The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-01-10
SAMPLES OF TARIFF TAX RoBBER-
les.

was announced that the present tax
on sugar was 2 cents OIL the pound, and
the consumer must paw it. That is TO
say. every purchaser that uses sugar
CT that desires to have hat strict nee
cessary of living. mus pay 2 cents tax
on every pound used. That is the tax
the present evil disposed government
levies upon every sugar consumer Tor
the benefit of the human cormorants
who devour the substance Of the people.
That is a great iniquity n oppression,
without any sort of justification or pal
Iiation 1t is plainly, simply robbery
as a republican supreme court OF the
United States long ago decided 1t to be.
A few days ago The Messenger gave
a glance at the tax on certain British
goods. One kind of cloth that cost 4S
cents per yard at the Bedford (English)
factory had t. pay a tax to the United
States OF 142 per cent. The importer
had to pay S1.25 per yard. after all ex-
lenses were met. and by the time the
cloth reached the American consumer,
he must pay not less tina $1.15 per
yard. for it must go into the wholesale
Dealers hands and then into the retail
er's. BY the time it reached the con-
sumner in any part of the United States
the price must be quite S1.75-for Brit
ish goods worth but As cents at the fac
tory. That is but one of a thousand
means and examples of the way the
present republican tariff gets in its
work of robbery"
Another cloth (merino) was worth
SO cents at Bradford factory. 1t must
pay tax amounting to 129 per cent, cost
to importers $1.35. and to the consumer
probably quite $1.S5 or more.
Goods cotton mixed must pay n tax
OF 81 cents on 40 cents worth of cloth.
Tax 16O per cent. Importers cost s1.04
consumer would pay all of s1.4O for 40
cents goods.
Woollens Chalf cotton or more) pre-
paIed in such a way as to deceive
every one who is not an expert judge"
says our most competent authority. Mr..
Jacob Scholenhof, in the New York
Forum. that costs 20 cents in England.
pay SO cents a pound tax. and 40 per
cent advaIorem-in all 53.45 cents-a
duty of 223 per cent. The importer
must sell at not less han So cents to
make a moderate profit. BY the time
the jobber and retailer get their profits
h poor consumer must pay not less
than s1.25 or $1.35 on goods costing in
England but "a cents. as we gather
from our authority. Robbing of a very
determined and fixed character you see.
He writes:
"Moireens are made OF the wool of the
black-faceed Highland sheep. The
WOOL costs now AID a pound, and it is
of very low shrinkage. Costing under
II cents a pound. n being classed with
carpet woods, this wool Jays 4 cents a
pound duty. The goods made of it,
however, pay duty at the 3 x II cent
rate. plus 40 cen ad. valorem; equall-
ing 1924 per cent. on the value of the
goods. which is cd the yard"
That is Il cents the yard tax. An
other goods is 44-inches black Orleans.
for ladies' dresses. Cost in England
1914 cents a yard. Tax of course high
sold here at 62k GEMS or four times
higher han the price of English man.
ufactures. So with Italian cloths, serges
etc. Foreign prices Of a popular quality
u cents a yard-tax Is cents. Cost i'm
porters 80 cents a yard. d his profit
and the robbers and retailers and it
would cost the not less than
60 cents a yard which is about five
times the cost in England. And that
IS one of the many instances in which
the wicked, unconstitutional, robber re-
publican tax Expresses and plucks the
American buyers. and all to enrich the
sordid, grinding manufacturers. These
taxes levied are so monstrous. so unjust
they are unworthy of any half civilized
country in its most barbaric age. Mr..
S~cholenhof makes this omment:
1T is needless to say thai importa-
tons Of such goods are almost impoS-
sible. The duty is practically prohibi-
tive. 1t might as we'll be 1850 per cent.
as the present 1SS per cent. The bene-
fits OF the impost are reaped by n
manufacturing concern. This company
is at present unable to meet the de-
mand. 1t sells its goods at &c cents 4
yard, a formidable reduction from the
importing price. and has declared divi-
dends OF 100 per cent. We must admire
Its moderation in view of the amount
1t could collect if it were willing to
charge as much as the tariff invites it
to charge 1t is right. perhaps. in tax
ing the advice of the Greek philosopher
Thales, who said that moderation In
all things is good"
The cause of the long suffering and
Inexampled forebearance of the people
is stolid ignorance. There are being
most outrageously robbed and they do
no. know it. If they understood the
enormity of the robberies perpetrated
upon them they would rise up and
throttle the monster at every hazard.
There is no semblance of justification
for this oppression, this wholesale rob-
berry carried on from year to year while
the men who grind in the mills of the
Philistines are blind and ignorant. The
fact. known to all fairly Informed men.
that the American manufacturers need
no government aid. are not infants"
but grown monsters. and can make
goods cheaper than they are made in
foreign countries and enter those coun-
tries and undersell at the very doors
Of the local manufacturers. is proof
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