Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-11-07

cotton potatoes, and fresh fruits
alone OF all agricultural products re-
main free of duty, and. according ~
the average imports of the ten chief
articles of food in 1900. the eonsum-
ers will have to pay additional duties
10 the amount 100000 year be-
cause of the new tariff. This menas
an enormous increase of prices>
which the opponents Of the bill claim
would set Germany back twenty-five
years, drive the laboring classes to
their old diet of black bread and po--
atoes. diminish their productive
strength and intelligence and destroy
| their happiness.
1t OF course cannot be disputed
hat the value of home-raising bread
stuTs and provisions will be regu
lated by the price of imported arti-
cles which will be controlled in Lon
don. and the German consumer must
add to the London Quotations the
amount of the duty. so that there Will
be an advance on every form OF food.
VARYING according to the calculations
of the free traders from 80 to 10Sper
cent For example, the duty on
wheat is advanced from So cents w
l$154 er 100 kilograms, which 1t rs
claimed. will make white bread too
expensive ior the working classeS
There has been a gradual increase in
the cost of the necessaries of life for
several years
At the same time there has been
| an increased consumption of all kinds
OF food. which followed the increase
l nt
| animal food is especially noteworthy,
and the returns from the abattoirs
and the custom-houses show that it
| has been not less than Is per cent
during the last ten years, The con
sumption of sugar, which was only
| nine Kilograms per capita in 1890,
| was 1913 Kilograms in 1900. In 1889
4 the average citizen refreshed himself
| with 1913 quarts of beer. In 1900 he
had increased his allowance to 1874
| quarts. The same advance is seen
in every form OF food.
| The duties upon manufacturers
merchandise are not increased in
the same ratio as those upon agri-
| cultural products by the new bill.
| Hence the representatives of me-
| chanical industries are much dissat-
isfed and threaten to make trouble
in the reiehstag unless the schedules
in which they are interested are re
| vised and the duties advanced. They
argue that to tax food means to in
crease the cost of living, and must
necessarily be followed by an ad-
vance in wages ana the cost of pro
duction, which will make it impossi-
BILE for them to compete with Eng
land and the United States. even
with the protection afforded by the
proposed law. Hence the new du
ties will do no good for them, and the
whole scheme might as well be
abandoned.
The farmers retort that a further
Increase of duties upon manufactured
goods will increase the cost of living
just as much as the increase on food
products. People will get more for
what they make, and must pay more
for what they buy for. unlike Nor
way and Sweden. where each farmer
supplies nearly all his own wants
the German agricultural classes de-
pend largely upon the dry goods man.
the grocer and the general store.
| Hence the two great interests in
volved in the bill are already antag-
onized, while people whose business
is not protected see nothing but high
er prices and hard times ahead for
them. Very naturally the general
consumer, who represents a larger
class than either the manufacturer
or the farmer, is disinclined to pay
Tor his food, clothing and household
necessities, and complains that the
bill increases the income of his
neighbors at his eXense. The labor
er sees no improvement for himself,
and is constantly bewildered by the
arguments that are being advanced.
He is told that he will be compelled
to pay more for everything, and al
though he has been promised an in
crease of wages he does not want to
take any chances.
The general effect of the discussion
is already being felt to the disadvan-
tage OF both the capitalists and the
papers devoted to the interest OF the
industrial classes have been making
a canvass with discouraging results.
The remarkable development of in
dustry which has been so pronounced
for some years past seems to have
reached a climax" it says, "and end
ing the determination of the tariff
many establishments are already rec
ducing their output, which means
that their operatives must be dis
missed. In several districts the
worldngmen are already beginning to
move away; houses are advertised
for rent, and merchants OF whom
laborers are in the habit OF buying
are in tight circumstances. General
distress among the textile workers is
everywhere apparent.