Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-10-27
HOW THE TARIFF TAXES.
1t Must Raise Prices or It Cannot
"ProE cot"

10 tie Editor Of tie World: Having
in the former article shown that the
tariff is unanimously admitted to be u
tax, SO far as the government collects
anything under il, and that this tax is
paid by our own people, we may pass
to the next question. Docs Il protective !
tariff make anybody pay any tax in
addition to that collected by the gov
ernment for paAlic use? Does it tax !
the people ror1he private protitOf few |
II it docs not, why is such clamor
raised against "a tariff for revenue
only?" by this is meant, rs everybody |
knows, a tariff the whole revenue raised
under which shall 90 10 the government
II nobody outside OF the government
collects any revenue from the Mckinley
tariff. then that is u tariff for public
revenue only. II no private persons
make u profit out Of the protective tariff,
how can such tariff givc high wages
to the workman or good profits to the
boss We are told in the same breath
that high wages are secured by protec.
tive tariffs, that high wages cannot be
paid without high prices, and yet that
protective tariffs do not increase prices,
Truth matches all around" but these
statements do not match ut all
The Free-trader says that high prices
do not make high wages; that, on the
contrary, low prices and small profits
secure large sales, and that wages rise
when manufacturers are compelled, by
reason Of small profits on each article,
to make and sell 4 much greater mum
Der OF such articles III order to succeed
in business; because the demand for
laborer5 increases with the increase in
the number of things made, and not
with the profit upon each thing sold
Thus, il a shoemaker could make
profit of 500 on each pair Of shoes he
would be quite content to sell one pair
4 day, and need employ only one mani
but il he can make a profit Of only 90
| cents on each pair, he must sell 800 pairs
4 day to make the same profit and must
| employ 500 times as many men.
The Protcctionist eyatlcs this issue by
saying that the tariff "cnubles" the man
ulacturer TO pay high wages. The Free
| trader shows that low prices and open
competition do something much better
| they compel the manufacturer to en-
| ploy mote men, and so to offer higher
| wages.
AT all events, it is clear that the tariff
can do nothing towards even enabling"
the generous boss to pay high wages,
unless it increases the prices Of protected
goods. Senator Aldrich Of Rhode
| Island. who had more to do with fran.
ing the Mckinley bill than Mr.. Nlcllin-
ley himself, was candid enough to say
| publicly that protective tariffs did raise
| prices, and that there was no force or
effect in them il they did not. The
tariff has for many wears kept the prices
of iron and steel in America 10 much
higher than in l,urOpe that these necrs-
sarics Of life have cost us on an average
sc, 900, 900 each wear in excess of Euro.
pcan rates.
The tariff on tin-plates now causes
the prices here to exceed by AZ lpast
SIG, 600, 600 a wear the price abroad orr
woollen goods cost us at least 300 900
600 a wear moro than the snnr thintT.
cost in ElIrope. 50 with our rlnss mir
carthcnwarc and many other iRdtsnrns.
able things. Altogether DIR protected
articles cost us annually not lcss than
100000 900 in excess of what unuro-
tcctcd foreigners pay for the same oilar,-
tity of similar things. or This suIn'nnIy
5000 900 900 70 10 our government M
remaining $500 ,OOOOO0 % INA iii,
pockets Of individuals. Bul the whol,
amount is a tax UPON Inc penplc Tht
smaller sum Is n tax for public MIR.
poses; the larger sum is a tny for privnt,
profit.
Of course protectionists viii meet mi,
i with q sweeping denial. but no one MN
has studied the subject can hnrnetl,
make such denial. Opinions NIX
honestly differ rs 10 the actual anollnl
,, of the taxes thus appropriated foI