The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-03-30
UNNECESSARY MippLeMEN

Arc Often the Cause of BiiE Prices
Home Production Does Away With ter-
eign Manufacturers, transportation Com,
panies and American Importers, and
This Tends to Decrease Prices - VINO
Are the Real "Monopoiists?"
That judicious protective duties have
ever resulted in the ultimate cheapen-
ing of the articles on which they were
levied is now admitted by every one ex'
cept the Cobdenite, whose preconceived
theory blinds him to the plain evidence
of facts. This fall in price, as we have
often shown, is due in great measure to
the stimulation of home competition,
and the introduction of improved meth
DDS and machinery made possible by
the application of American genius and
skill. But besides competition among
our own manufacturers, the benehcent
effect of which has been proved again
and again, there is another and no less
important cause of the cheapening OF
commodities produced at home-the
elimination of the middleman. The ex-
istence of many intermediate agents,
through whose hands an article must
pass before reaching the ultimate con-
sumner, can not but result in an I'M
| necessary and burdensome tax which
he must pay, for as each middleman
naturally wants to make profit on
the goods as they pass through
his hands, the more middlemen
there are the more profits will be made,
and the higher, Therefore, the price,
which will ultimately be asked. The
necessary middleman, he who really
assists in the more rapid distribution OF
products, is just as important an indus
trial factor as the producer. But all
others who only tax productive industry
for their own profits ought to be done
away with, and this is just what pro-
lection has effected. For by establish.
ing industries in our country which we
could otherwise not have acquired, il
has eliminated from the elements which
90 to make up the price OF an article
the profits of unnecessary agents
This can be more clearly shown as
follows:
| NUMBER OF MIDDLEMEN.
| article Imported. article Produced at
-vNs Home.
Foreign manufacturer.
| Raiload company ito
| seaport. ..
Steamship company A erican manufac
| across the ocean,. turer.
American importer. American jobber.
| American lobber. American retailer
| American retailer.
| -, NJ fhic 70 h1n rn1Cf convince
any one that by producing an article ii
our own country we not only decrease
prices by reducing the number OF mid
dlemen, but we also keep among ou1
own people the money which would
otherwise go abroad to pay the profits
of foreign manufacturers, railroad com
panies and steamship corporations.
But" some Cobdenite may say, "hov
about the American importer? Doe
not the tariff injure him?" And it i
true. the tariff does tend to decrease tn
profits of importers, but this is not
cause for regret. The importers il
New York are weather. in proportion
to the capital invested in .their bushes
than any other class, and all this wealtl
is gained by stimulating foreign indus
try and giving employment to foreigl
labor at the expense of our own. The,
are the real ''robber barons," taxin,
the American consumer by makingrhin
pay their extortionate profits. We d.
not question the legitimacy of thei
business, but they should confine them
selves to importing articles which w
cannot produce, and which, therefore
do not deprive our own workingmen O
employment
While, then, the free trader may stig
Matte the tariff as tax and tn
performer" wall over the tariff me
nopolist," the protectionist may rejoic
in the knowledge of a work well done
in that he has eliminated two of tn
most voracious free trade monopolist
the foreign manufacturer and tn
American importer.