Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-07-21
A TARIFF LESSON.
A Woman Finds Out what Protection"
Means.

a woman Finds Out what protection"
Means.
James, =" said the wife of New York
lawyer, ''read this letter and tell me
what it means. don't understand it."
The letter was from Vermonter who
had sent Mrs. James tub Of maple su-
gar on her order. The sugar had not
satisfied Mrs. James and she had writ
ten to inquire why it was so dry and
granulated. "It's not nearly so good to
make syrup Of" she had said in her let
ter, "as that which you have sent me in
former years. What's the reason for the
changer"
To this the Vermonter had replied:
"We've had to make the sugar dry this
year in order to get the bounty" And
it was because she was mystifed by this
assertion that Mrs. James called upon
her husband for an explanation.
"Pshaw!" answered the husband.
Don't you know what that means? The
reference is to two cents pound which
the government pays to maple sugar
makers"
"Do you mean to tell me, James, that
the government pays maple sugar MAX
ers two cents a pound for making the
sugar that they sell at ten cents
pound?
"Why, yes; didn't you know that?
That's one of the things provided for in
the Mckinley tariff act"
"But why does the government do it2
Why should men get paid for making
an article which they can sell at good
price? Why are maple sugar makers
any better than anybody else that they
should have presents of money from the
government for doing thing that they
would do anyway, thing that they
have been doing for years because it has
paid?"
The husband smiled at his wife's earn
estness. Then he went on to tell her
how it happened that the maple sugar
makers were getting gratuities out of
the government. "They are getting that
bounty" he said, "because the Ver-
monters, who are the great maple sugar
men of the country, had pull on the
men who made up the Mckinley bill.
They made their representatives in con-
gress take the position that they were as
much entitled to bounty as were the
growers of ordinary sugar. You see, it
was proposed to offset the removal of
the tariff protection of sugar growers
with bounty, which it was said would
encourage sugar men to increase their
outputs. AS soon as the Vermonters
heard Of this project they made up their
minds to make an effort to get bounty
too.
"When their request was made the
lawmakers ridiculed it. The idea,' they
said, of taxing the people Of the coun-
try for the sake of making presents to
these Vermont grangers is perfectly alb
surd. 1t would be robbery, plain and
simple, absolutely indefensible. The gov
ernment couldn't get cents worth of
return from the gratuities.'
"But the Vermonters hung on, and in
the end got what they asked for. The
amount distributed among them in the
shape of bounty is small, but it is out
rageous that single penny of the peo-
ple's money should be given them"
"Humph!" grunted Mrs. James, as,
without making any reply to her hus-
bands remarks, she resumed her break
fast. Presently she asked another ques-
ton: "Was the whole tariff law made
up in the same way"
"Made up in what wayT' demanded
the husband.
"Why, did other people get things
just as the maple sugar men did, not be-
cause they were entitled to them, but
because they had 'pulls?"
81 reckon that that's about the size of
it."
"And that is what you call 'protec-
tion,' is it?'
"Pm afraid so."
"Well, James, I'm against protection
from this time on. don't think much
of taxing all the people of the country
for the sake of getting money to dis
tribute among a favored few."-New
York Times.