The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-22

Tore reaching the consumer the $780,
ooo charge became about 100000 to
be paid by the agricultural consumer.
The manufacturer who would pros
the shrewd management of his bust
ness AID another by still snrewder
manipulation in Washington.
we have no great .dimculty IN
shopping abroad for we could get a.
high prices as at home, We are 30
pie that to most of US there Is very
scant profit in foreign business.
when congress gave us forty-nve
per cent, we needing only twenty per
cent. they gave US a congressional
solidate. form one great trust and ad-
vance our prices Twenty-Five per cent.
being the difference between the
twenty per cent needed and the forty
hve per cent given
MT. Miles shows how the tarin
raises prices to those who, In manu-
featuring. have to buy other manu-
featured products. This expense is
transferred to the next purchaser. The
5obber charges a profit on the tarin
as well as on the cost OF the article,
and each person who handles the
product collects a profit, SO that. ac-
cording to Mr.. Miles. the first charge
Of $4,000 becomes 100000 by the
time 1t reaches the consumer. MI.
Miles In another article estimates the
total loss to the people at 100000
600 annually. The statement of Mr..
Miles also shows that the tariff law
is an invitation to consolidate, and
that having been given the tariff on
the theory that It is needed, the
manufacturers naturally assume that
it is intended that they shall take adj
vantage OF It, even II they have to
How will M TON exn1ain IN the
average man the benefits Of protec-
ton? He can easily convince a trust
that 1t profits by the tariff. but what
about the victim of the trust?
No Republican leader will now deny
that reductions ought to be made. but
who Is to make the reductions? The
only answer given by the Republicans
is that the tariff ought to be reformed
by its friends: that Is, that those who
made the last tariff law should be en-
trusted with the making of a new
tariff law. But suppose the people
adopt the Republican idea and en-
trust the making of the tariff law to
Republican congressman: what will
be the method Of procedure7 For
tunately for the voter, Mr.. Miles ex-
plains this also. In the April, 1908,
number Of American Industries, Mr..
Miles says: 1.-THE people instruct and
trust congress to grant just, equitable
and ample protection"
What Does 1t Mean?
Is not that just what the Republi-
can leaders claim to favor? They want
you to instruct and trust congress to
grant just. equitable and ample pro-
lection" And what does that mean :?
the ways and means committee"
And a Republican leader will tell you
that this is also proper. Then what?
Mr.. Miles says that "this committee
trusts such persons as Mr.. Dalzell."
and that "they-they trust the trusts"
The method Of procedure is simple.
It is a case of confidence. The voters
have confidence in Republican lead
ers; the leaders have confidence in a
Republican congress; a Republican
congress has confidence in the ways
and means committee; the ways and
means committee has confidence in
the men who represent the trusts and
the trusts write the tariff law and
thus secure to themselves the right to
levy tribute upon the public. So ac-
customed have Republican leaders be-
come to allowing the protected in
terests to write the tariff schedules
that so eminent and honorable a man
as Senator Hoar of Massachusetts,
said. in discussing the Mckinley bill,
then before the senate:
Instead of coming before your
subcommittee for a formal hearing on
our MdSSdcnuSeILS industries, i
thought the best way was to carefully
prepare a table of all the various In
dustries, perhaps some sixty or seventy
in all, and ask Brother Aldrich to go
over them with me and ascertain
what the people wanted in each case,
and II there were any cases where
the committee had not already done
exactly what the petitioners desired
or had not inf1exibly passed upon the
question, could have q hearing be-
fore you. but I find in every instance
the action of the committee, as Mr..
Aldrich thinks it likely to be, is en-
tirely satisfactory to the interests
represent, with the exception of one or
two. and the papers in regard to those
cases have handed to Mr.. Aldrich"
Mr.. Miles, whom I have before quo
ted, says in American Industries Of
April Of this year:
People asking a government repre-
sentative for relief on another schedule
were by that representative referred to
a New England manufacturer, the off,
cial agreeing to act in accordance with
the protected manufacturers wishes.
Said the manufacturer: I wrote that
schedule myself. I did not intend that
1t should be interpreted as severely as
1t has been. but having been SO inter-
preted. I will not consent to a modif-
cation Of it. And this mans will re-
mains the law
We would not expect a jury to do
Justice to the defendant If it was COM
posed entirely Of the relatives of the
plaintiff; neither can we expect q con-
gress to do Justice to the masses II 1t
Is composed Of men who are in sympa-
thy with, and obligated to, the corpor-
atoms which have for a generation
been enjoying special privileges.
There Is no prospect of relief from a
president and congress.
The Democratic party, If entrusted
with power, can and will reduce the
tariff.
The Democratic platform not only de-
mands a reduction Of the tariff, but 1t
plainly outlines the course to be pur-
sued in securing the reduction. It be-
gins by proposing that articles which
come into competition with articles
controlled by trust be placed on the
tree list. What better place to begin?
years ago Mr.. Havemeyer, the head
Of the sugar trust, said that the tariff
~ nd hal oh