The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-06
NO USE FOR TARIFF
EX-GOVERNOR W. B. DOUGLASS
 SCORES PROTECTION.
Bidfeules Republican Tariff Plank Says Republicans VIII Not Hurt
 Trusts--Teiis How Tariff
 In5ures Shoe Industry.

under one of the two 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 in- agine that the tariff law will be changed for my especial benefit will write few words under both heads.
 My business is injuriously affected by the tarin. The duties on hides, leather. machinery, coal and building materials increase the cost Of making something like 10 cents pair. or sso.ooo,ooo year for the entire -coup- try.
 -Of course. we manufacturers do not finally pay all of this tariff tax on footwear. We collect fully -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 laid by our foreign competitors. in- creases the cost of making shoes in this country about per cent, and thus greatly handioaps us in foreign mar kets. With free leather and other ma terials and supplies, we would, per- haps. soon be exporting s10o,000.o0o worth of shoes a year. Instead of the s7.ooo.ooo or ss.ooo.ooo worth now ex- ported.
 "It Is, then, mainly in the export business that the tariff shoe pinches us manufacturers It pinches us very much. also, because of the fewer pairs of ssh ees worn by an over-taxed people. if, as | believe, tariff-trust taxes in- crease tue cost Of living by 10 per cent. 1t Is probable that these taxes dimin- ish the number of shoes worn about 10 per cent.
 s"I favor tarfff reduction. then. both for selfish and for humanitarian req sons. By stopping the tariff graft pf the protected trusts---the greatest of all graft--T would increase the pur- chasing power of the wage and salary earners' dollar and thus virtually ins cremse wages 10 per cent. I am not certain that. had the trusts been eurbed by the removal Of unnecessary tarin duties in 1904 or 1905, we would have had the severe industrial depression through which we are now passing I have never been believer in the now exploited theory that q nation could tax itseIf into prosperity. Protection and prosperity are not, in my vocabul- ary, syponomous. To me, protection as we know 1t, means unnecessary and unjust taxation and this means fre- quent periods of business depression, reduced wages. idle working men, ad- varsity. disease and crime. such as we are now experiencing.
 T have no faith In the Republican tarfr expert committee plan of reviS- ing the tariff, In my opinion. 1t is a political maneuver to hoodwink the people and tide the Republicans over the Presidential election. It is partly a scheme to have the tariR experts in the various departments provide cam paign material for the high tariff party. These experts are now compiling sta tistics of cost of production in different countries and of export taxes and bountieS levied by foreign countries on goods going abroad. We may be certain that if any material is found that will aid the protectionists and stand patters. it will be put into the hands of all Republican speakers next fall Other material will bc kept under cover.
 .rhe New York Journal of Com nerce Of May 20. made an even more serious charge against the tariff revis- ion plans of the Senate and House committees. It said that these plans were merely intended as basis for political capital and that the whole tartff investigation now pending his a direct relation to campaign funds
 s~ThAt the Republicans do not seri- OQHll fnlCHu IO# INNA8o IttC tdt tAA 0ONh~ wards, where such revision would hurt their friends, the trusts. Is evident from the preliminary report of the special committee which has been in- yesflgatIng the tariff on paper and wood pulp. After taking '2,000 pages of printed testimony the majority re- port gravely informs us that the en- tire removal of the present tariff would not have any great immediate effect
 o% . . a Repub mountain labored and brought forth ridiculous tariff mouse. Tnis Is all the satisfaction given to the thousands Of newspaper publishers who asked Congress to free them from the paper trusts by the removal of the duties on paper and pulp.
 The tariff plank in the Republican platform, just adopted at Chicago, Is as shifty as expert political jugglers could make 1t. It gives a stone to those who asked for bread. Instead of promising plainly to reduce oppressive tariff duties 1t discusses maximum and minimum rates and favors such duties as will equal the difference between the cost of production at home and abroad, together with a reasonable profit to American industrles.'
 Think of 1t! Reasonable profitp Our pampered, overgrown; protected
 
 to cover the difference In cost of pro- auction, they want duties that will give them greater profits than those of their foreign competitors.
 swhat are reasonable profits? Are steel trust profits of over $1e0 .000. 900 made last year, or fully 50 per cent on the cost price of It's products reason able profits? If the tariff Is adjusted by it's friends win this profit remain as 1t isg.2
 This mueh-talked about difference in labor cost is a delusion and a snare It differs between different countries at different times, just as it does be- tween different States. We can never be certain as to this difference because 1t Is impossible for any tarifr commit | tee to make manufacturers in this, or In any, country show their books. 'In my opinion, the tarin should be revised and revised downwards, not by the friends of the tariff but by the friends of the consumers--the entire l people.