The Portland daily press., 1888-08-16

In an address delivered before the Cleve-
land and Thurman Club Of Brunswick,
President VIM, Dewitt Hyde, OF Bowdoin
College. brought forward this ancient argr-
ncnt OF the free traders
Remembering the prime ana immediate aim Of
the protective system Is to compel every consum-
or to pay bounty to the home producer Of the
protected article. How much does this annual
Dpsny amount ss os anas can estimate
Moore, has estimated the amount at $1,000 ,0OO,-
600. A.professor Of political economy in a New
ion that the estimate is not altogether wide Of the
mark. Now add to this 81, 600 600, 600 paid
e county ad q tas the home pr1asss
IN duties snnroT,mai on imports, and you have
that is, equal to an annual tax Of 500 on every
citizen of the United States, or tax OF 500 per
comfort From this sum Of course whatever com,
pensatlng advantages there are resulting from the
The q he Taas e sueS
hat s tax paid tSs oTesn ssSs ss.
tiona cases in which that is partially or wholly
true. There are times when for special reasons
you an article below the market price. Or even for
less than 1t cost him. But these cases are rare
exceptions.
Now President Hyde claims that he is not
free trader; that he wishes to reform, not
not sweep away the tariff But here he is
claiming that the protective system is rob-
bing the people Of more than billion dol
lars year, and proposing as a remedy
measure that will take off about thous-
andth part of that billion dollars Of booty.
As President Hyde is teacher of ethics as
well as an expounder of political economy,
his proposition appears all the more remark
able. But perhaps he will say that the Mills
bill is an imperfect measure and is only a
step towards reducing that billion of
plunder that the manufacturers, according
to President Hyde, are getting. Then we
submit that President Hyde. while profess
ing himself to be only tariff reformer, is
free trader.
Now what about this claim advanced by
President Hyde that the tariff is tax which,
increasing prices, levies tribute upon the
consumer to enrich the manufacturer. Ev-
cry protectionist will Of course admit that
the tariff raises prices to certain extent
This is what the tariff is for to raise prices
Of products SO that the men who produce
these products may have a fair recompense.
There is such thing as bringing the cost of
the article to the producer so low as to make
slave OF him, as in the case of the makers
Of that cheap English clothing which the
free traders talk so much about. A Parlia-
mentary committee that has lately inyesti-
gated the condition Of these clothing makers
Of London has found men working eighteen
and nineteen hours day, with SO little res
pite that they take their meals of dry bread
and coffee while working In their seats. And
with all this hardship these laborers receive
only wages enough to keep body and soul to-
gether. Now the clothing made by these
iaporers cannot help being cheap; but the
protectionist claims that it is too cheap; that
IL would De better for the consumers, who
arc tne ricn ana wellto-do and poor alike to
pay more LOT their clothes, rather than
make slaves OF the clothing makers. But
wniie tne tarin raises prices sufficiently to
prevent the American laborer from descend
Ing to the level OF his brother In Furone n
does not as general rule raise them abnor-
mally. that is, very far above the cost of pro-
duction. That the rate of duty is added 10
cost Of an article is fallacy advanced bv
President Cleveland, but very promptly de-
molished as soon as it saw the light of day.
Senator Edmunds, man Of more public ex.
perience than Presidents Cleveland and
Hyde together, has cited the case of tea and
coffee, the duty on which was removed In
1872, to show that even or an article where
there is no home competition to lower the
price the amount of the duty is a tax on
the foreign producer and importer rather on
the consumer. Mr.. Edmuds says that on the
abolition of this duty there ceased to come
into the treasury from $15,OO0,OoO to $2O,-
100000 year. while the consumers paid SUBJ
stantially the same or higher prices for