Bisbee daily review., 1905-05-28
FACES AND THE TARIFF
Wcrkers Earnings Not h.
 creased by Protection.
STAND PAT POSITION ILLOGICAL.
Nonsensical and Insulting Theory of Vested Rights-Favored Inter- ssts Profit at the Expense of ths Consumer.


 Draper delivered to the Massachusetts rlub few evenings since indicated the curious manner in which the sOphis- tries of extreme protection become so much part of the mental makeup of an intelligent man as to make it i'm possible for him to realize the incOn- sistencies Of his own line of $rgument, says the Boston Herald. To General Draper the tariff as it stands is q species of fetch, to be cherished and wOrshiped. but not touched. because be has reason to assume that any i'm mediate move in the direction of re- vision would mean a reduction of some of the present rates of duty.
 Another phase of this mental obses- sion is the opinion which General Ora per holds that the burden of proof is thrown upon those who complain that the existing customs tariff rates are unnecessarily high to show in mani fest. unmistakable manner that this is the case, while until this is done the benefciaries of the system should be allowed to enjoy their perquisites and privileges undlsturbed. If General Dra- per had. as an act of personal generosi- ty. given to 4 dependent nephew of his each year a certain sum of money as a gratuity while he was getting his edu- cation and establishing himself in busi- ness he would consider it offensive in gratitude on the part of the latter if, after years of payment, he insisted that the bounty should be continued until General Draper could prove in an rnmistakable manner that he (the nephew) no longer needed this assist ance. In his personal practice one may be sure that General Draper would make short work of such a nonsensical and insulting theory of vested rights. but when the argument is turned and be and those whom he represents be- eome-through action which to a large degree they themselves have imposed Gpon government-privilege bounty drawers from the pockets of the Amer lean people it appears difficult for them to realize that proof should always be given that these favors are needed.
 Of course those who desire tariff re- vision and those who are believers in free trade may be said to be actuated by personal motives-by the desire for gain in the cause they are advocating but the man who makes the plea that the taxes that he is paying for the spe- eial benefit of some of his neighbors gre grossly high or should be entirely taken of occupies q distinctly different ground from the man who insists that he should be accorded through an in- definite future the right to take and use for his own benefit and enjoyment a l part of the money earned by the hard l work of his neighbors. This. is where | ln broad principles the position taken | and the arguments built up by General | Draper are entirely illogical Equally so for other reasons are the | which he has made con l eerning the policy of the Republican 1 party respecting protection legislation. | General Draper has had altogether too much political experience not to know lhat the attitude of the Republican party in the matter of protection has been essentially an opportunist atti- Jude. It is only within the last two or three years that the stand pat attitude has even been so much as suggested. Over and over again, from one end of the country to the other. in every national election that we have had for the last twenty years, the argument has been made and reiterated that it must not be ieft to the Democrats to revise the tariff, for they would destroy it: that tariff revision should in ali cases be made by friends of protection and not by it's enemies. But now we have this last utterance by an apostle of the ex- tremist form of protection, that the Republican party should never revise the tarif-that is, in the sense of re- ducing rate-but should always leave this business to the Democrats, no matter what injustices. inequalities and injuries the tariff may be responsi- ble for
 These are q few comments on what may be termed the bases of General Draper's argument It would require more space than we can give to it to take up one by one his economic errors concerning the distribution of the re- sulfs of production as determined by tariff legislation. It is curious in these arguments what q tremendous interest in the walfare of labor is taken by strenuous. thoToughgoing protectionists when they wish to popularize an argu- ment. As matter of fact. the gross E1m of wages ill this country is not raised by so much as one penny as the results of the protective tariff. The distribution of these wages may to some extent be controlled thereby, and great deal is wrOngfnlly extracted from the wages that workingmen earn in the higher prices of commodities which protection permits to be charg cd. but the wage fund of the United States as q whole would not. we say, be a cent less than it now is if during inc last ten years there had been no duty imposed upon imported commod- itics.
 In fact tfntlcr such circumstances the