Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-08-22
For the Register.
TARIFF TALKS.
The Great Question Pointsdiy Discussed
I'm CoIloauial Paragraphs

IN COuOQuiAl Ehrakfhpuss
THE writer pr opposes 10 present the tariff
question in the plain form ofan ordinary
between two workingmen.
The subject is one easily understood, when
not mystified by statistics and economic
theories. The aim will be to honestly SET
forth the Democratic position on the tariff
in contrast with the Republican, IN so
plain q manner that the most ordinary
reader may understand.
Breadwipner-Good evening, Mr.. Hob
nail. | have called to talk with you
about the tariff. You are a Democrat; /
an Republican, but we ought to aim to
be right, regardless Of our politics.
Hobnail Il am glad you came, Mr,
Breadwinner. Let US reason together as
neighbors and friends seeking the truth.
Breadwinner-You are free-trader, /
know am protectionist pure and sim
pie; my platform is, protection to Ameri'
can industry in all its branches.
Hobnail-I understand your position,
bat you do not understand mine. am
not free trader. Free trade ia a myth,
and will be 80 long as We have to raise
$3.50, 600, 600 of revenue for the annual ex-
penses OF the Government. / am in favor
of tariff reform.
Bread winner - Why, the Democratic
party, TO which you belong, ia free trade
party.
Hobnail-That is silly charge. If You
will name Democratic leader who
breaches free trade, or show it to me IN
any Democratic platform, or in any meas
ure introduced by Democrat IN Congress,
will admit that there is some excuse for
the charge.
Breadwinnsr (thoughtfully) - Really,
now, i can't do that. only know the
charge is general among the Republicans.
Bnt let us get at the question.
Hobnail-First, let us understand what
is meant by tariff"
Breadwinner-Why it's law to prevent
goods being sent to this
country to come in competition with our
own manufacturers and destroying Amer
lean industries.
Hobnail-You are wrong in your def
milton. The word tariff ia derived from
Tarifa, a town of Spain, which was sur
rounded by high walls and had strong
fortress. During the Moorish domination,
all vessels passing through the Straits oil
Gibraltar were there compelled to pay
duties; whence the word tariff" Ac-
cording TO Webster it means "a list or
table of duties or customs to be paid on
goods imported or exported" AS We will
use the word in this discussion it means
tax on imports. 1t is system OF raising
revenue for the expenses Of the govern
ment, and is considered the easiest form
of taxation, because the duty is paid by
the consumer Of the article without
thought or question.
Breadwinner-Then We are agreed that
a tariff is right, because it is the easiest
form of taxation?
Hobnsil-Certainly.
Breadwinner-That is an admission that
the Republican party is right, because 1t
favors the highest tariff tax. We would
raise all the revenue required 10 that way.
Hobnail-But it is possible to have too
muchOf good thing. You would kill the
goose that lays the golden egg. If you
put the tariff so high as to make it pro-
hibitOry, do you not know there would be
no goods imported, and, therefore, 10 rev.
enue, and we would have to resort to in
ternal taxation?
BreadwiDner--Y0u are right. / yield
that point. That is, admit the result
would be to destroy all revenue from tariff
tax, but still l favor the highest kind If
tariff tax, rs it protects American in
dustry.
Hobnail-Do you mean it protects those
who put their money into manufacturing
nine-tentbs of whom never die
q days work, or that it protects the en-
plOyeS?
Breadwinner-Both. A high tariff ena-
bIes the employer TO pay better wages,
because he gets higher prices for his pro-
ducts. The higher the tariff, the better
the wages.
Hobnail-That is fallacy that misleads
many workingmen. Wages do not depend
on tariff.
Breadwinner-I hold that an industry
not protected is at the mercy of cheap for
eign labor.
Hobnail-The farming industry is not
yet farm wages in the United
States average $3.50 per year, while they
are as low as $50 in India, and American
wheat sells in the same market with India
wheat.
Breadwinner-That is not o fair illus
trsticD. You know wheat is not imported,
and. therefore, needs no protection.
Hobnail-I admit it needs no protection.
But you said, "a all high protectionists say,
that wages depend on tariff. Here we
have an unprotected American product
selling in the English market with the
India product, and yet the labor on the
one cost 500 per year and the other only
$50.
Breadwinner-Well, l will modify my
assertion and say that in industries with
which imported articles come in COMPETE
ton, wages are high or low, as the tariff is
high or low,
Hobnail-Then you assume that as
wages depend on tariff, there can be no
change in wages so long as there is no
change in the tariff. But TO substaGtiste
this position you must explain why there
has been such fall in wages in the last
decade while the tariff law has been the
same.
Breadwinner-Tbatd does seem strange.
Let me think little. Can yOu name
another industry applicable to my posi-
ion?
Hobnail--Yes; tanning. That is an IN
industry, and We import millions
If hides every year from Buenos Ayres and
,ther countries. And yet tanners have
AIR wages all the year round, without the
annoyance and loss of shut downs ard
Ock0uts.
Breadwinner-Very well put. see
DOW that without imported hides the great
boot and shoe factories throughout the
country could not run month.
Hobuail-A tariff tax on hides would be
! positive injustice to labor. II, as you
md the Republican party claim, the law
If protection ensures uniformly good
wages in the United States, the same law
would have the same effect elsewhere.
Breadwinner-Wsll, take England, for
Instance. 1t is free trade country and
wages there are much lower than in the
United States.
Hobnail--Tha. is true. Bat that does
lot prove that wages are higher in this
country because of protection. A Law, You
Know, is a rule of action and produces like
fleets wherever IL exists. The law of gray