The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1888-03-30
NEEDS OF THE NATION.

| TARIFF ENRICHES THE FEW.
! The Protective Tariff is Not Only I'M
| constitutional, But Unjust and Immor-
| al as Well.
| Having shown that tariff levied not to
| raise revenue for the government but to
| increase the price of manufactured arti-
| cleS to the consumers Is unconstitutional,
| and contrary to the accepted ideas of a
| free government, | will next consider it
| with reference to its justice and morals; V.
We believe that our representative De
| mocracles are the best form of government
in the world because the most just jus
tice between man and man being the es-
sence of liberty, equality, order, and
| everything else that is excellent in govern
ment.
The old watchwords of the French revo-
lutionists, Liberty, Fraternity and Equal
| lty,' though somewhat Shorn of their
beauty by an association with the violence
and blood OF that unhappy period yet
| contain the sum and substance of Il mo
cratic liberty. Centuries ago our auces-
! tors made war against all forms of q.
exclusive privileges and class distinction,
and the fight was kept up by each sr'ceed-
| ing generation. When our fathers, II the
continuation of that struggle, threw off
| DIltlSH SupTeLldC1 III { 30. anu tSi.ib'S ilhu
| the American Union by our Constitu ,oi
they thought they had thrown off also all
the ideas and institutions of arstn, raj ic
Europe which tended to create artificial
| and unnatural distinctions among men
| Theoretically they did succeed in bringing
| about the equality of all before the law,
but they did not provide for, because they
could not foresee, the encroachment on
| popular rights of the spirit of greed which
has in modern times converted the very
instruments of Democratic equality into
| the means of class advantage. The pos
session of wealth confers such powers and
| privileges as makes its attainment the
ambition of all. In the struggle for it
| the law should do no more than give all
men fair start and an equal chance. In
no case should it lend one man help against
| another. There will soon be inequality
| enough at best. The strong man would
! soon overcome the weak; the man of brains
would crcumvent the dullard; the dill
| gent, the temperate, the industrious will
! soon forge ahead of their rivals AS soon
as one advantage is secured the capacity
| to secure the next one is doubled; for i'll he
| business world the increase of power is in
arthmetical ratio to the increase of capi-
| tai Hence, without a line of legislatiou
| according to the course of nature, the in
equalities of our society caused by the un-
| equal distribution of wealth are sufficient
ly great to cause much misery. There is
no subject which causes greater anxiety
to the humane statesmen. Yet when such
| things come about naturally, as the result
of superior thrift, industry or ability, no
one can justly complain. 1t is the fulfill
ment of a great moral law. But what
| shall we say of that character of leeisla-
| ton which hastens and increases these
,1l IL
according to the moral law, they would
not exist! By which one class of our peo-
Pile, however Industrious, temperate and
thrifty, are yet SO weighted down with
restrictions and taxation in favor of an-
other class that they are left behind in the
struggled Law represents the supreme
power of the State. With US that power
is lodged in the people, and law is the ex-
preston of the will indicated by the ma
jority. There can be nothing more cruel
and despotic than to bring the collective
| will of the majority or sapreme powers of
the State to the point of taxing or confis-
eating the property of the minority, or,
| which is the same thing, giving the one a
legal advantage of the other which enables
| the same result to be obtained. Yet such
is the effect and intention of protective
tariff. Its avowed object is to enable the
home manufacturer to make money, and
as it rejects the idea of foreign trade and
shuts it out altogether, the only persons
off whom he can make it are his own cOun-
| trymen. The element of moral wrong in
such legislation is radical and unmistaka-
BILE. No matter by what ingenious, far
fetched and roundabout arguments they
attempt to show the taxed man that in
the long run he is benefited, the wrong
remains. We may not do evil that good
| may come, even if it were certain of COM
| ing. Whilst the taxed man may or may
not get back his money IN the long run,
| we know of a certainty that the manufac-
| turer gets money every time in the SHORT
RUN. Wherever natural causes have Oper
| ated to give one section or class of our
| people an advantage over another, the
man who is either wise or humane would
say at once that if the Legislature inter
| fered at all it should be to hell the weak
| and tide them over the shoals of their
| situation. There is no nobler function of
] law than this. What is a protective tar
| iff, then, but tax levied on A to support
B2 If it be so then it is morally wrong
In the abstract, no man will venture to
| deny it. The sophistrieS and subterfuges
| reSorted to in the attempt to show that it
is not tax levied on A, or, if it is, that
he receives it all back again, are unworthy
Of serious consideration in this connection.
1t is tax or it could not increase the cost
of the articles on which it is imposed; it Is
paid by the consumer, for there is no one
else to pay it; it DOES support the manu-
facturer, for he clamors for it and says
he cannot live without it. Otherwise we
would have the strange spectacle of a
manufacturer begging for duty on goods
which nobody was to pay, which did not
enhance the price of anything ne made to
sell, and which would die if he didn't get,
and that man still at large outside of the
lunatic asylum! Such are the arguments,
analyzed.
The chief equitable ingredient of a con-
tract is mutually; there must be giving
as we'll as taking. Now how is farmer
to be recompensed under a protective tar
iff? Where are the mutual benefits in q
deal between him and the iron and WOODEN
manufacturer? He goes to the iron mas
ter to buy his farm implements; the price
is fixed by the cost of the foreign articles
plus the tariff duty; in other words, he
buys in restricted market. To pay for
his purchases he sells his wheat or his
cotton in free trade market at price
fixed in London in competition with all
the who at and cotton of the world. He
sells in the cheapest market and buys in
the dearest market, reversing the econom-
ical condition which his interest requires.
Is it beneficial to him? Is it honest or just
to force him to sell for the lowest price