Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-09-19
A TALK WITH WoRKiNo-MEN.

A Plain and Simple Presentation of Facts
and Figures Showing How They Are
Taxed by a Heavy Protective Tariff
What the Mills Bill Will Do.
The Democrats propose to reduce taxa
ton in the interest of working classes.
They have enlarged the free list so as to
furnish more abundant raw materials for
the use of mills and factories. They have
reduced the rate of taxation on clothing,
on blankets, on carpets, on kitchen ware
and table ware, on building materials, etc.
This purpose may miscarry; itmay be un-
wise; but the point we make, says the Louis
vile Courier-Jour7ldl, is that while the exist
ing tariff has created vast fortunes, while
it has made such men as Carnegie and
Jones and Alger, of Michigan, and host of
men with trem endous fortunes, it certainly
has done little to ameliorate the condition
of laborers.
The purposes of the Mills bill are to lessen
the burden of taxation, to cheaper the
clothing of the poor, and to furnish new
avenues of labor to unemployed working
men, and these purposes should insure for
the bill the careful attention of the wage
workers.
But the laborer says the tariff does not
tax me; do not see that lower taxes would
benefit me in the least.
The tax is paid not to a Government Off
Ger, but to the merchant of whom you buy
your supplies. If you buy a suit of clothes
the tax is added to the price and you pay it.
If the clothes are from England the tax
goes to our Government; if the clothes are
made in America, the tax Is transferred
from the merchant to the manufacturer.
To illustrate our meaning we take the fol-
lowing analysis of the operations of the
tariff from the Baltimore Sum
"On one mans working suit of clothes
costing "a the bounty to the manufacturer
was 1927; one good suit costing $50, bounty
s6.4S: overcoat costing SIS, bounty S4S5;
two flannel shirts, Sl.50, bounty Ga cents;
two flannel drawers, S150, bounty "a cents;
six wool socks, 81, bounty SO cents; one
wool hat, s., bounty S1.29; one wool cap, 81,
bounty 4S cents; one pair suspenders, so
cents, bounty IA cents; one pair shoes, $3.50,
bounty 20 cents; one pair wool gloves, so
cents, bounty q cents; rubber coat, $3.50,
bounty 81 cents; umbrella, 81, bounty "a
cents; three linen hankderchiefs, 81,
bounty 26 cents; one silk tie, so cents,
bounty II cents; one pocket knife, $1.25,
bounty AZ cents; razor, $l25, bounty AZ
cents; shaving brush, 35 cents, bounty 8
cents; four cotton shirts, 50, bounty 75
cents; two PAIR cotton drawers, 81, bounty
81 cents; one wool scarf, so cents, bounty
81 cents"
These small items represent q tax of
$22.29 on one mans expenditure. But the
laboring man is usually family man, and
the goods his wife needs are taxed in like
proportion. Here is the list of womans
store bill, amounting to S6190, of which S21.
| 76 is tax:
"Three calico dresses for wife, cost
$225, bounty so cents; three aprons, 50
| cents, bounty 10 cents; two woolen dresses,
SIG, bounty $500; two balmoral skirts, 50,
bounty 81 10; two cotton Skirts, $50, boun-
ty % cents; two suits fiannels, 50, bounty
Sl-29; two suits cotton underwear, s., boun-
ty 5S cents; three pair cotton hose, 81,
bounty % cents; woolen cloak, $12, bounty
&. 2.S9; shawl, Sc, bounty S279; hood, 81 %,
bounty "a cents; straw bonnet, 81, bounty
% cents; two PAIR shoes, "a, bounty 50
cents; rubbers, 80 cents, bounty 10 cents !;
parasol, 50, bounty 40 cents; vail, 20 cents,
bounty "a cents; FIVE yards ribbons, 80
cents, bounty IL cents; three linen collars,
so cents, bounty II cents; three pairs linen
cuffs, 90 cents, bounty IA cents; three hand
kerchiefs, 20 cents, bounty 20 cents; tuck
comb, 20 cents, bounty cents; tooth brush,
30 cents, bounty cents; pair wool mitts, SO
cents, bounty 81 cents; pair gloves, SIPS,
bounty AZ cents.
Now let us summarize the amount of tax
alton which the head of family pays if he
has son and daughter:
Taxation for self .......... 20 20
1aAatlOn IOr VIE .- II 20
Taxatlon Tor daughter. ............ 20 ID
Taxatlon Tor son. s. l6 II
Tarat,on for ,our A. a.
| The Baltimore Sun continues its examina-
ton Of the effect of the tax, If the man is
keeping house:
"To furnish the kitchen, sS5.6O will have
been paid out, Of which sum S29.74 is tariff
tax. On the cook-stove alone, costing $500,
there is tarif-tax Of <l2; on iron pans, a
] tax of $2.4S; on dishes costing $40, tax Oh
1856 Passing to household furniture, the
mechanic, in furnishing hls dwelling, will
find that in buying one heating-stove at SIS
he is paying tax of 1866; on 80 yards OF
carpet, costing $40, tax Of $40; on three
sets of bedroom furniture, costing s75, a
tax Of $l945. III he spends $4,000 to furnish
his rooms he viii have paid tariff-tax Of
s6766.p
Here. then, is the account for furnishing