The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-01-16
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.

To the Editor of The Salt Lake Herald:
I am, like Tyro, a naturalized citi-
zen, and raising an American family
and am also DESTROYS of casting an
| intelligent ballot" therefore l also
take the liberty of asking a. few ques-
tons which l hope you will kindly
answer.
F'irst-I am informed that plank
in the Democratic platform reads thus:
"a Protective Tariff is unconstitutional
and a Fraud" Is this really so or
| is it only a Democratic joke? If it is
unconstitutional and a fraud, how does
it happen that the tariff bill reported
! by the Democratic committee on ways
and means provides for a partial pro-
lection to a great many industries,
and the same bill already approved by
the president who was elected under a
free trade platform? Is not that, com
promising with the devil" Henry
Henry Watterson, the great eXpounder
of Democracy in his speech favoring
the present Democratic platform said:
The Democratic party is a free trade
party or it is nothing" Now which
is it, free trade party, or nothing?
Second-I am also told there is a
clause in the platform which says,
that the party believes in and advo-
Gates Equal rights for all, and spec
! ial privileges tor none" How does
that accord with the fact that, in said
bill, some industries are protected
while others are not? For instance
! it appears that the farmers wife who
produces eggs must do so in competi-
ton with foreigners, without the sc
per dozen duty provided by the Nc
Kinley law. Is it because eggs are
raw material?" It occurs to me that
the egg producer is entitled to the same
rights and the same protection that is
accorded the Louisiana rice producer
who is protected by a duty of 20 per
cent on his raw material; but of course
| you know best.
Third have also heard something
said about ''class legislation" war
taxes" etc, etc. How about the pro-
posed tax on incomes? Could not that
be aimed at a certain class of citizens?
Is not that tax that is rarely re-
sorted to except when justified by the
existence of a heavy war debt?
Fourth understand that the Demo-
cratic party is very solicitous for the
Consumer to see that he be not bur-
dened with heavy tariff taxes; is that
the reason why the party wants to
legislate him out of a, job, so that he
will have no money to buy with and
consequently no tariff taxes to pay?
F. J. HAMMERLAND.
Honeyville, U. T., Jan. 10, 1894.
We publish the foregoing SO that
our correspondent will not have it to
say that The Herald refused him a
hearing. If he sends it out as "a joke. y
we are of the opinion that it is a very
inferior class of humor. If he means
it seriously, we regard it as an attempt
at smartness without any success.
What he has heard and what he
knows do not appear to amount to a
great deal of sound sense. The tariff
bill introduced by Mr. Wilson is just
what it purports to be-a reform meas
ure. 1t is not a bill for protection, but
for revenue only. That is to say. the
purpose of putting duties on certain
foreign imports is to provide revenue
for the government to be economically
expended for public purposes. Therein
differing from the purpose of the Nc
Kinley bill, which was to protect GER
tain classes of the people and the reve-
nue. derived was incidental to the main
object in view
If our Honeyville friend cannot COM
prehend this radical difference the
fault is either with his political educa-
ton or his mental calibre. AS the
whole purpose in view is different to
that of the protective theory of tariffs,
there is no compromising with the
devir' in it. Our correspondents no
ton of a revenue tariff seems to be no
tariff at all, because by imposing it
on any article of manufactures pro-
lection may be incidentally afforded
to some American industry.
AS to the term free trade, almost any
schoolboy who has read up on the
subject would inform him that it is
used in reference to a revenue tariff
in opposition to protective tariff, and
that it does not mean absolute free
trade, which would be no tariff on
anything. Tariff reformers are called
free traders, while the high tariffites
who advocate duties almost prohibi-
tive are called protectionists.
AS to the farmers wife who produces
eggs we do not have any information.
If there is any such producer in
Honeyville the world ought to be in
formed concerning the prodigy. Down
in this region the hens perform the
work and they do not need any protec-
ton, except a warm nest and a good
coop. AS eggs are raised in sufficient
quantities by American hens, both for
home use and expectation, there is no
need for the five cents duty imposed
by the Mckinley law. The hens will
not stop laying if the tariff does not
protect them.
The income tax was in operation in
England from 1898 to 1916 and has been
collected both in times of war and
times of peace, being increased at
some periods and decreased at 9TH
ers. Ever since 1912 it has continued
in force up to the present time. 1t is
in operation in the several German
states as well as in Prussia, the chief
of them. also In Austria and Italy. It
is no more ''class legislation than is
a tax on property which of course is
collected only of property owners nor
than a poll tax collected of individu-
ais between given ages. nor than a rev.
enue tax of any kind. Our correspon-