Bisbee daily review., 1904-02-19
The Cost of Living Does Nos sc, Go Down With Wages.
HEAVY BURDEN OF TARIFF TAXE'

$ Five-sixths of Those Taxes Go to Fas-a ten the Trusts-should Come on ses Once-Rooseveit'sM Message silent osat the Subject-workers Must suG-pi Four Years Longer. I The Journal of the Knights of Laboz for November says: That most excellent, and carefully edited labor paper, thti National Labor Tribune of Pittsbure m it's last issue gives this pointer: '. Wages are expected to come dowI at the first of the year in all directiOns-i Many crafts, iron and steel workers not ably. have been reduced already. Jus tice requires that other things sh0uh come down in proportion. Let rent and taxes both be lowered if the working man is not to be ground between ths upper and the neither millstones."
 Apparently new idea has occurrest to these labor papers. If it can bs made to work. the wage earners witt not in future have to carry the heayier end of the burden of industrial Cepree- sions. They can unload on somebody ctSt, Just 0S lut IOn uo' loads on them. When the demand f0f goods falls off and the manufacturers profits begin to diminish the manufac- turer reduces his working force or re duces wages. or both. When the de- mand for labor slackens and labor's earnings grow less. why cannot irsa have his rent. taxes and other costs of living reduced accordingly? How D;ce it would be if he could pass this trou- ble along.
 But we fear that the workers will moi get relief in these directions. Laud- lords refuse to reduce rents much be- cause they know that there are just as many houses and so many people who have to live somewhere-that is, untD they starve or freeze. State, county and local taxes could not be reduced without reducing the salaries of the Os- ficeholders, and it is absurd to suppOs. that our political friends are going tn vote lower taxes and lower salaries to themselves
 The other kind of taxes are interna9 revenue and tariff taxes. The internaf revenue taxes are mostly on iquor.r and tobacco. It would hardly be adyis- able to reduce these much until ths> tariff duties on the necessities of Iife are greatly reduced. These tariff taxcs, which hut few people know anything: about really constitute more than two- thirds of all taxes paid by the averag,i family. The total taxes of the average, family are about Si2J a year, of whick] Si0 goes for state and local taxes. $ys for internal revenue and 800 for tarifst taxes Of the tariff taxes only about. S1J goes to tine government, the rel maining $I5 going to the tariff trusisi and other protected interests.
 There is no good reason why this S75l year of tariff taxes which goes to tbel protected trusts should not be takeDt off. even when times are good lnGi when wages are high. When wagcss are low and men are out of work eyerJs unnecessary burden shonld cer,ainlyi be lifted from labOr's weak back. This burden can be frightened only by act of congress. and, unfortunately for the. workingmen. they have elected tGs wrong set of men to congress. The stand patters" are now on deck ifs Washington. and they would see the. workingmen of this country sweat blood before they would think of offer ing relief that could be given only by stopping the graft of the trusts.
 So little do the Republicans at Wasis- ington care about the sufferings of the people because of high tariff taxes for the benefit of trusts that President Rnosay-nIt in hiS afra fO did not even mention the word tariff He last year joined the stand patters'' on the tariff. and the whole Republican outfit now says that the tariff should not be disturbed until after the next presidential election. Of course the real reason for this decision is that the protected manufacturers have paid for the privilege of tariff taxing the people and will not consent to let go of this privilege. The Republicans might ba willing to break faith with the trusts if they could next year look elsewhere than to these same trusts for a big campaign fund. The Republicans hay0 never revised the tariff downward and probably never will do so while grass grows.
 The outlook for workingmen is moi, rosy. There are two hard wintersts ahead. and the cost of living is about the highest ever known. thanks to thes trusts, which charge US all tte tariffI will allow, but sell their goods to fort eigners at very low prices. Possibly, the voters may find out by next yeaff how to reduce their taxes in the only, way worth considering. but it is i'm; probable that their burdens can be frightened before 1907. for a Republican senate stands between the people and lower tariff taxes. :,
 It looks as if the workincman would have to be ground between those mill stones four years longer. Sorry. but it Is their own fault :
 BYRON W. HOLT.