The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-10-23


capacity of steel producers. while the
other shareholders of the railways and
the general public pay the difference.
The tariff lends itself 10 this sort OF
grab game, and if the men who COM
mand large capital Go lot avail them
selves of their opportunity they are
not so shrewd as they are generally
supposed to be.
4 cherish no grudges against men
because they are rich, nor do I greatly
blame them for taking the profits which
unjust laws throw into their way, but
1 protest against the unjust laws.
protest against the men who make
them and who stand pat whenever
anybody proposes to repeal or modify
them.
Home Market Argument.
"The pauper labor argument for the
tariff has for the most part dropped
out of sight. Industries that compete
with foreign markets no longer have
the audacity to say that the difference
Of wages prevents them from COM
peting on equal terms in the American
market.
In place of the pauper labor and the
infant industry, argument and all the
other arguments heretofore noted, the
home market argument has been sub
stituted and is now relied on so far as
any arguments are used. This assumes
that without the tariff and. indeed,
without the SO per cent Dingley tariff.
we would have no home market for the
farmers products or for any other
products. This is a bOgy to frighten
children. So childish is it, in view Of
what Hamilton told us of the flourish
ing condition of large branches Of man
ufacturing industry more than a CEN
fury ago, and of all that has transpired
since, that no answer to it is required.
The bare statement of such an argu-
ment carries it's own refutation. What
happened under the low tariffs Of 1915
and 1857? Was there any lack of a
/ home market then? On the contrary,
J Senator Morrill, of Vermont, the father
of the Morrill, tariffs of the war period,
said in a public debate that the year
1860, which fell within this period, was
one of the most prosperous in our his
tory This is also the testimony Of
Professor Taussig in his tariff history
of the United States, not alone as to
the year 1860 but as to that period gem
orally. The same authority tells US that
our cotton spinning industry never
grew more rapidly or prospered more
than under the Walker tariff Of 1916
Have No Arguments.
THE truth is that the tariff bene-
| ficiaries and stand patters' have aban-
! doned arguments. They virtually say
| to US now that high protective tariff
! is good thing per Sc and ought 10
! last forever, and by this they mean the
| present Dingley tariff. So far have
/ the old arguments been abandoned that
/ IL is not necessary now for a particu-
! lar industry, in order to get protection,
4 to show that it cannot stand alone and
make fair profits on its own merits. A
! few years ago a large deposit Of borax
was found in California. The owners
1 OF it forthwith advertised that they
| could produce borax at such low rates
/ as to undersell the world, which was a
| fact. They went to Washington and
! expressly on the ground of their ability
to undersell foreigners, they got a duty
of cents per pound on borax. They
/ then began to sell borax in England at
rates far below what they charged to
! American purchasers, and are so doing
| now. But this is only one of multi
| tude Of like monopolies which Cypress
/ the public and by no means the first in
| point Of time which has obtained pro-
lection not because it needed protec-
| tion, but because it could command
votes.
answer Easily supplied.
We'll, what Of it?' our opponents
may ask. An answer is supplied by
! the tariff commission of 1883, whose
] words / have quoted. They said that
a reduction Of duties was due as a
measure of justice to consumers
"A duty which does not raise the
! price of the article to the consumer
fails of its object and is therefore need
less for purposes of protection. If it
/ does artificially raise the price then the
| consumer pays the difference, which,
as Hamilton said, is the same thing as
a bounty 10 the producer. These boun-
/ ties are piling up mountain high. They
are paid by the people. The benehciar-
/ les, having induced the government to
| shut out foreign competition, form
1 trusts and combinations to stife dones-
| tic competition. Not all the trusts and
/ combines are founded or the tariff, but
most of them are. Their continued ex-
1 istence and their mode of self-perpetu-
alton lead to the belief that the coun-
| try is no longer governed by principles
1 but by interests. The most effective
! remedy that can be applied to the com
/ binations or trusts which owe their ex-
| istence TO excessive tariff duties is to
/ reduce the tariff rates, while the rem
edy which can be effectively applied as
against the other combinations is 10
I enforce the law. This remedy pointed
! out in my response to the notification
I committee, and also in my letter Of ac-
| ceptance. That the remedy can be
\ made effective by an administration
disposed TO enforce the law cannot be
doubted by any student of that branch
/ of the law. II is not doubted by the
/ trusts, who have good lawyers TO ad-
wise them. And it is not questioned by
the trusts that d Democratic admins
tration will enforce the Law.
! 1T is true. as all know. that all ex-
cessive tariff rates have caused serious
| injury to the great body of the people.
1t has increased the cost of living and
added to the price of nearly everything
that the people must buy. This is
| known of all men and they cry out
against it. And their cry should be
| needed. But it has been so long a part
of the policy of the country that its
reformation must be prudently under
taken so as to prevent an immediate
| revolution in existing conditions.
The Democratic platform points out
| the true method when it demands q
revision and a gradual reduction of the
tariff by the friends of the masses and
| for the common veal and not by the
friends of its abuses, its eXtortions and
determinations
Mr.. Parker's Remedy.
Il pointed out in my response to the
| notification committee how a gradual
reduction Of the customs duties may be
accomplished without disturbing bust
ness conditions, and ] adhere to the
methods suggested. But the work
| should be undertaken at once in the