Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-03-13
LETTERS TO FARMERS.
The Taxes on Homes and Increased
Cost of Building Materials


glass and Paris plaster for his new
house. Let me give "a little history of
wjndo " glass. This infant Industry,
using the very graphic language of
Mr.. BUtterWOrth of Ohio. wears a full
sized overcJat and No. 10 shoes. In
1880, or seven years ago, the produc-
tioi. of window glass was valued at
81. 047 ,3l3. The quantity produced
| ,S6i 600 boxes of 30 square feet each.
The total wages paid to produce this
special kind of glass was S2,l39 500.
and the total number of hands employ
ei was > $50 men, l woman and 1874
children. The average duty on WIN
dow glass in 1856 was S6.l3 per cent.
and the treasury actually collected a
revenue If Sl,l74, $40 81 on common
window glass and to the home manu-
facturers a bonus, taking into account
the increase of production since 1880, of
no less than 0,000, 900 was paid. AL
together il costs about $50 900 600 tax
annually to use Ii e cOmm0nest kind
of window glass. 10 tax mans day-
light in his hsbltatiOn Is above all 9TH
er taxes a fined cruelty. From the
time of Pitt tn sir Robert Peel England
had a wiudOw--lass excise tax. But
even then there was a determinations
For instance, up to certain size the
glass was not taxed. But when peo-
pie chose to indulge in larger paues of
| glass for their windows they had to
pay tax. Hence We found up to 1916,
/ in England millions of houses with
/ very small-siZ-d panes of glass in the
/ windows. So obnoxious WAS this tax
that Lord Byron facetiously said that
/ there was a gre at excuse for English
men damning their eyes bec.u the
/ government set item the example of
damniug the daylight in their homes
! But England had at least the excuse
! IF getting all the tax she could in order
! to paw the interest on her debt of e9O0,-
/ coo 600. Then, again, every shilling
of this was paid into the exchrquer
/ Now. Look at the American window
/ glass tax. The treasury is Overlooking
/ with 500, O00, 00O surplus. The tax is
/ not needed. Yet, over 81 900 900 is
squeezed out of the window tax in
order t. pay high wages to 5, 49, men,
/ l woman and 13t children.
| Now, let ne analyZe these aristocraI-
ic wages: I stated that in 1850 the total
wages were s., l39, 500. Suppose we
divide the average thus: 3,735 men
! averaging Sl1 a w-pk is S2,i3G, 429.
| leaving some s. 600 wages for the 1874
| children and l wumBn. Ia other
words, considering that gla ss-mskiug
| is a most labIriOuS, unWholesome, dis
! gustinely hot, and very trying hnndi-
craft, Sll a week is 10y 10 III, ans very
artist cratic wages, especially as a
mans life in that kind of work is short
! VT with these facts b-f re as the
country is taxed over Sc per cent on
this Indispensable necessary Of life,
But on whom does this tax fill h. avi-
est? There are now, in 1887, at least
5000, 600 separate farm houses. There
were seven years ago over 1000, 900
| The hreakage of glass in these houses
and above all the glass used in new
ones built, pay the bulk of tits tax
because they ali use that common
kind Of window glass. w, II, then,
with this little preface, let me get
back to my friends new house. Sup
pose he supplies his house with $50
worth of glass. OF course [ max
thes. estimates purposely moderate, as |
addrt S. myself to the hard working,
independent. but not rich citiz,us. In
orti~r to pay $50 fer the wiadoW-glass
the farmer has to sell, say, in round
numbers, so bushels # wheat or l15
bushels Of corn. I, him this product
is as wholesome us the income of a
coupon is 10 tie millionaire who has
! b nds. This does not faVor him cent
on either corn or wheat. More than so
Pc C n ofthis wi dow glass is 70 uce
IN p unsvlvania, Illinois, Indiana Ohio.
Maryland and Michigan, States that
need not 90 out r corn or wheat, but
| most of them are exporters of both.
| Therefore the $50 the farmer has To
spend for the windows # his house be
ing derived from the products Of lis
farm, and having the same value in
England, France and Germany, loses
all at once the purchasing power when
be waits to buy homemade or import
ed window glass. That j. II say, if
there were no duty on wiud0W glass,
the farmer would buy for ST the
quantity of glass TOR which he has
now TO pay so. IL other words, he is
taxed and swindled out of S23 for the
great luxury being allowed to have
windows IN his house.
But in large cities where 500 600
houses are huiit, the jewellers therein
would no more think OF using common
green cylinder glass for their windows
than tHev would us the Russian black
bread. These rich and happy people
DOME pay So per cent. for their window
glass; they use fine plate-glass. Such
plate-glass, even if it is the size of
n by 80 inches, only pays - per cent.
duty.
There are two classes that do not feel
the harishipS of an American tariff.
First, the real pauper, he of course
does not pay any tax. The !-eXt class
Is the millionaire or rich man who in
dulgeS in luXuries. 1t is the middle
class, the Woodworking farmers, the
wagg-earning mechanics / nj artisans;
they are the bone ami sinew; they are
the multitude, and they have to pay to
the organized army of the protec; ion
nligarchy an oppr i've tax on every
necessary of life, and are even deriied,
seeded and cursed if they look in any
other way on this legal robbery than
q national blessing But let me get
through with tins VielaiuOus outrage.
Our farmers common green glass win
dows are in his house. Tax, S6.13 per
cent. No il certainly is conducive to
appearance and more so to IT. alth TO
have the rooms plastcret. To plaster
rooms we must use whiting or Paris
white. The duty on this great luxury
is cent pound. equal in 1886 to S0.3o
per cent. al Y loren. The reas u for
this tax is probably that AmeEi an
whiting or Paris white is only an in
FAINT and does no. yet wear an over
coat and N. 10 shoes. The treasury
got 81 900 duty in 1885 and !, 49] in 1856
But our farm. rs paId. no doubt hun
dreCis of Thousands of dollars to the in
FAINT home made Paris white m"n"pO-
lis:S The following Interesting news