Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-03-29
NOT DISCUSSING RATES.

farmer.
NOT DISCUSSING RATES.
But the Tariff Policy of the Country
should Remain Protective.
am not here to discuss tariff rates or
schedules. These are subject to change
up or down, as new conditions require it;
but my insistence is that these changes
must ever be governed by the protective
principle, and within that principle rates
may be, should be and will be amended as
time, new processes of manufacture and
changed commercial conditions require;
but they must not fall below a rate which
Will adequately measure the difference be-
tween the American scale of wages and
that of competing countries, and must
always be iii favor Of the labor OK our own
country II the home market for our
people. The principles upon which they
were made are not subject to amendment.
The tariff policy of this country must be
protective. That is what we contend for
that Is what the American people, mean TO
have.
During the Harrison Administration.
The pretext for the proposed bill is not
TO raise more revenue The declaration of
Ak-saAbAlDI anu llG dDllSt committee Is Indb
it will reduce the revenue. The same eff
fort at tariff reduction has been repeat
edly made in the past when we had a sur.
plus revenue in the treasury. The present
law was adequate to meet all the expenses
OF the government, and did meet them for
the first two and a half years of its opera
ton. During no ear of President Harri-
sons administration did the receipts TALL
hElnNy tho ny-panSoc, Of tho W. r,arT n~I
when President Harrison went out Of
power, while his administration had paid
off more than $500, 100000 of the principal
and interest of the national debt, yet he
turned over Il the administration which
succeeded him a surplus # upward of
sl24.000,000, including the reserve fund,
which, under the Republican policy had
never been encroached upon.
A II renee of Tariff Schools.
The advocates of tariff taxation are d.
vided into two schools. Both schools be-
lieTe in raising public money by a tariff,
and only differ as TO the kind of tariff to
accomplish this purpose. One school, the
Democratic school, advocates q tariff for
revenue only; the other, the Republican
school, advocates a tariff for revenue and
also protection. A revenue tariff has no
other aim or purpose and disclaims every
other save revenue A protective tariff,
while raising all needed revenue, is ever
mindful that the taxes imposed shall be
upon those foreign products which will
most encourage domestic production and
rest most lightly upof the consumer.
The revenue tariff is nnmindful of
the development and prosperity of
our country. The protective tariff,
while having revenue and the needs of the
treasury always in view, steadily keeps in
mind our own industries and the occupa
tions of our own people. A revenue tariff
seeks out articles of prime necessity, often
such as we can not produce in our coun-
try and makes them the subject of taxa
ton. The senate has just introduced an
amendment to the Wilson bill which is a
striking illustration of a revenue tariff. 1t
takes sugar, IN article which enters into
every mans household, and which, for the
most part, we do not produce at home,
from the free list and places it upon the
dutiabie list.
A revenue tariff will raise revenue for a
time at least, but it is inadequate to en-
courage, promote and protect production
In our W country. Protection seeks out
those articles of foreign production which
VIC al pEoAuS< ~ hOAlC duo pubS b UaElU
upon them, and while every importation
of such articles produces revenue which
goes into the treasury, it at the same time
Stimulates Domestic Production
and sustains and defends our domestic en-
~terprises. So long as we have to use the
taxing power, why not use IL in the inter-
est of our WI people and their occupar
tions' What is the gain IL we do
put money into the public treasury
under a revenue tariff and thereby
discourage domestic enterprise and
destroy the opportunity for capital and
labor to earn money! Why tax a foreign
article which we cannot produce rather
than one which we cam In the former
case we help no domestic industry; In the
latter our tariffs discriminate against the
foreign and in favor of the home product.
A tariff levied exclusively for revenue en-
courages foreign importations--that is
what IL is made for, and when such a tar
i'll is levied on articles the like of which
we produce at ho-ie, l. discourages our
own producers by depriving them of the
homer market which justly belongs to them.
A revenue tariff encourages no home en-
terrrises; it supplies employment t.
10 American workingman; II takes
employment from him because in the en-
enlargement of foreign importation 1t d.
minishes the demand for American pro
ducts. To the extent that /. diminshes the
demand for American products, it dimin-
ishes the demand for the American pro-
ducer. The use of a foreign article, which
4 Democratic revenue tariff encourages.
means less use or nc use of a like domestic
article. So long as labor il cheaper In
Europe n conditions are lower there
than here, a free trade or a revenue tariff
upon competing goods tends either TO de-