The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-12
H s~EMIWEEKLY MESSENGER, FRIDAY. MARCH p, 1897.

a tariff that will not repress imports |
and put no check to the inflow of for
eign goods can extend no effective pro-
lection"
There are nan experts in tariff
tinkering and yet it will defy their
combined powers to Great a tariff
schedule that will raise a larger reve-
nue. and yet afford ali h protection
demanded by the ~entrenched manufac-
turers and capitalists. He can possibly
have a very high protective tariff tax
passed, but the increased revenue
producing may not come with It. The
American sees this with undimmed
vision and says:
Now the task is different, and 50 is
the making of a protective and at the
same time a revenue tariff, d very diff
ferent thing today thai it was twenty
or thirty years ago, when our manu-
featuring industries were in a more
nascent and undeveloped condition.
Then we were not prepared to make
for ourselves the full moun of GER
tain lines Of goods needed, and no duty
was prohibitory, but now things ave
changed, so that a very moderate duty
is prohibitory to the importation Of
ihI pa ooLS ib1Ai LII any b'"
tective tariff yielded much revenue,
because until we were in condition to
supply our own needs we imported
goods even at a cost much above the
cost Of making at home. But now,
through the development Of our man
l~Ifactories and the curtailment of our
markets, having reached a point where
we can readily produce, of most manu-
featured articles, all that we need. a
tariff that makes the cos of foreign
goods more than the cost Of making
them here, is ~prohibitory, and yields
no revenue"
We believe that to be strictly true.
| Goods are manufactured now so cheap
ly that entire South American mar
kets freely compete with German,
French and English goods. Recently,
an immense order for steel rails has
| come from England. Think of that.
The manufacturers will not be con-
tent with a revenue-prOducing tariff.
They want to shut out foreign compe-
tition so they a bleed the home peo-
| pie and make them pay IS cents tax
on collars and cuffs and more than
that on a thousand other articles. A
tariff amounting to prohibition is
what they crave. A great Chinese wall
J plan suits them. In our editorial on the
address we indicated our we'll known
preference for and belief in an inter-
nal revenue tax-on drinks, smokes,
I chews, etc. Then there is the right
eous, fair, equal income x-b Of
all taxes-that is ignored by McKin-
ley and yet it would produce enough
by itself to meet the deficiency in rev.
enue. The American shows it's usual
discrimination and penetration and
breadth of view in saying:
$50 it is that the time has come
when the protective schedules of tar
ifs have lost for us their ~poignancy as
revenue schedules. We must get our
revenues out Of other schedules and
from other sources. Despite the de-
cisiOn of the supreme court, an income
tax Will yet come to be the great re-
lance of the national government"
There would be no need of an in
crease in internal tax 5 if a we'll con-
structed income tax was levied. But
plutocracy fights it, says, it shall not
DO, ona tho republicans Uuey the crack
serving money-Obeying supreme court
decides against it. Mckinley is start
ing on a road he will be sure to find
very hard to travel. That he NAV
greatly help to bring the a~nxiously de-
served promised prosperity is the sim
cere wish of all; that it will come is
more than doubtful.