Weekly Jeffersonian., 1907-01-24

SnL1C u uO, dAu CdIIH Uu0S USSdu IO
climb with the Morrill, tariff of 1861,
which made discrimination in favor
of the north against the south of about
80 per cent. With the enactment Of
the infamous Mckinley bill began a
new era, an era of madness, of harsh
ness, of favoritism and class law which
ruins the victim of those special priv
iIeges granted under the law. In the
days of Calhoun, and Clay and Web
ster, there was no dream of such tar
ifs as we have today; there was no
dream of passing laws for the sole
purpose of allowing the trust to glut
it's monstrous appetite upon the unor-
ganized industries Of the country or
the organized masses of the people.
Consider for a moment some of the
monstrosities of our present tariff
system. Suppose you go to buy pair
of blankets. For convenience sake,
let us say the price of them is $3.50.
When you lay down the $4.60 and take
over to yourself the bundle in which
your blankets are wrapped how much
Of your money is represented by act
ual blanket and how much by tariff
tribute? Two dollars is the amount
of actual blanket you get. The other
$3.50 represents the amount of tri-
butte which you pay to the manufact-
urer to protect him from imaginary
competition from across the big water,
and the awful irony of the situation
is that this very foreigner across the
big water can buy these blankets from
the American manufactures at lower
price than the home consumer can get
them. The same mOnstrosities occur
all along the line, uD and down the
entire scale of more than three thou
sand articles which have their place
in the protected list Dress goods of a
certain grade are protected by a duty
of 157 per cent, dress goods of another
grade. 165 per cent, blankets Of GER
tain grade 125 Der cent. blankets of an
other grade 159 per cent, cloths, wOr-
sted and wollen 151 per cent; other
manufactures of wool 143 per cent;
fiannels for underwear 1870 per cent,
yarns 1873 per cent. shoddy. the neces-
sary material in the manufacture of
those cheaper goods which are de-
signed and intended for the use of the
poor people, $50 per cent.
To demonstrate the outrageous in
justice of such a system as this, con-
slider the Steel Trust. In 1904 it sold
abroad $32 100000 of it's product.
These goods were sold to South Amer
lean farmers, Central American form
ers and consumers in Europe. in Asia,
in Africa at lower prices than they
sold for at home. Anywhere from 20
per cent to 40 per cent lower than we
can Get the goods here at the door OF
the factory, your competitors in rails
inu cotton and wheat and other aori-
cultural products can secure them
abroad. Yet the officials of the Steel
Trust admit that they had clear prof
it of $4.000.000 upon the $32 900, 600
worth of goods which thev sold
abroad The Chicago Chronicle, the
mouthpiece of the system. saws that
the profit on the $32 900 900 worth of
goods sold abroad was 40 per cent. It
further says that the net profit on the
domestic trade is 80 per cent to the
Steel Trust No wonder the benef-
ciaries of class legislation have built
a plutocracy the like of which has
never been seen before in the history
of the world.
Now, my friends, am going to give
you a common sense talk. without any
effort at rhetoric as to what you
should do to be saved.
In the first place, you must oroan-
ze a strictly Farmers Union. Your
organization must represent your class
interest. Every other interest is or
ganiZed in just that way. Unless you
g ,Ns., -