The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1896-08-08
SOME HIGH PROTECTION
SOPHISNS EIPLODEU.
\.

Having shown III preceding papers
that the Inducements held out Nv the
rottctionists 10 the laborers and agri-
cu.tGfists have m foundation in truth.
bnt mere promises cleverly advanced
10 misIeal and eutrap their intended
victims. we propose in this issue to
anal,z e and expose some other sopl.
isms employed by the high protection
lists IN their proselytizing efforts.
Some 1T tile mare senturesOme lat
ter,day leaders among the high pro-
| tectinnists advance. OF 1T least sug-
gest. the captivating idea that 1.-THE
tariff is not u tax" This is a dagger
0us notion. because there Is an admix-
tnre Of truth IN it, and error tinged
with a modicum Of truth is often re-
ceiyed with little suspicion, just as a
sugar-cnated pill is swallowed with
ease. But the farm is done all the
same, aid the error often more difficult
] to combat because it is insidiOus and
less apparent to the average intellect.
The tariff is not a "tax" in the tech
nical of the term ; that is the
modicum of truth upon which these
high ProtectioDists build their plausi-
| bic theory but it is a tax IN the sense
that it imposes a very heavy burden
upon the people. 1t increases tue
prices Of everything the penple con-
sumo, Of the nectssaries of life as we'll
as Of tie Injuries. 1t taxes almost
every article used by ma from his
cradle to the grave. Because it is
insidious in its character: because il
is levied indirectly and the tax gath
erer does not come IN immediate con-
tact with the ultimate payer of this
burden which is SO woven with the
legitimate price Of things as to become
i%nseparable, it is none the less a tax.
i Nay, more, it is q heavy tax or burden
estimated at millions upon millions OF
dollars annually, the greater portion
Of which goes directly into the Golfers
of manufacturers, IS blood tribute
from the people. High protective tar
i'll shuts out foreign articles and per-
mits our manufacturers to monopOlize
the trade aud raise the prices to suit
themselves, and the increase in the
prices constitutes this indirect tax or
burden which the people pay ca the
enrichment Of the manufacturers and
to their XVI impoverishment.
Now, that the tariff is a tax or bur
den upon the people lie so manifest,
once the sophism is brushed aside,
that it il a cause for wonderment how
any one could be deceived by the die
tum Of the high protectiopists. Indeed,
it is so palpable that the tariff is a tax.
that the proposition has been admitted
by all the distinguished Republicans
of the old school, without an exception,
, SO far as we can recall. The National
Republican platform of 1868 declared :
cit is due to the labor Of the nation
, that taxation should be eqaaii=ed and
reduced as rapidly as the national faith
will permit"
We have already quoted. Garfield
n Allison; Grant, Sherman, Logan.
Morrill,. Kelly, o. r. Morton, Blaine,
and lesser lights 10 the Republican
party have at one time or another ad-
vocated the reduction OF the tariff as a
means Of .esseniug the cost of living,
thereby admitting the tariff to be a
tax 0: burden upon the people. The
Republicans on the Ways and Means
Committee which reported the McKln-
ley bill admitted the tariff to be a a 4
and the Mckinley bill itself recognized
that principle.
Besides. there is another class Of
latter day Republican leaders, among
whom no less a chief than Mckinley,
who admit the tariff to be a tax when
they put fortl, the Claim that .under
the high protective tariff system, the
foreigner pays the tax So that the
sophism Of one class is exploded BY
the sophism Of the other; for the
plausible pretensaon Of the latter il
also nothing than a sophism.
"Under the high protective tariff
system, the foreigner pays the tax =
this sophism is Is insidious as the ii rst.
for it appeals to American vanity by
flattering American engenuity. II.
there be one thing upon Which the