The Irish standard., 1892-07-23
THE TARIFF rs A TAX.
PARENT AND SHELTER OF TRUSTS
AND OTHER CONSPl7AClEs.

PARENT AND SHELTER OF TRUSTS
AND OTHER cONSPl7AClEs.
The Sugar Bounties Standing Object
Lesson to the People That the Tariff Is
Tax and That Consumers Pay 1t on
Both Imported and Domestic Products.
The exact amount paid out Of the
United States treasury for sugar borln-
ties during the last fiscal year was ST.
33O,O46, cents omitted. OF this total ST.
065,2S5 was paid on cane sugar and
$6,870,506 went to cane planters in Lou
isiana.
The attention of the New York organ
of the American Protective Tariff league
is invited to this fact That organ for
many weeks has been printing series
of pictures and short comments as con-
spicuously as possible on its first page
under the heading ''The Tariff Not a
Tax" the purport of which is that the
retail price of the articles pictured is
less than the tariff rate. Now if the
tariff is not q tax-if i1lowers prices in
stead of raising them, as the organ rep
resents-what excuse is there for taking
more than $1,000. 900 Of the money con-
tributed by taxpayers and handing it
over to the growers OF sugar cane, beets
and sorghum and tie people who boil
down maple sap:
The same Mckinley congress which
took the revenue duty, averaging two
cents per pound, off from raw sugar,
voted d bounty of two cents per pound
upon sugar made in America. The same
act that takes off the duty grants the
bounty. This is an admission on the
face of the Mckinley act that the tariff
is a tax. It is the plainest possible adj
mission that the tariff is not only a tax
collected by the government on imported
articles, but an equal tax on like articles
produced in the country, collected not
by the government for public purposes,
but by the home producers Of the arti-
Giles for their private enrichment. It is
the plainest possible admission that both
the tax collected by the governmentand
the tribute collected by individual go
ducers, with the help of the govern Il,
is paid not by foreigners, but by Aneri
can consumers of the taxed articles.
And the facts correspond with the ad-
missions of the men who made the Nc
Kinley tariff. No sooner had the duty
been taken off than down went the price
to the same extent. Consumers could
get their sugar cheaper by the amount
Of the duty or little more. And the
price has stiid down ever since, except
as the remaining duty on refined sugars
has enabled the rehners to put up the
price by conspiring together for that
purpose.
And right here is another fact that
negatives the organs standing assertion
that the tariff is, not tax, and also
proves that the tariff is the parent and
the shelter Of trusts and like conspira-
cies against the earnings Of the people.
For some time after the Mckinley sugar
schedule went into effect the sugar re-
iners' combine was incomplete. Not
very long ago the combine was perfect
ed, competition ceased, and up went the
price of refined sugar to the full extent
of the remaining duty ON that article.
With these facts in plain sight the
people will not be led astray by the
standing falsehood Of the McKinleyites
that the tariff is not a tax. They have
a standing object lesson, as well as the
admission of the Mckinley congress, to
teach them that the tariff is a tax, and
that consumers pay it on both imported
and domestic products. Chicago Her
aid