The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-08-02
TARIFF AND COMMON SENSE.

10 Unc ldTlH yutSJloIl' loH' Ihc
relics of the internal taxation OF the
war period, on liquors and tobacco,
&c, he says the United States still de-
rive about $500, 600, 600 year, and this
sum is Just about su tficient to cover
remaining obligations growing out OF
the war, such as interest on the pub
lie debt, pensions and sinking fund.
Leaving some $500 DOC, 900 "A year, to
cover the ordinary expenses of thegoy-
eminent. to be raised mainly by taxa
tion on imports. Common sense, Mr.
Atkinson maintains, teaches that this
sum should and easily can be collected
wholly from taxes on articles Of luxu-
ry or Of voluntary use, or on the finer
textiles which are dependent on style
or fancy for their sale, without put
ting tax of any kind upon any commo-
dity, either partly manufactured,
crude or raw material, which is neces-
sary in the process Of our domestic in
dustry.
Levying taxation on this principle
is what Mr.. Atkinson calls free trade, "
to which, after years of doubt and hesi-
tatiOn, he announces himself an out
and-out convert.
And this he understands to be the
policy now advocated by the Demo-
cratic party-the protection OF Ameri-
can industry by eXempting from taxa
tiona all articles Of foreign origin which,
either in crude or partly manufactured
state, are necessary or useful in the
processes Of our domestic industry.
They hold that our capacity to produce
food cotton, oils, &c, which the
world must have, and goods, wares,
tools and implements OF many varie-
ties, the best of their kind, at the high
est rate of wages and yet the lowest
cost compared with any other country
in the world, enables us TO exchange
these products for the crude or manu-
featured materials-the raw wool, the
foreign labor desires to sell in exchange
at profit: that If we can get for one
days work at high wages in our own
country the product Of ten days work
even of foreign paupcrs, we can not
afford to do that kind of work our
selves: and that by such exchange we
may gain higher wages and larger
profits the wider we can extend our
commerce on such terms.
On the other hand, the Republican
policy is to tax every foreign product
crude, partly manufactured or finish
ed, of which a similar product has
been or can be established in this cOun-
try, without regard to the effects OF
such tax on other branches of indus
try. The avowed purpose is to impose
taxes for protection with incidental
revenue" in order to render this coun-
try independent Of all Others" 1t
does not matter whether branch of
industry which might be set up exists
at the present time or not. For cX-
ample, the tax is doubled on tin plate,
without regard to the use to which tin
plate is put or the nature of the work
which must be done to produce 1t.
The work must be done here, even II
it costs twice as much as 1t is worth.
Now the dipping Of sheets Of iron into
melted tin must be done by hand by
a skilled expert Of long training, so
that il we even roll the plates here, to
do the dipping Welshmcn must be i'm
ported, because IL is an art for which
the people Of Wales alone possess an
inherent aptitude. There, they do it
at a quarter the expense at which it
can be done here. Then why not let
them do it and we pay them 10y a days
work In something else for four days
work of theirs?
| Mr.. Atkinson agrees with Sir Rob
ert Peel, In lSll, when he inaugLrated
| his great free trade movement in Eng
land, that the changes he proposed to
make cannot be made at once. with
out due consideration of the inter
ests which have grown up under the
protection of existing laws. While
cOntending for the justice Of the alb
stract principle, we must at the same
time admit the necessity Of admitting
it partially, and think the proper OBJ
ject is first to lay the foundation of
good laws, to provide the way for grad
ual Improvements, which may then be
introduced without giving a shock to
existing interests But he believes
firmly, when the change of system
takes place, II will be here, as Glad
stone says Of England, that we shall
be astonished TO find how easy and