Woodruff County news., 1901-04-18
TAXING OURSELVES.
UnseIf Interest of the PrOtectionista in the Poor Foreigner Is Some
 thing Wonderful,

A most philanthropic policy is this O. ours-this taxing ourselves for the benefit of the foreigner. A time was once when the philanthropic charac- ter of this policy could not be dem- onstrated, but that time is long since past. Example after example can now be marshaled to prove our unselfsh interest in the poor foreigner who will consent to use our goods. To il- lustrate this, we will take the iron industry. We take this only because there is a movement on foot among the more liberal republicans to open it up to foreign competition because it is in trust. A well-known con. tractor of New York, Charles 1hullen by name, obtained a contract from the Russian government to furnish steel rails for portion of the great Trans-Siberian railroad. He sought prices from the Federal Steel com pany, which gave him $35 per ton, with freight charges to be added. This price, so far as MT. Thullen was concerned, was prohibitive. He went to the Carnegie Steel company, but could not get the price shaved. In despair he went to England and sub- let his contract to an English firm. That firm sent to the United States for prices and obtained the phenom- enal figures of $24 per ton delivered in Russia. The deal was closed and the rails sold by the English firm to MT. Thullen at $35 per ton delivered in Russia. Mir. Thullen was thus en- abled to go on with his contract after being compelled to pay British firm bonus of $11 per ton because he was so unfortunate as to be an American citizen.
 The question suggests itself to many ordinary minds, how can these steel companies sell to a foreigner steel rails $11 cheaper than to an American and deliver them in Russia to boot? There must be something rotten in the state of Denmark" when the home market is taxed to such an extent in order that the for eigner may buy at his own price. Or, is it philanthropy? We are, however, not alone in this work of relieving the foreigner. Germany, which has adopt ed the American idea of tariff, is en- gagged to a great extent in the same charitable business.
 Herr Krupp and Baron yon Stumm have, under the German tariff laws, a monopoly of the armor plate indus try. They hold up that government for $590 per ton, which is $100 more than the steel companies of the Unit ed States are able to get out of Uncle Samuel. And to make the hold-up more apparent it appears that Herr Krupp and Mir. Harry receive roy atty of $35.50 per ton on the Amer ican manufactured plate. This juicy monopoly allows the German armor plate trust to "compete in the mar kets of the world" Not Jones, in this case, but the German nation pays the freight. On account of this extortion the German reichstag pro- poses either to remove the tariff or construct government works, as the difference would amount to the enor- nous sum of S15,00O,000 in the con- struction of the proposed new navy Of the emplre.
 In the face of many such demon strations of the workings of tariff law that is out of date, the great majority of the republican states men" are dead against the Babcock bill to remove the tariff from iron and steel products. Wonderful, indeed, are the workings of the human mind. -oU. Paul Globe.