portions of
India recently opened up by railroads