The Democratic advocate., 1908-08-28
THE TARIFF IS A TAX
PAID BY The MANY FOR The BENEFIT
OF A few.
All Raw Material Should Be Ad-
mitfed Free

mitfed Free
[Speech of Hon. VIM Sulzer. of New York. House
k4Eg.le of Representatives May 25, 190s.]
All raw material essential to our
industries and manufaCt Cturers should
be admitted free, in order that this
country can compete successfully with
the manufacturers Of all the world.
| believe that all raw material i'm
ported into this country should come
/ in free. | know it will aid the manu-
facturer and benefit the wage-esrner
It follows like the night the day that
the more free raw material, the more
will be imported; the more that is
| imported, the more will be manufact-
ured; the more manufactured, the
more mills and the more factories the
more factories and mills, the more
men will be employed; the more men
employed, the more wages will be
paid; and the more wages paid the
happier the hearthside, the more pros
porous the wage-earner, and the more
contented the family. (Applause.)
! Mr.. Speaker, for years l have advo-
Gated more free raw material, and
have introduced several bills to ac-
complish it, but the Republicans have
never dared to act on them. One of
these bills introduced by me provides
that tariff taxes on wood pulp and
white print paper shall be taken off !;
another bill provides that the tariff
taxes on coal shall be taken off; an
other bill provides that the tariff taxes
on lumber shall be taken off, so that
the toilers and consumers of the coun-
try shall have free coal to keep the
hearthside warm in winter; SO that
they shall have free lumber to build
their homes, and the free coal to keep
them warm after they are built. That
is fair and just and that ought to be
the law.
1t Isl well-known fact that there are
now over 100 articles on the dutiable
list receiving immense protection from
the Dingley tariff schedules, and that
these articles manufactured in this
country are sold cheaper abroad than
at home. 1t is an injustice on the over
burdened taxpayers and consumers
of the country, and l am in favor of
an immediate revision of the Dingley
tariff law schedules in accordance with
the terms of my bill so that trust-made
goods in this country shall be sold
just as cheap here to our own people
as they are sold to purchasers in
other lands, and especially so when
we take into consideration the addi-
tional cost of transportation. This un-
just discrimination in favor of for
eigners against our own people is an
outrage, and when the people realize
it all l feel confident that they will
favor the enactment of a bill similar
to mine, SO that the protected manu-
facturers in this country shall sell
the necessaries of life to the people of
this country just as cheaply as they
sell them to the people in Europe and
in Asia and in Africa.
The Republican party never was
and never will be honest and sincere
with the people on this vital question
of tariff taxation. The people will be
fooled by the Republican leaders just
so long as they will let these so-called
leaders" fool them. (Applause On
| Democratic side.)
We know today beyond all conten-
ton, that the tariff is tax, and, be-
yond all dispute, that the consumers
pay the taxes. Ultimately all the bur-
dens of protective taxation fall upon
the consumers of the country. Pro-
lection for projections sake is a sys-
tenn of indirect taxation which robs
the many for the benefit of the few.
No party that stands for the best in
| terests of all the people can support
| it, especially where it fosters trusts,
shelters monopolies, and saddles the
great burdens of Government on the
| farmer, and the toiler, and the wage
Garner of the country. The Republi-
can in Congress tell us that at some
future time they may revise the tariff
schedules of the Dingley law, but they
do not tell us whether they will revise
the schedules up or down-whether
they will make the taxes more or less.
They may, if continued in power,
revise the tariff taxes at some future
time; but If they do, 1 am satisfied
they will make the taxes higher in
stead of lower and legislate for mo-
nopoly instead of man.
The Democratic party stands for a
fair, just, and equitable revenue sys-
tenn, tariff for revenue that will sup
port the Government, economically
administered, with equal justice to all
and favoritism to none, having jeal-
GUS care for our farmers and our
| toilers.
The Democratic party does not be-
lieve in free trade any more than it
believes in protection for the sake of
protection. Free trade is scare
crow-a bugaboo. Free trade at the
present time and for generations to
come is an absolute impossiblity
There is not civilized country in the
world today that is free-trade coun-
try. All the nations of the earth raise
most of their revenue from a tax on
imports. We must do the same; but
we do not believe in taxing the neces-
saries of life and exempting the lux
uries of life. On the contrary, those
articles the least needed by all the
people should pay the highest tax, and
those most needed by all the people
should pay the least tax. (Applause.)
Mr.. Speaker, the Republicans con-
tend, when we demand revision of
these unjust tariff determinations in
taxation, that it is all in the interest
of labor, that this exorbitant protec-
ton is for the benefit Of the wage
Garner, but every intelligent man in
the country knows the absurdity of the
proposition. Labor comes in free.
Labor receives no protection. Tariff
taxation has nothing to do with the
| wi Of lob ffoJ h,,xy lob