The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1904-09-01
The Platform in Part Upon which L.
J. Williams is Making His Race for
Congress in the. Second Congressional
District of South Carolina.

consumer ten dollars per ton, or 30 per
cent more for railroad and other struc-
tural steel than they charge the Cana
dian or Mexican consumer for the same
product. The Democrats believe that the
American consumer should not be plum
dered by the Tariff to the extent OF ten
dollars per ton for the benefit of the
steel trust.
The Republicans believe or profess to
believe that it is right, through the op-
cratons of the beneticent Tariff, that the
American manufacturer charge the good
ladies of this country twenty-five dol
lars ($25) for a sewing machine that
they sell i'll England for thirteen dol
lars (SI3.oo) besides paying the freight.
The Democrats believe that our noble
women should not be robbed of the
extra twelve dollars ($I2.oo).
The Republican Tariff enables the
home manufacturer to charge the home
consumer one hundred dollars ($Ioo)
for the same typewriter that he sells in
England for fifty-hve dollars (S55 5.oo). .
| hold with the Democrats that the
home consumer has been robbed in
this transaction to the extent of forty
five dollars (45.oo). But it is useless to
enumerate further, as nearly every COM
modify manufactured in this country is
protected by the Tariff to the extent of
from 20 per cent to 200 per cent and
even more.
But since the Federal courts have de-
cided that the income tax or any
other direct form of taxation by the
Federal government is unconstitutional,
the Democratic party is compelled to
agree to Tariff for revenue only" in
order to raise funds to pay the legitimate
expenses of the government But herein
lies our danger The Tariff being All
indirect tax, the subtle, blasting influ
ences of which are so hard to be seen
by the average man, makes its operation
a standing nightmare and curse to all
honest producers and consumers
If it we're possible for every citizen TO
know Just how many dollars the govern
mcnt needed to pay its honest expenses;
and if protection could be given to
home industry exactly in accordance
with a just ratio as between all our
industrial pursuits with reference to for
eign competition, then there would be
small danger in the Tariff. But this is
manifestly impossible for the reason
that but few, if any of us could ever
determine the exact amount necessary
to run the government nor could we
ever determine the exact difference in
the domestic and foreign cost of pro-
duction of any given article. Now, this
very uncertainty is the bane of the
American people and is what makes the
trusts possible The lobby of paid at
torneys maintained by the Trusts in
Washington while Congress is in ses-
sion has become an international scan
dal.
If the actual difference in the cost of
production between the domestic and
foreign manufacturer should be ten or
twenty per cent, the home man should
be satisfied with that much Tariff or
Protection" but he is not. He wants
the Tariff wall built up to so or 100 per
cent or more so as to destroy all foreign
competition. Now, then, after the Tar
if is made so high that foreign manu-
facturers cannot send their goods here.
no Tariff duties are collected upon them,
hence the Tariff ceases to be a revenue
measure and becomes a measure of
Plnndcr. The government has then
ceased to perform its proper function,
ing up the hands of its subjects while
the trusts are going through their poe
ketS
When President Schwab of the Steel
Trust admitted under oath that the in-
port duty on his products enabled him
to make $I2oo per ton more than a
reasonable profit, it was also an admis-
sion thai his steel business was COM
plete monopoly or Trust, made possible
by tariff protection. He claimed that it
cost him $I2oo per ton to produce steel
rails and that he could compete with
the English producer at $1,000, leaving
$500 as net profit, which he said was
reasonable-bu he charges the home
consumer $I2oo more, making $500. or
a total net profit of $1,000 per ton.
The census reports show that the
property of the u. S. Steel Corporation
is worth $500, 100000 and under their
recent organization they have capital
lied the Steel Trust at ST. 500 900 900
which means that they have divided one
billion dollars of water among them
selves and call it stock.
In other words the trust manager.