Monroe City Democrat., 1908-07-16
THE TARIFF.


government. l have never been able TO
conceive of any just theory upon Whlch
taxation could be levied except 10 pro-
duce a revenue to support the govern
ment 1t is automatic to say that
! there should be equality in the burdens
of taxation. The tariff, under our law,
is a tax laid upon imports from 1orelsh
countries into the United states lOr con-
SUMPTION here. The tax is paid by the
importer in the first instance, ana is then
added as an item making up tne total
cost of the article a1ected' IN ihe emu
the purchaser who buys the article Tor
cOnsiImption pays the tax. In other
words, the tariff is merely indirect tax
alton l have said that the controLlnS
Drinciple of just taxation should be 10
raise a needed revenue for public pur-
poses, and so levied as TO cast Ihe puI-
den with the greatest possible equaIlty
upon all. If incidentally the TAX pI9
trcts domestic production against OUTSIDE
cOmnetition as of course it always does
to the extent of the tax, 1t Is an the
better But we have long since departed
from these fundamental rules o! Ie5IIl
mate and lust taxation. The policy now
long in vogue has been to impose tariL u
duties not so much to raise revenue dS
to close the door agalilSIt agIta, ioie aS7d ~ give
titiOn in American markets, anu 70 81 S,,,
tn American producers monopoly III sup
DIying home consumption. Ihls PoHLGiS
has been carried to an extreme IN i,,7aad tl,jS
country To such an extreme, lnueeu'
hos II been carried, and so long con-
Timed. that it has become an lhtoleLd-
bIe abuse fostering great business coIlio III
hina tionS which merclleSSly pluhuett, nIdG tT
DeonIe. The tariff, more than anything
else has made possible the oEsaiiH<' M -
of those great industrial trusts SO ulLh. M
versally condemned, Whlcn, onIIIr,eti-
tariff, not only escape foreign coInpeIi- PEI
tion. but are able to crush domestlc c9ia, CYL
petition also. These giant 1..I IIloItI tbs
| are to a large extent the outgroWIn, tiie i
1r0peny, of our tariff Eystem- II Is
q matter of common knowledge that tne
WeaIth of the country is largely CEN
tered in a few hands. l 90 EoL CoiIeet1J CInaesaJ
that all the fabulous fortunes aI,r S1rpohi6itoTy phi6itTy
tariff but | do contend that pTdcIlcaily
all the great industrial nolloR1iieGi ISqa i,eT,it
and flourish because OF II. me ~ en-
abIe tendency of this system Is "
COURAGE the concentration OF lnuuSuIial
effort and hence the concentratlon .i. saso
of the nations wealth More IMAM @ tLis,S'
II enables the producer to levy @ @unCoLI
e[c;onobIe eXtortion upon the consumer.
II is a known fact, not denied, that lne
general run of American man nutI;os
are sold cheaper IN a lore torei6FF 6F food prod-
nets. clothing, industrial lmpleniSiLiIa,
steel rails and substantially everytnLid5s
else The Chicago Journal, WIN ASST I1
uous care and great LABOR, rt;aIeIy reGehIIy me-
cnTed nrices on many staple articles pre-
yaiIing on the same day, both at hoIIe nt
and abroad. The figures disclosed Ii,ae sIe
meat products from 9ma9af 9i1Gtl fron3 HS Pits.
hurg. watches from New Englano, mar @hdl-
t,esters from the middle west. shoes from
ST Louis and Boston, ana nun nuIne1ouo .111,.o
other products from many states were
found TO have a market price IN !orelSnI
Communities far below the Price a. a.
Trhich they were sold at home. Recenty
Mr.. George Spencer of TreadWeu brotn.
- a large shoe distributing house IN
london. stated that he had seen the
Identical American shoe Whlch was ps5iS e ~
sold in London at SSSI marketeu az o.ero go
in New York stores. With ready acuILlS,I
he observed that if there was proLit
on the price in London, then the pToIlL
i'm America is so enormous thaI II SSLNSt9
TO explain why millionaires are as plIS5ntL- pI5
fI,I in America as blackberrieS IN Eng
land. Illustrations showing like dlScTlLh-
jn1tions in numerous articles could pe
multiplied, but mere auultloiIsS es, esioo ~
serve no intelligent purpose. SuIIIGee jfSe II
fo saw in general terms, that the dllLet,
ence in prices between the nome anu ~
foreign markets ranges from aDouL ~, -
TO 30 per cent in favor or the latter- IN Lue
advocates of the present tariff, Wm!e
admitting the cheaper price apIpa" L. 10
American products, put forth tns PaT,t PlTd
that the things sold ABROAD iepIeseIhe IN
only a surplus of productioh apoNe w
Daeds of our own market. In other
words the contention is that our manu-
facturers oveTproduce, and then are
obliged to unload their surplus PIoufHotts' Prfcts
even if at a loss, in foreign Hharkels.
To nv mind that argument is worse than
pueriie. 1t implies that the policy OF our
manufacturers is to produce 1or Ihe
home market only, ana HOT lOI SAPoA -
If that be true, then they overproduce
TO the extent of many hundred millions
every year. which they are forced 10
send abroad because presumably IL Wouiu
go to waste if kept at home. That IS an
absurdity I do not believe 1t. IL IL
were true that our manufacturers, VINO
are trained, disciplined and alert bust
ness men, produced only Tor the nome
market, and not primarily for foreign
markets, they would not annually pro
duce surplus so enormous. There ISM
a manufacturer in the United States
who cannot approximately anticipate the
domestic demand upon him. If he cares
only for the home market 1t is an ab-
surdity to say that he would year after
year go far beyond its probable demand
and continue to produce, knowing that
he would be obliged to export the over
plus for sale at a loss. 1t is positively
absurd. No, he manufactures for the
foreign market as he does for the home
market, and he ships abroad because he
is attracted by the profit he obtains. He
sells cheaper in the foreign market only
because competition compels hlm TO-
nevertheless the profit is sufficiently at
tractive for him to seek it. 1t is only
on the tarif-ridden American that mo-
nopoly fattens. The bulk of our import
ant industries have fallen into the handS
of combinations. These combinations,
under the operation of the tariff, have a
monopoly of the domestic markets and
are enabled to charge American con
sumers higher prices than they can OBJ
tain abroad in the face OF competition;
hence they have two scales of priceS-a
high one for the home market, ana a
lower one for the foreign market My
fellOw-citizenS, l do not believe this to be
a healthy economic and Industrial con-
dition, to say nothing of its honesty 1t
is amazing TO me that the great con-
suming population of the states would
submit for a day to its continuance.
Not only are consumers interested IN
this question, but manufacturers also,
who still survive the trusts and who
are not yet affiliated with them. There
are many patriotic. enterprisins men
engaged in manufacturing who seek
better opportunities to expand their
business and exploit the commerce OF
other countries There are materials
produced abroad which they need IN the
conduct of their business, ana the en-
ormous tariff laid upon their importa-
tions handicapS them with unnecessary
burdens and hardships. 1t clips their
wings and holds them in restraint. These
men also look with apprehension upon
the growing hostility, more and more
manifest in foreign countries, toward
American productions, because of the eX-
clUsion of foreign merchants and manu-
facturers from our markets. They want
to enlarge, not restrict, our trade rela-
tionS with the world These men cIamor
for genuine revision of the tariff. And
the time has come when the American
people should demand that the schedules
Of the existing law be revised; and de-
mand, too, that it be done without pro-
craStinatiOn, not in the interest of trusts
and monopOlies, but solely in the public
interest. Monopolstic trust-made goods
| should be made to face the competition
| of the world.
| When, under republican auspices, can
| the country reasonably expect tariff
revision? And what kind? Since the
| close of the civil war the tariff
| schedules have been several times re-
vised, but nearly always on a rising
scale, going higher and higher. For
more than a generation we have been
under the operation of a high tariff
system, with almost constantly aug
menting rates of duty. The present law,
known as the Dingey act, has been in
| force for more than a decade. 1t is the
most excessive tariff law the country
has ever known. Its rates of duty are
so eXorbitant as to make them for the
most part practically prohibtory- The
advocates of this system, putting aside