Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-10-16

I greater riches than any other country
on the globe. Our workingmen are the
most skilled, the most industrious, the
most efficient and, hence. the cheapest
Our natural resources are the great
est. Our infant industries have grown
tn bearded giants and now. like great
COllOssi, with the Workingnlen and the
consumer under their feet. they are
striding the world, and yet the Dingley
schedules now in force are the highest
and they cover \ greater number Of
articles than any other tariff in our
history. They cover some 1000 arti-
| cles at an average duty Of so per cent.
This is not at all because under the
/ protective theory such rates are nee
/ essay. Thousands who believe in the
( system assert that they are not. 1t is
/ because the protected industries, grown
strong at the expense of the consumer,
! have become so strong that they con-
troll the party Of protection. They
dictate its legislation and the policies
/ OF the government.
Tariff Is Monopolistio
I concede patriotic motives to many
of the statesmen who favored our
early tariff, but the basic principle Of the
Dingley tariff is monoplistic. 1t is sell
( hshness, and selfishness grows by
/ what it feeds on. AS the nation said
Of the enactment of the Dingley tariff.
it was q mere system of log rolling.
The argument was. you tickle mo
and I'll tickle YOU, and the protective
monopolies have been laughing in their
! sleeves ever since.
Our people were long deceived as to
the cry of the infant industries" for
more protection pat. When the cry
| became so lusty as to awaken suSpic-
ion as to it's origin, people were then
told that "the foreigner pays the
tax" And so easily are the people
lead by catchy phrases that great
national campaign was won on the
falacjOus cry that 'the foreigner pays
the tax
In the two last national campaigns
! the Democrats insisted that our man
ufacturers were not only able to meet
! foreign competition at home. but they
were actually selling their goods in
/ the foreign markets after transporting
them thousands of miles. cheaper than
they were selling them to our own
! people This was alphabetically de-
MED. But the fact has become so no.
itoriOus that 1t is no longer open to
denial and Congressman Dalzell and
| Payne. Republican floor leaders of the
/ house recently admitted that this fact
he true, but offered the fimsy pre-
tense of an excuse that it was done so
that the factories might be kept run
ming.
! Home Consumers the Losers
The admission and argument Illus
| trate the vice of the DingIey schedules
and Of the high protective system. BY
a tariff wah we shut out competition
and leave our home consumers at the
/ mercy of the home manufacturers and
| they, secure in that market unite ana
/ charge UP 20 the home consumer the
! limit of the tariff and in turn transport
/ their goods thousands of miles and
undersell the foreigner in the foreign
| market.
When we stop to think that prac-
/ tically every article of domestic con-
sumption is protected by a duty Of
| over so per cent, thus shutting out
/ foreign competition, and then remem-
| Der that every such article is made or
! controlled by a trust, we at once recog-
nize the cause Of the present situation.
We then understand how day by day
] prices have increased until the present
/ scale of prices is the highest ever
/ known in this country. We then un-
| deTstand the multiplication of trusts
/ and the enormous riches that have
! accumulated at the expense of the
| great body of the people Said Gov
/ Cummins in his speech before the Bos-
! ton Economic club, Time was when
1 the force of competition, strong and
/ effective throughout the whole bust
! ness of the country, reduced every
| ming offered for sale to a fair Ameri-
can price and during that time it made
| little difference how high the protective
! 1uties were. That time has gone by,
and you viii, l am sure, confirm me
| when 1 say that in many OF the most
+, In portant fields of manufacturing and
| among them the iron and steel indus
| tries. there is no substantial competl-
! ton and producers in these fields real
4 ize Just two limits-the ability Of the
4 buyer to buy and the point at which
/ foreign competition may enter. 1t
/ seems to me that we have gone mad
in our zeal for the seller and have
| abandoned the buyer TO the tender
mercies Of the combinations and the
/ trusts"
Republican Position on Tariff
The last Republican national plat
form declared: Protection which
guards and develops our industries IS
the cardinal principle Of the Repub-
lican tariff The measure of protection
should always at least equal the diff
ference in the cost OF production at
home and abroad" Thus, the stand
patters" seek now to hide behind the
4 workingnan ard ask the people now
to believe that the duties are main
tanned for the benefit Of the working
man and that the Dingley duties are
required because % the differences ia
wages.
II is now a demonstrated fact past
dispute. at least past contradiction.
that the American workin gTnan IS the
cheapest w0rkin gman IN the world. He
IS cheapest because he is best: ne is
cheapest because he has less holidays: