Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-01-03
THE TARIFF LIE.
How It Continually "Bobs Up Serene
ly" to Serve Party Objects.

ly" to Serve Party Objects.
1t was Judge McFadden who, in the
Territorial days, was authority on al
most all objects. and who sarcastically
declared that lin politics, n lie wei
stuck to. was good as the truth" 1t
would seem, however. that present OBJ
servation justifies the belief that the
same comment may apply without any
necessity of an ironical Interpretation.
Witness: in his message to Congress,
referring to the tariff the President
says:
mum a tariff which will not only allow
for the collection of an ample revenue
but which will at least make good the
difference in cost of production here
and abroad: that is, the difference in
the labor cost here and abroad, for the
well-being of the wage-worker must
ever be a cardinal point of American
policy"
The tariff (dont forget it, is. and
must continue to be a cardinal Repub.
lican point for the protection of the
wages of the American laborer by
shutting out the productions" Of the
foreign laborer.
In 1896 this minimum" tariff was
needed to help our infant industries
(like the manufacture of tin from
which full dinner pals were made) !;
but now the American laborer. whose
dinner pail is full of Republican blow
holes, needs protection. Not from the
foreign laborer personally as COM
petitor here for the American laborer's
Job, of course. but from the products
of the foreigners toll in their native
lands
Since 1898 there has been coming in
to the competitive labor field Of Amer
lea, on the Atlantic seaboard. more
than a million foreign laborers each
year, while on the Pacific coast the
American laborer is kept busy begging
q Republican President and Republican
Congress to protect them from the in
coming of hordes of Oriental laborers.
Thousands of these emigrants are
equal beneficiaries of the tariff prOtec-
ton given to American laborers until
an inflated prosperity bubble bursts.
then they are off to their native lands
(savings and alD to furnish cheap
products of foreign labor to fill the
gaps made in American domestic COM
merce by the idleness Of protected
American labor.
In 1894. in the midst Of a great in
dustrial depression and under the Nc
Kinley tariff law. more than 100000
protected American laborers virtually
begged for bread. That condition be-
gan in 1890 when the Mckinley law
was enacted, and was at it's height
when President Benjamin Harrison re-
tired from Office in 1903.
Under the regime of Republican
Tariff-Protected Trusts how many tar
Unprotected American laborers are fac
ing the same conditions today-even
in these Republican times Of greatest
prosperity the world ever knew?
With the exception of eight years the
Republican party has controlled gov
ernment AFFAIRS since 1861. 1t has d.
rectly encouraged every growth within
its governing power except trades or
labor-unionism; and it has become a
Republican cardinal principle that in
times of prosperity the wages Of labor
shall be the last to raise and least in
amount, and in time of adversely that
the wages of the working man shall
be the first to be lowered and lowered
furtherest.
Let the laboring man, whether he be
farmer. artisan, or common laborer,
contrast the Presidents idea for his
protection through the tariff with the
Presidents practices for protection of
trusts through results from the tariff.
which compels every American laborer
to contribute to creating and maintain.
ing trusts which dictate prices for
labor and the laborer's products.
In the above quotation from his mes
sage the President says: There must
always be q minimum tariff which will
not only allow for the collection Of an
ample revenue. ETC."
In that declaration the President
adopts the Democratic tariff idea In it's
entirety, but the practical effects Of
the Republican tariff under his admin.
istration have been entirely different,
in every way. from his above declara.
tion. In the first place the present and
all past Republican tariffs are and have
been maximum" tariffs. In all In
stances even to the last, Of only few
weeks ago, the revenue from the tariff
derived chiefly from the earnings Of
protected labor, 60 to the further pro
lection of the trusts in time of trouble.
On November Is, 1907. there was in
the United States Treasury $950.000.-
600 In gold, every dollar of which was
collected into the treasury from the
tariff duty paid by American laborers.
Between the above date and the writ
ing Of the Presidents tariff sentiment
the United States Treasurer. with the
consent of the President. loaned to the
trusts. without one cent of interest,
$240, ,O00. 900 Of that tariff-gotten gold.
How is that action or a continued
high tariff to recompense the laborer
who has produce or labor to sell who
faces idleness and declining prices for
both labor and produce? How is 1t
going to reimburse the merchant whose