The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-11
DEMAND FOR TARIFF REVISION.
Farmers Would Like to Buy Materials
 Cheaner Than They llo III present

Farmers Would Like tO Buy Materials
 Cheaper Than They bO au Present. Everett F. Wheeler in New York Times
 When Senator Foraker asked tarifr refermers for a bill of particulars of their demand. he asked whether the farmers, the sugar growers. and the mill owners had been consulted about a revision of the tariff It IS a pleas ure to inform the Senator that the National Association sr Manutacturers at Its twelfth convention adopted the following resolution:
 Resolved. That the National Asso- citation of Manufacturers declares it. self in favor of a revision or the tariff at the earliest practicable date"
 The members of that Association by correspondence expressed temselves> in favor of tariff revision by a vote of L. 51O to 102.
 Their report declares that now Is the time for revision, while the coun- try is so prosperous that adjustment may easily be made to new conditions" |"
 So far as the farmers are concerned. let the Senator make a trip among his compliments. and ask them If they would like to buy lumber cheaper than they can buy 1t now. Try them on sugar, or farm machinery, or wagons, or clothing, or any other article that the farmer needs.
 oO 4oA oo bAlC SuS SIOWCES are con- cerned, no doubt they would like the continuance of the present 75 per cent duty. But how con this De justified be- fore the people at large? How can you pretend that it is right to double the price of sugar in order to enable a few sugar growers to make large prof. its on their industry2 And if any of these growers answer that their profits are not large, we reply then that they had better give up the business. It never can be right to impose a tax on an article of universal necessity in or der to increase the profits of a few.
 The entire amount of Sugar produced in this country in ]" was 5S2.4l4 tons The refined product of Sugar imported was 2,2S1,59 tons. The amount of su- gar, therefore, consumed in the Unit ed States made from the. domestic pro- duct, cane. beet, and maple, was only one-tifth of the whole. And the cost of production of the American article was on the average only 46 l-2 per cent of the total value of the product. When the Senator considers these facts, sure- ly he will not leave the framing of a sugar tariff to the small number. of sugar growers In any revision 1t is certain that those who have special bonuses from the existing system will howl.
 remember we'll that Powers and Weightman insisted as strongly as any sugar grower can. that they could never manufacture .quinine If that article were put on the free list. Nevertheless 1t was put on the free list. The retail price for bottle containing 100 two- grain pills went gradually down from SAYS to what 1t is now, apout 30 cents. The amount of the article manufactured in this country went on steadily in- creasing. The wages or the workmen increased. The great druggists found. as everybody else will ma, that cheap ening the price of an article increases the demand, that the demand increases the supply, and that this increases the demand for labor as we'll.
 In short. we tariff rerormers stand on the solid basis that 1t is in the long run in the interest of the public omaintain fair play; that special priv ileges, whether by tarifr or otherwise, to particular individuals or associa- tend to produce discontent and fnjus- tice There was a Senator from Ohio in 1868, John sherman, who under stood this great principle. We com mend his statement to his successor:
 Every obstruction to commerce is a tax upon consumption. Every fa- cility to a free exchange cheapens com modities. increases trade and product ion, and promotes civilization. Moth ing is worse than sectionaltsm within a Nation. and nothing Is better for the peace of nations than unrestricted freedom of commerce and intercourse with each other"