The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1895-04-19
FUN WITH ELI.

n
a man who j. willing 70 tackle some OF
the hardest questions the free traders
can ask. SAYS a CORE pendent. Eli
Perkins Truthful Eli. nS he j. some
times ironically called--nas teen cm-
ployed bv the American Economist,
organ Of the Protective Tariff league,
10 pulverizc the hard questions that
have SO long remained unanswered by
protectionsts. lie has been az woSx
for several months turning out a page
or two Of answers each week. He un-
iersiands his business thoroughly and
II i amusing to read his answers.
Here is question No. in the Econo-
mist OF March Is:
III the foreigner pays the duty why
refund to extorting manufacturers 30
per cent. Of the duty on their imported
raw materials?'
An this i the essential part OF
Truthful ELS" answer:
'.In tariff for revenue. such as
England has. the consumer pays the
duty. but with protection 70 new i'm
dustries the consumer pays at first as
he did with nails and glass, but now
II we put "A tariff on tea or coffee or on
something that we can't make. as
England does. the consumer would pay
forever. The rebate on raw materials
allows our manufacturer to retain his
own Sll. ODD. 900 900 market and still use
the foreign market"
Undoubtedly some Of the wicked
free traders will say that Eli has not
answered the real question. They viii
say that after attempting 10 prove that
protective tariff is not "A tax at all
Eli spoils his answer by admitting that
| il is necessary to refund 30 per cent OF
| duty paid on raw materials to enable
our manufacturers to compete in
| foreign markets. II the tariff is not
tax, they will say. and our consumers
are getting their goods at as low or at
| lower prices than are paid for similar
goods in foreign markets, why does
| our government make present TO
manufacturers of % per cent OF duty
paid on raw materials, and why Is this
refund necessary to enable manufac-
turers TO sell at the same prices abroad
as at home? If Eli should remind
| them that he had admitted that even
a protective tariff is a tax lat first
some smart Alecll amongst them would
be certain to say. But how long IS
this at first to LAST" The process has
been going on for thirty years and still
il is necessary to refund duties.
Really there is no getting rid of free
traders who will not keep quiet and
accept such answers a. Eli chooses To
make. Fortunately for Eli there are
not many free traders amongst the
readers of the Economist. OF course
all good protcctioni,ts will be con
vinced as soon as they read Ellis ex-
plicit answers--in fact they were con
vinced about four years ago when Me.
kinley suddenly made the discovery
that foreigners are paying our tariil
taxes.
Here is question No. 4: 'Jfprotectigs
tariffs are gool. would not prohibitive
tariffs be better?'
And Eli replies: "A protectiv tariff
is 10 enable Us to pay nigh wages ane
for nothing else. If any country has
wages as high as ours. we want NJ
protection at all. SO protective tariff
is just as good rs a prohibitive tariff.
These answers are undoubtedly sat
isfactory to- protectionists but they
only make free traders smile and ASK
other questions like these: Does Canada
have protection against the United
states because wages are lower in the
United states? If 50. then why does
the United States have protection
against CANADA? Why does England
with high wages. need and have NJ
protection" against Germany Will
low wages. and why does Germany
need and have protection against
England? You say 1--WE cam put ,hi
nese wall around our country because
il is not Sweden or Greece but j. SO ex
tensive. We will admit that biz
country can stand protection better
than "A little one but is IL not simply
because there Is room for more free
trade inside it, borders? If the bigger
the country the better it viii thrive
under protection why not extens
the tariff borders Of the country un
! Ill the whole world would be include,
} and have protection" only agains
green cheese and other products tina
! might fall from the moon j. II no
J true that some Of Us want To buy more
than simply coffee. tea and rubber !
: not. then whv did we. in spite Of Nc
kinley duties. import 50 nncn cocoa
silks. voolcns. laces. spices. wines
|: sugars. musical instruments. jewclry
: fruits and nuts. earthcnware, ar
works and thousands Of other articles
. Did we import just for fun? II we ha
no Chinese fire-crackcrs how could "
+. celebrated I,ut Eli has stopped up IN
! ears so that he will not have 10 liste
|? to such silly questions.
: Here is question No. >: IT intcrns
tional trade impoverishcs. Is not inter
Q state trade equally harmful
(: And ELS reply in full follows:
: international free trade would n
4 duce our wages 10 foreign wages plu
| the freight. With free trade the
would steal our Sli.0Do.0oo,uo0 HON
market and we could never sell plat
or knife or yard of cloth till we Ina
. their low wages. less the freigh
\ European nations can have free trac
among themselves because their wage
!. are all low alike. We flourish wit
i. free interstate trade because all o,
wagcs are high. II Iowa were payir
= 50 cents per day for labor like Belgium