Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-03-12
FARMERS and TIE TARIFF
Dishonest Claims Made That Agri-
cultural Implements are
Taxed as Per Cent.
Foreign Plows ofso Inferior Grade
That They Would not be
Used in America.
What Consul Dunlap Says in Re-
gard to the Matter-Compe-
t1tion out of Question.

Of all dishonest charges made by the
foes of protection, that which says farmers
are taxed As per cent. on their agricultural
implements is, perhaps, the most ground
less. A simple illustration will make this
clear.
The farmer buys plow of the local
agent fol-. say, $40. The performer des-
perately bent on weaning'th9.. farmers from
their allegiances to protection, comes along
and tells the farmer that the tax on that
pillow is As per cent. The good man takes
out his pencil, multiplies the price he paid
by the rate per cent. and finds that, if the
'relormer" tells the truth, the tax is s. 40.
The performer" knows that the farmer
will arrive at this result, and he also
knows how absurd it is, but he takes good
care not to correct the figures.
Now, even if the farmer did pay the
whole Of the As per cent. tariff, the
amount of the tax" is nothing like this
sum- The duty is not computed on the
retail price, SO, but on the wholesale
price, which at most, is not more than half
of this amount. Suppose, then, that the
wholesale price of the American pillow is
Sc. Any honest free trader will admit
that the As per cent. tariff is not paid by
the consumer unless equally good foreign
plows can be imported, and, with duty add
ed, beplaced in the American market at
So piece. But the 45 per cent. must not
be computed on the IS which the pillow
brings in this country, but upon the
price of the English or German manufac-
tory, which price, With the As per cent.
duSy added, must equal Sc. That is, in
stead of multiplying Sc by As, which
would give S2.70 as the tariff, Sc must he
divided by l As to obtain the true base, the
price in the foreign market. The price of
this would be $+14, and 45 per cent. of,
would be $1.66, the true duty, which
added to the price, gives just Sc, the
price at which it must sell here, In order
to compete with the American pillow. The
''tax," then, even according to the ere
formers" own theory, would be only 81 So,
instead of $40, as he designedly tried to
lead the farmer to suppose.
Even these figures do not do justice to
the 'reformers daring in perverting truth.
The calculation is based, as has been said
upon the assumption that foreign made
pillow, equal in all respects to the American
pillow could be placed upon the market at
Sc, the price at which the latter sells. Now
the fact is that such conditions do not ex-
ist. In no country in the world can the
equal of the American pillow be found. The
best agricultural implements IN foreign
countries are only clumsy limitations of
Anticipated American models.
Consul Fl. 7. Dunlap attended the an
nual exhibition of agricultural machinery
at Breslau, Germany, for the special pur-
pose of comparing the machinery from
many countries which was there displayed
1.-The plows," he reported to the state de-
partment resemble the double Michigan
pillow so popular in the United States TWEEN
ty and more years aaago, but now about
obsolete. am perfectly safe in saying
that no American farmer would take
single one of the plows Oh exhibition, as
gift. He would be ashamed to be seen in
its company; it looks very much as though
it was the work of a country blacksmith of
forty years ago
Competition by foreign agricultural i'm
plements in our own markets would be out
of tie question, even if they were admit
ted free-nay. even Ii we paid bounty of
fifty per cent, foreign implements could
not compete, for the simple reason that no
American farmer would take the heavy
ungainly things at any price. Since, as
we have said before, the tariff can be a
tax only when the American consumer
would just as soon have the foreign arti-
Gle, with duty added, as the American
article at the domestic price, the absurdity
of the assumption that the farmer pays even
81 SO tariff tax" must be pl Tin to any
one whose intellect is not clouded by the
free trade mania.