The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-10-07
HOW THEY ROB THE PEOPLE.

Some of the beauties of the protective
system may be pointed out in a shor'
article without going into the depths o.
a tariff argument, where few people care
to follow. The great claim made by the
republican leaders is that the tariff keeps
up wages, and that it is because of the
duties charged On foreign goods, that
American laborers receive more than the
laborers of Europe. We have frequently
shown the fallacy of this argument.
The employers of labor according to
the republican argument pledge them
selves to pay to labor the difference be-
tween the price they get for their goods,
and the price for which the same goods
can be obtained abroad less the cost of
transportation. Now he does no such
thing in fact, but instead he pockets this
money himself, and pays it to the re-
publican campaign fund, and he taxes
the people not only the difference in
wages but usually all the wages his en-
ployes receive, and often from two to ten
times as much as the total wages he pays
them. This is readily seen when it is
understood that there is no protected In
dustry in this country, on which a duty
of 10 per cent is not equal to the diff
ference in wages, and yet the protection
on these industries ranges from IS to $50
per cent.
A very striking illustration of this can
be seen in the case of sugar refineries,
where the figures are given as follows, by
the census enumerators. Here is a case
in which the raw material is imported
free of duty, and when it was put on the
free list the price went down in a man.
ner to benefit all the people, but the re-
%tineries. ~forty-nine in number, were
still protected and formed a trust to
prevent the people from getting the full
benefit of the abrogated duty. The duty
on refined sugars was retained and the
sugar trust refining all sugars brought
to this country, continued their liberal
subscription to the republican campaign
fund.
In 1890 this trust sold to the people of
the United States 3,156,996,OOO pounds
of sugar, on which they collected IL
cents a pound to pay the difference in
wages. This collection amounted to
a 7,354,94O. Now this duty of IL cents
per pound is imposed on refined sugar
if imported to this country, osten-
sibly to pay the difference
in wages between this country and
Europe. The total amount of wages
paid to their employees by the trust for
1890 amounted to S4,410.O94, which left a
profit to the trust of S42,935 SAG. The
profits represented by these figures do
not include the ordinary profits of the
business, but simply what the trust
made from the protection out of the
pockets of consumers, and under the
false pretense of reserving it to pay the
difference in wages"
This is so clear and comprehensive
anybody can appreciate it's mean
ing at a glance, and it can be said with
out exaggeration that the same facts ap-
ply to every protected industry. All of
them are receiving immense benefits out
Of the pockets of the American Leople,
without any adequate return whatever,
and the only persons who are benefited
by these scandalous exactions are the
trustswhich have the right to collect these
and the republican politicians and
office holders who receive a large share
the spoils.