Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-08-18
NO USE FOR TARIFF,
Ex-Governor W. [. Douglas
Scores Protection.
THINKS IT CAUSED PANIC.

Ridicules Republican Tariff Plank.
Says Republicans Will Not Hurt
Trusts-Tells How Tariff Injuries
Shoe, Industry and Taxes People.
l am asked to write under one of the
ewo heads, "How the Tariff Affects
My Business" or ''Why Favor Tariff
Reduction"
AS am not selfish enough to ask
for lower tariff duties solely on my
own account or foolish enough to i'm
agine that the tariff law will be
changed for my especial benefit, l
will write few words under both
heads.
Ny business is injuriously affected
by the tariff. The duties on hides,
leather, thread. machinery, coal and
building materials increase the cost OF
making shoes in this country an aver
age of something like 10 cents u pair
or $3OOOO,O0O year for the entire
country
OF course we manufacturers do not
finally pay all of this tariff tax on foot
| wear. We collect fully nine-tenths of
1t from those who wear shoes. But
| we cannot collect the tax on shoes
sold for export. This comes out of
| our own pockets. This tax, by forcing
us to pay 10 per cent more for leather
than is paid by our foreign competi-
tors, increases the cost Of making
shoes In this country about 5 per cent
and thus greatly handicaps us in for
eign markets. With free leather and
other materials and supplies we would
perhaps soon be exporting $1OO,OOO,OOO
worth of shoes year instead of the
100000 or $s,0OO,0oO worth now ex-
ported.
1t is, then, mainly in the export bust
ness that the tariff shoe pinches us
manufacturers. 1t pinches us very
much also because of the fewer pairs
Of shoes worn by an overtaxed people.
If, as l believe, tariff trust taxes in
crease the cost of living by 10 per cent,
1t is probable that these taxes diminish
the number of shoes worn about 10
per cent.
l favor tariff reduction. then, both
for selfish and for humanitarian rea-
sons. BY stopping the tariff graft OF
the protected trusts-the greatest of all
graft would increase the purchas-
Ing power Of the wage and salary earn.
ers' dollar and thus virtually increase
wages 10 per cent. / am not certain
removal of unnecessary tariff duties IL
1904 or 1905, we would have had the
severe Industrial depression through
which we are now passing. l have
never been believer in the now ex
ploded theory that nation could ia,
itself into prosperity. Protection ant
prosperity are not, In my vocabulary
Synonymous words. To me 'protec
ton" as we know it means unnecessa
| ry and unjust taxation. and this mean.
frequent periods Of business depres
sion, reduced wages, idle workingmen
adversely, disease and crime, such al
we are now experiencing.
I have no faith in the Republican
tariff expert committee plan Of revis
ing the tariff. In my opinion 1t is pc
! litical maneuver to hoodwink the pee
, pie and tide the Republicans over tn
[ presidential election. 1t Is partly
], scheme to have the tariff experts in tn
7 various departments provide campaig
material for the high tariff party
These experts are now compiling sta
tistics of cost of production in differen
countries and Of export taxes an
, bounties levied by foreign countries o
, goods going abroad. We may be Gel
tain that If any material is found tina
patters it will be put into the hands G
all Republican speakers next fall. OIL
er material will be kept under cover.
The New York Journal Of Commerc
Of May 20 made an even more seriou
; charge against the tariff revision plan
: of the senate and house committees.
said that these plans were merely il
' tended as basis for political capital
and that 1.-The whole tariff investigate
now pending has direct relation
campaign funds"
That the Republicans do not seriou
=. l tl,a Tn ri
. ward where such revision would hui
: their friends. the trusts, Is evidel
: from the preliminary report of the SIP
cial committee which has been inve
tigating the tariff on paper and voc
pulp. After taking 1000 pages
y printed testimony" the majority repo
gravely informs us that the centre +
moval Of the present tariff would n
y have any great immediate effect" {
I the prices Of paper. Thus has the R
publican mountain labored and broug
forth ridiculous tariff mouse. This
all the satisfaction given to the tho
sands Of newspaper publishers wi
asked congress to free them from Il
J. paper trust by the removal of the d
ties ON pup. and pulp.
The tariff plank in the Republic.
y platform Just adopted at Chicago is
a shifty us exDert political jugglers cou
q make it. II gives stone to those WI
II asked for bread. Instead of prom
II ling plainly 70 reduce oppressive tar
r duties II discusses maximum and mil
T. mum rates and favors "such duties
al will euuaI the difference between t