Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-07-18
Rich and Poor.

"The poor mans Administer carpet pay
only 46 per cent. The rich mans drugge
pays Sc per cent. The dainty silk hose wit
which the workingmsn's family decks itsel
pays 90 per cent. The worsted stockings O
the millionaire's family pay 70 per cent
The working mans olives come in free an
his pate de fOies gras pay only % per cent
But the millionaire's cornstarch pays S5 pc
cent. and his rice JOG. The contemplation
OF few facts like these ought to teach th
workingman proper gratitude TO the fran
ers and perpetrators of the war tariff."-De
trOt Free Press
condenslon of the truth that we prin
them as text-almost as sermon
Really, there is very little to add t.
them. If every voter would reaC
them, ponder over them, inquire fol
himself into their truth, and act fol
himself upon the knowledge thus ac
quired, the great Tariffquestion woult
be answed in short order. The ques
ton, indeed, is answered when it IL
once put clearly before the people
when they realize that in considering
it they are dealing with an economic
problem, and not with a matter of sen.
timent.
This is the one fact which it is diff
cult to make the people understand.
The high tariff on foreign goods is a
creation of the Republican party. For
years they have told the country-and
the Democrats have been too cowardly
to contradict them-especially of the
working-classes. Perhaps it did once
upon time. 1t is of little use now to
inquire what was best for our people
twenty or forty years ago. For the
man who is earning his bread to-day,
the vital question is: What is best for
him now and in the future? He can
not be greatly concerned to know what
was best for his father; he can not be
materially benefited by measures that
were suited to his fathers time, but
that are in every way unsuited to our
own. Yet the one contention of the
Republican party has been that high
protective tariff has established, and
must sustain our industries.
Now let Us who do not believe in
this doctrine demand fatty of the Re
publican party an explanation of cer-
tain facts. The protective tariff, they
tell US, insures higher wages to the
workingman. And yet, from one end
of the country to the other,:the work
ingman is complaining of his wages;
and from time to time he strikes for
higher pay. Under these circum-
stances, is it fair to him to compel him
to pay from ten to ninety per cent.
more than the workingmen of other
nations have to pay for the goods of
ordinary and perronal use? Why
zhould he pay ten dollars for the coat
that he could buy in England for five?
Why should he pay a similar tax on
his tools, his building materials, his
on much of his daily
food? Are these wages that he receives,
and with which he seems to be dissat-
sfied, so large that they make him
better off, on the whole, than he would
Il he had not to pay protective-tariff
price for everything that be needs?
We do not believe it. Yet he pays
that price on almost every thing that
he buys. He does not, of course, buy
imported articles only; but he pays
very nearly the price of imported goods
for goods of American make. II you
10 tax an imported manufacture that
it can not be sold for less than dollar
IN this country, will the native manu-
Facturer put his goods OH the market at
ess than ninety-nine cents? This is a
problem in human nature.
The fact is, this whole high tariff
business, honest enough in its incep-
ton, no doubt, has become an out-and-
ou: swindle and humbug.' It began in
''protection" of certain industries-thatI
ls. of the capital engaged in certain in
dustries. Now it goes wholly to the
enriching of few industries-or mo-
nopolies, rather-that are in no further
need of protection; that are rich and
strong, and daily growing richer and
stronger. The capital invested has
long ago turned itself over and over
and over again. and at every turn it
has rolled over itself another thickness
of a coverlet of wealth. 1t needs no
projections; but it is protected. Its
employees are not protected; neither
are the people who buy its produc-