Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-13
TARIFF oUTRAGEs

Il MISSOURI rev months ago. III
- the people of the United States
knew as you know, Mr.. Speaker, and
as the other members know, how their
voice is suppressed here. the admins
tration now in power would be swept
out OF power. One of the principal
reasons for dispossessing Republicans
is in the utter hopelessness and unreal
sonableness of expecting a genuine re-
vision of the tariff when the Republic
cans are in control"
AS Garrett of Tennessee says: 1.-THE
country is beginning to know there
never was a dream so hopeless. there
never was a hope so baseless as that
there will be tariff revision under a
Republican administration"
To perpetuate the present system will
be to sanction and perpetuate system
of robbery. Protection does not pro-
tect. 1t plumbers. Innumerable in
stances of this could be given. Some
are especially noteworthy and excep-
tionally fragrant and outrageous
For 1900 miles along the northern
frontier of the United States railroad
was built out of American steel rails.
All the rails used in the construction
and maintenance of that road cost $27
per ton. Across the border in Canada
there is another railroad, parallel and
o-mpeting line. 1t was built out of
rails costing only $22 per ton. Must
be inferior" you say. Not at all. The
rails from which the Canadian road
is built and the rails from which the
American road is built are the same
kind of rails, made and bought in the
same factory in the United States.
The tariff favors the competing for
eigner. and robs the American railroad.
American manufacturers of agricul-
tural implements ship their products
to all sections of the world and sell
them from rs to so per cent cheaper
than the same goods are sold to the
American farmer who lives within
fifty miles of the factory. The tariff
protects the foreigner and robs the
American citizen.
Keene's "great protection sale'' is a
historic instance which should not be
forgotten. Charles A. Keene, a New
York jeweler, resolved to supply an
object lesson in the workings of the
robber tariff system. falsely called pro-
lection. He bought Waltham and Elgin
watches in England so cheaply that he
could afford to sell them probably in
New York for less than the regular
market rates. Eyes, but there must be
some mistake. Surely the tariff"
There is no mistake. Write to Mr..
Keene and he will be delighted to tell
you all about It. Mr.. Keene has dem
onstrated that American made goods
sent abroad can be brought back with
out paying any duty; that the watch
trust requires retail dealers to sign
an agreement not to sell in the United
States below the minimum price fixed
in the contract and that by buying
abroad the Waltham watch that had
been shipped there he could have it re-
turned to this country and sold profit
ably for 1888, while the minimum
price for which a watch that had
never been out OF America could be
obtained from a merchant dealing with
the trust was $26. Another style Wal
than watch, the minimum price of
which at home is $35. was purchased
abroad by Mr.. Keene and resold at
home FOR $25.3S, and the transaction
was profitable.
Another variety, the minimum price
a4 Oh, Ie
chased abroad by Mr.. Keene and resold
profitably at home for 1852. A watch
which is sold in its native land, the
United States, for $50, was purchased
brand new. not second hand, at retail
by Mr.. Keene in England for a figure
which enabled him olbring it back to
the United States and sell it here
profltably for $42.30.
Tariff does not protect the citizen of
the United States. 1t is a powerful
and cunning device for the enrichment
of interruptions money grabbers. who
dare not rob the foreigner, but, calling
themselves patriots and Republicans,
plumber the American citizen, and, dis
playing Taft and Sherman banners in
their windows, invite their victims to
give them a new lease of looting by
putting In office the protectors Of a
system of piracy which has helped pro-
duce within the boundaries of one free
country an arrogant, ungovernable and
plutocracy and a poverty
stricken and temporarily helpless pro-