Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1890-09-02
MAINE AND THE TARIFF.
WOULD Titr ABOLITION or custom
DUTIES BrNErir rIIE fARMtRs of
Iiig oLp FINE TRrE srArrf
,sss,y. Who hs. nsIa ap . lsrrs ba.lss.. In The

fTts su,hos ~ thl. srtisis I. native ofosfer
Cssnty. Who has hsis NJ isrre sasi"s.' in 's
Wet
MiLwAuKrE. Wis.,. Aug. ,.
To "A, Editors ~ tls L,'risio~ Josraai :
The e,lltor of the Portland Argus hs
psh me the compliment of rrpubli.h
Ing In full, In the issue of that paper 10
July u, q letter which ] recently ai
dressed Ia the Lewiston Journal. point
Ing out what appeared to me Ia bc tb'
principal reasons for the decadcnce %
u. farming interest In Malpe and othc
New Engiand states. In the same Issue
of the Argu. appears an editorial article
commenting on the letter, and iakinl
the ground that the rral stuInbling-blocl
In the way of Msine's material progr-s'
I. not excessive aud discriminatory rail-
rad freight charges. but the protective
tariff pollcy ~ the United states. Th'
excessive local rates ~ freight are pro
nouncci "a mer- tribe" compar-i Will
9Th. tariff taxation to which farming
and labor generally, have been ani stil
ar. .ubject~l--s tax even beyond, "
some ca.-.. What the -xlgrncles ~ VA
dem, nded aud this, twent Ave year. NJ
ter ih. cni of the var, aud iis great deb
morr than half paid" The editor goc'
out
"Thi. tax took two hundred aud tven
~ mlllIon. FROM tile the pocket. of TN
American people last year. u t n'
largely upon th. necc.ssries of hfr
which weigh. heavier upon the poor maj
With q lsrg, family than upon the ric'
man " ith fewer mouth. tn fessi aud bodie'
Ia cloth. and Keep warm. III. pr-.en
iarlff averages almost my Per cent
forty-..y-u per ccnt--.o that of d"lls
paid for an article, forty-.e,en cents
on the average, IL for the tarin tax. As
.u,nIn, that III. people ~ Maine I've u
a. much comfort q. the rest of their Tel
Low country men, they consume az inuci
In proportIon to numbers, sni thcrrfor'
pay a. much ,ax In proportion. Maine I
iopulstIou IL about one-hnndf-,ith TAR
~ the whole, and therefore paw. Que
bundr-,lih part ~ the ssn,oo,ep taN
or a.. ~, ,0D annually. Herr !. Nhrr'
the great burden lies. Herr !. the .ecrr
of our dwlndllng ocean marine. Here U
What IA. swept away our foreign carry
Ing trad. aud n. hundred millions of an
nusl frrlgh, money. II has sdici I've
and a half Millions annually to th. co.i %
living for th. p.opl. of Maine. W.
might ,.- abl. to get over lesser dl.sd
yantagc., but thl. I. too much. u
killing the goose that laid the COLDER
egg"
Without th. last inclination Ia entsl
upon an argument In th. cou,roS.r.la
spirit, aud With no Intention of mtkinI
n patti.an defence of all the details 81
all ih. iariff Law. which have at difi.r-n
time. been placed upon the statue nook
~ the United states, without even clam
Ing that the existing tarin or any hrif
that may b. hereafter adopted can be 10
every clause ah.lut.ly perfect and b''
,ond criti.m. II seems to me prontab'"
from a pur-ly philosophical a.. well n
from patriotic .tsndpoln, Ia challrns =
the .ounine.. 10 the Views thus act forth
for II IL I. q question whether the 'nll
read. or th. tariff are th. cause 81 ih'
,lecsdencc of Maine aud her ne'ghbonn!
,ommon~ ealth.. any consideration. cal
rulat.,I to simplify III. solution ~ tia
a,,s.,lon m, ~ value "a the Maize farm
~ snd taxpayer a. we'll Ia the .tnden
of political rconomy.
At the out.-t. I must confess, very
..riou. dIfiicultlc. present ihcms.l,.. "
the ~ay ~ my acccp,ano. ii the tboof'
of the editor of th. Argus concerning
th. ban.fuI influence of the tsrlff of tb
United Stats.. ~ the tsriN u bad 10
Min. ami some of her New Englan'
nelghbor., Why !. u not equally bad io
IN. other state. % the Union, to whic'
II. provision. equally apply The Argn
figure. that Maine. bearing about one
hun,lrr,lth ~ the burirn, hi. bccn crush
.si hy n. Hut the other nlnrty y-ninr nun
dr-lth. ~ the burden do not crush th
either nlnsty -nln. hundrr'ith. of th. p.o
pl. of ia. Inits.l states. "Ptior Ia l-sp,
ia. .lItor ..y., "Malne never galn.'
le.. than l0,0oO In population In . y.
csde. zee. Ia. Ia. hardly gained 200
year Ia the Last thirty years. True, pu
hov can thi. d. attributed io III. hrif'
While, under the .am. tarIfi, the Unite
State. asa whole, whi,h prior to j."
never gained more than s.Vn,Wp IN
DECADE. hs. g,inei ~, ,0n,0n Ia the la'
thf-. decade.-li,0Do,U0 r-prr.sniinI
the galn In the decade which ha. draw
10 a close thl. yeari Aud while th. POP
ulstIon of the United states Ia. lncrra'
.,I al TIL. marvellous rate, the develop
ment ~ its material wealth la. Increase
even faster. The assessed yalu. of uh
taxable property Ia the United state
VA. az. .i>l. so, 90 Ia isGO, aud 81, ~
o.. .0o la i~s9. The actual wealth
the United state. Increased from al
sOl ,3iO, ,G:S In lsSD to ell ,lso, ,pp,v'
Issa. The wealth pcr inhabltant VA
sg,s In isCO aud 1910 In ls,0. There ar
only fiy. other nations In the worl
wbo.. total wealth !. equal to the inef
Incrra.. Of wealth In th. tnitsd state
during the first nine years of the pr..ei
decade. ~ great ha. becu the pro.pel
Ity of the people of the United state
under their protective tsrifi, that thcr
IN. b..n con .tant stream of Immigrant
pouring Into TIL. country FROM the le-
favored countric. of the old world, any
lou. to share the burdens ani tile gain
of citizens of q repabiic With proi-c,
i've tariff system. More than o'"No
of these people have come here fro'
Great britain and ireland, the very hon
and haunt of the gospel of fire. trade.
The editor of the Argus thinks TIA
the burden of the tariff falls With esp'
cial severity on alarming and labor gel
er,lly.- evidently belonging Ia the seho'
! of tbeori.t. Who hold that under u pr,
| tr,tIye tariff the amount of the tarin
| u.c~ssariiy added to the price of the Al
Il teaa lf
me that this theory IL failaciou.. MaI
ufactures of India rubber protectcd hei
by a duty of - per cent, are cheaper
our market. than In England. 10 10 pa
rpt leather, which Unprotected by dut
of ~ per cent. Steel rails are protects
by a duty of ei; Per ton, aud " w
were added To the London price the
would co.t the purchaser go a ton. y
a matter of fact, they range IN the neis'
borhood of sjS Per ton. Boots an
.h.,e.. on which there ls . duty of jD "
cent. are lower here than In Englan'
There are some grades Of domestic co
ton goods which have for years bee
sold at retail at price actually ccio
the mere duty to which they would J
subject II imported.
The natural result of the home comp
titIon which L. engcnderd by the tarif
In the direction of low prices and con.
oueut benefit to the consumer. III
natural result of free trade would
low prices at hrst-so low M To dri'
American goods out Of our market
and shut up our American factories. "
foreigner could effect this because u
are goodsthe product of cheap iabo
Then would follow an era OF advLncii
prices, for having got the whole Held
himself the soie object Of the foreign
De would Ia make hls profits as large
possible. lie would have the Americ.
conmmcrs ai his mercy. and would