The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-05-28
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sentlmentalists. They mean bust
ness: Their object is to .increase.
their profits, BY getting a high
duty pnt- ON imported. ariielss such.
as they themselves produce they ex-
clude foreign competition. Having
done tins they raise their prices.
AS = rule they add the duty to the
price they ld.sell atif there we're
no tariff. If, for example, the price
Eofan unprotected article in the home
market is So per dozen, tile price of
the same article, after u so per cent.
duty is imposed, will be $780, or
more. 1t will be as much more as
the profits ofIimporters and joBbers
on the competing foreign article
amount to. This is the charm of
protection in the eye of the practI-
cal protectionist, that it enables him
to advance his prices, increase his
profits.an and get a big income on a
small capital invested, perhaps, Z in
old and obsolete machinery. Tothe
masses of the people the system is
objectionable for the very reason that
Observation-Disclosures il. They object,
1t is true, TO an excessive enhance
ment of the cost of imported arti
cies. but they object a great deal
more to the rigging of the home
market made possible by the tariff,
because it affects their pockets u
great deal more ! For the custom
house tax is the least of the evils
complained of. The tribute exacted
by the factors is the greatest burden.
Some six or seven dollars, it is esti-
mated, are lost by the people in the
purchase of home. made wares at
prices enhanced by the tariff forev-
ry dollar tho government gets at
the custom houses ION imported
7 wares Tn the year 1889 the revenue
| from customs that went to the treas
ury at Washington was 1928, s32 TAI
but the revenue that went to pro.
tected manufactures in the shape
Eof excess OF price due to the tariff
rates was not less than S1,350,000,-
900. In the case of articles upon
| which the tariff is low the proportion
of revenue obtained by the treasury
would, of course, be large, but where
the tariff rate is high little will be
imported, and the protected manu-
facturers will get almost the whole
tprocesds of the tariff tax. Right
here it is that the tariff becomes IN
equivocally an odions tax on, the
people. One may say that he does
not care how much revenue the gov
ernment gets out of people who buy
foreign articles, bccause,the revenue
is for public purpose. That would
not be a very rational position to
take, as many things necessary to
our comfort-tin- plate for::examPlel
must be imported. But when the
rate is put SO high that it prohibits
the importation of needed articles,
with the object and resnlt of depriv-
ling the government of revenue and
giving the whole tax to the manu-
facturers, everybody must cry out at
the injustice of the thing. Especial
ly exasperating does such "a tariff
become when we seeitl utalized by
the manufacturers in the formation
4 of trusts and other combinations to
prevent the arrival of the era flow
prices promised by protectioDist ora.
tors as the ultimate result of their
+ system. With the tariff as a means
of making their prices artificially
high and their trusts to keep them
high, the protected class has, it, is
felt, anrunfair advantage of the rest
OF the community. 1i --,u.sOd
+ The farmers are not the. only
sufferers from this legalized plumb
ering, though, as being the largest
distinct class of sufferers, they are
oftenest appealed to to act. Every
citizen, is equally concerned. City
people may, indeed, be said to be
more interested than the farmers.
They suffer first and most, from in
creased cost of living. They must
pay promptly in cash. for all they
buy. Every day, he must buy some
thing, and if.the Mckinley bill puts
up the price of clothing, carpets,
tinware,. food, &c, he will feel it at
the end of the week in a deficiency
Of income. AS our city population
now constitute nearly half of the
entire population, of the country, it
is clear that Mr.. Mckinley is. about
to injure an important section of the
body polite. That his proposed
increase of the cost of living, through
higher taxes, is not dictated by an
empty treasury, but by small class
of selfish tariff lords, adds to the nm