Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-11-01
Saint Nafgs Beacon,

be on thousand dollars worth OF
goods equ2l TO $500 at the custom.
house. to be paid before he can expose
thess goods in the American marke,
for sale"
"Now, gentlemen, have been told
BY come Of our Republican friends
that this tax is paid by the foreigner.
Well, if it is, it is a most remarkable
thing to me. If any people in the
world have discovered a process by
which they can compel the people OF
another country to pay all .he taxes
and expenses on their goods, it ia
remarkable thing to me they do not
exempt their own people and look
wholly to the foreign people for the
payment Of these taxes. Applause. !
But, gentlemen, this $500, which
the importer is compelled to pay on
the foreign goods at the custom-house
constitutes just as much a part of the
cost Of those goods to him as does the
purchasing price he paid for them in
France or Germany, and he adds that
to the price when he sells it to the
retailer. and the re :ailer adds it to the
price when he cells it to you; but as
you never sell it 10 anybody, please
tell me who pays you these taxes back?
lApplause.l
"If it is an article Of food you CON-
sumo it, if it is an article of dress you
wear it out, and that is the last of it,
but the tax Las gone out of your pock-
ct.
Now, suppose you do not buy this
foreign article, but buy domestic ar.
ticle Of the same kind. In every one
OF the cases / have stated you would
pay substantially the same amount OF
tax, but instead of paying it to the
government you pay it to the manu-
facturer who produces the article in
this country. Applause.
1.-THE importer. my friends, doesn't
pay the taxes. He simply advances
them at the custom house, just as the
manufacturer advances 90 cents gal.
lon on every gallon of spirits when he
sells it and withdraws it from the
bonded warehouse; but the man who
drinks the toddy pays the price. The
distillsr advances it just as the i'm
porter does on his goods, but he adds
the price to his whisky, and the man
who drinks it pays it. [Applause.l
"Ah, but they tell US no matter if
all these things are true, we must
maintain this system, not merely for
the support Of the government, but
for the purpose Of increasing the wa
ges of our laboring people. Now,
gentlemen, l affirm, and ! believe it
can be demonstrated as clear as any
proposition can be demonstrated by
reason and argument, that the rate Of
duty placed upon the imported goods
has no more to do with the rates Of
wages than it has to do with the num-
Der of bushels of corn that you can
raise on an acre Of ground in the State
of Maryland.
II cannot undertake, of course, at
this late hour and in this warm at
mosphere, to discuss this great ques-
tion of wages and labor as it should
be discussed; but allow me, my friends,
to call your attention to very few
facts Of common notoriety, and that
are conceded by everybody.
"In the first place, there is just as
great a difference between the rates
of wages paid here in this country and
the rates Of wages paid in Europe be-
fore We had protective tariff, and
when this country was a so-callsd free
trade county and those countries
were protectionists. There was just
as much difference between the rates
of wages paid in the United States
when We did not have protective
tariff and the rates Of wages paid in
England when England did not have
one as there is today when these con-
ditions are reversed.
Another fact is. in England, where
the laws of trade are at least more
liberal than they are here, and where,
according to our Republican oppo.
ponents, free trade duties prevail, the
rates Of wages are higher than in any
other country Of continental Europe,
all Of which have a high protective
tariff. Applause.
Another is a fact to which your
attention has been called. Although
we have the same tariff laws all over
this great country. there is just as
much difference between the rates of
wages paid in different parts of our
own country as there is between the