The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-08-25
THURMAN ON THE TARIFF,

Judge Thurman is not travelling
through the country for the purpose OF
lodging the tariff issue or diverting
attention from it or qualifying away the
main plank of the st. Louis platform.
He faces the issue ~squarely, and he
faces it in the right way. He talks
good plain English that everybody can
understand, and he appeals to the com.
mon sense of workmen, while Mr..
Blaine appeals to their credulity. Mr..
Blaine tells them that this is a question
of labor from skin to core and from the
core back to the skin. Judge Thurman
docs not dispute that statement. but a
sledge- hammer stroke demolishes the
Blaine assumption that the tariff Is q
good thing for labor. He goes straight
to the heart of the matter at once by
telling them what a tariff is. at is o
taxa tax levied by the general gov
ernment upon the commodities that the
laboring men as well as other men use.
1t is a tax that takes hold of everything
from the crown of your head to the
soles of your feet; that taxes your hat,
your coat, your vest, your b%reeches,
your boots, your shoes; that taxes
every implement that you use in your
mechanical and agricultural operations.
And now tell me that to tax a laboring
mar and tax him from the top of his
head to the soles of his feet and to tax
him OF everything that he uses in his
trade, and to tax him heavily, is a ben
eft to him seems to me to be nothing |
but absurdity." In his Toledo speech |
Judge Thurman went further and show
ed how tariff taxes on imported articles
are collected on domestic productions
of like nature, SO that although a work
ingman may not buy a taxed imported
article in his life, yet he is taxed on
articles produced at home which are Of
the same nature as the imported arti-
cles that are subject to tax. But there
is this difference: When a man pays q
tax on an imported article the money
goes to the support OF the government;
whereas when he pays for a home pro-
duct the money goes into the pocket of
The capitalist who is engaged in produ-
cling that product. 1t is generally con.
,idered by reasonable men that 1t is
enough to pay taxes for the support OF
government and that 1t is too much to
pay taxes for the support and enrich
nent of private individuals. The
Blaines tell the workisgmen that if
hey are taxed for the benefit Of their
employers they get their money back
more with 1t in higher wages.
Judge Thurman exposes the falseness
If that pretense by asking the working
men whether they ever knew any mail
who paid higher wages TO his
lands because OF an increase of the tar {
If. He said, with truth, Barnum in all
lis collection had no such curiosity as
manufacturer who paid higher wages
OF a raise in the tariff. {
Referring TO the ridiculous assertion 1
# the Blaines that the tariff cheapcns I
he things on which it is laid, the judge |
wanted to know why, if that was the
ase, the manufacturers OF fairfield c
'oods were in favor of a high tariff. /
Do they want to reduce the price of
heir own goods? Why do they want !
D make less money? Why do they work
o hard to increase the tariff if 10 in
resse it would reduce the price of their
And we might have asked, Z
why they want to increase the .
ariff, if it not only reduces the price j
t their goods but also compels them !
} pay higher wages. These are qucs-
ons hat have often been asked, but
remain unanswered. Judge Thur
IAN does well to press them home. =