Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1904-09-19
THE DInCLEY PROTECTIVE
TARIFF AND ITS INJUSTICE

The word tariff Is derived from
tarifa. a tribute which was demanded
of the commerce Of the world by the
Barharv States in consideration Of inn
munity from their piratical depreda-
tions The young Republic of the
United States of America took the
lead in getting rid Of this highway
robbery The origin Of the name Is
very suggestive of the existing condi-
ti0ns under the so called ''Dingley
Protective Tariff. " viii the people
put a stop to these exactions as did
their ancestors those OF the Barbary
StatesY In both cases the people are
the sufferers. In the one case these
robbers were the benefciaries; in the
other the government and the manu-
faeturers. In business point of view
il makes no difference to tile victims
who does the stealing. Let us look
at one or two of the provisions of this
Dingley law
Coffee is placed on the free list, but
il makes you pay on the sugar with
which il is sweetened, and on the
candy You give your children. Tea
is marked in big letters free, but I'M
der the head of customs duties is this
tea imported from foreign countries
10 cents a pound - The poor man S tea
costing 30 cents a pound, pays exactly
the same as does that of the million
aire costing dollar and a-half or two
dollars a pound. This kind of dis
elimination runs through the whole
bill Take the wooden schedule.
Blankets are charged % cents pound
and 80 per cent adj valorem so that a
pair weighing 9 pounds costs in Can
ada or England So, costs us So. SO. On
wooden ready clothing the duty is
Go per cent and A cents pound A suit
of clothes then that costs SO in Lon
don or Halifax, will cost us $l2.24.
The tariff ON manufactured iron is 40
per cent. and the farmer or mechanic
at home has to pay nearly double for
his farming implements and his tools,
as do his neighbors across the Rio
Grande or the st. Lawrence. A
builder in Japan can get a keg OF
nails sent from and made in this
country 81 90 cheaper than can the
builder in one of our cities. But.
snys the protectionist, 1.-THE foreign
manufacturer and the importer pay
these duties True they do at the
Custom House. but it is gotten back
from the consumer. 1t is added to
the cost of the article. Can this be
denied? But the imported articles
bear very small proportion to the
consumed in the whole coun-
try, and here is the beauty of protec-
tion. Ii enables the manufacturer
to sell his products at a price at home
plus the amount of the duty and any
surplus he has he can send abroad
aud get rid of at the lower rates pre-
vailing there. Now who is protected?
The manufactures of course.
But, SAYS our protection friend and
advocate, this protection enables the
manufacturer to employ labor and
give il higher wages and thus pro-
tects ours from competition with for
eign pauper labor. Now is this true?
Does not the manufacturer get his
labor at the very lowest rates pos
sible, and has not labor to fight for
its rights as for its very existence?
Beside, how small part OF factory
work is manual labor Machinery does
the large bulk of il so that it is the
manufacturer machinery that is
protected and not manual labor? But
even admit what they say is trne.
which we have proved il is not. is il
right, is it honest, is il just 10 ths
consumer? Ii is "robbing Peter to
paw Paul We say that the tariff
does not add one cent TO the wages of
the lahorer, but it adds fearfully TO
the cost what he has to buy. This
state of affairs is getting 10 he intol-
cradle. All around are heard the
mutterings of the coming storm. The
Republican party says it is the one
70 correct any Irregularities or in
capabilities that exist, but the moment
one of its members suggests a change,
he is set down on and driven into
obscurity. The Iowa idea was thus
efrectually squelched. More than
80. coo Republicans in Massachusetts,
have pledged themselves TO vote for
no man for Congress or the Legisla.
ture who will not pledge himself to
vote for reciprocity with Canada
Now won't reciprocity with Canada
knock out the very foundation stones
of protection? Is any one so simple
as TO suppose the Republican party
will ever agree TO reciprooity;?
Dissatisfied Republican friends. you
must look somewhere else for relief
other than to the Republican party.
A reciprocity protectionist is as great
a contradiction and anomaly as would
be good sinner. a generous miser,
a protection Democrat or an imperial
Republican mot Republican for there
are thousands of them; in fact mod
ern Republicanism and Imperialism
ara almost SxnpnvnoY,S IL r,nSt