The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1909-05-08
Where the Tariff Pinches.

ue LudSSSS III SOuSi SooJ dAu Via F."
,ver five hundred dollars per month
or doing so, can afford to vote for
| light tariff, as they get ample mon
~ out Of the people to meet their
increased cost of living caused by
heir voting-to protect nearly every
hing that the masses have to buy.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch says
hose politicians who hug the fat
:ering belief that the tariff is a To-
.al question and that their seats are
secure so long as they please their
locality will find out some day that
the tariff is a class question and
moral class question at that. For
example, in a recent letter to the
Journal. a poor woman
who is trying to live on less than
$500 year, says:
"My husband gets s11 a week
for eleven and a half hours work,
where others get SIS for the same
work. Now, say rent is $13, coal
sS. food $40 a month and poor
food at that. Count in that with
five or six in the family, and where
do the doctor, medicine, shoes,
clothes, insurance on life, insur-
ance on furniture, school books,
and the Lord knows what else,
come from? AS for piece of
candy or cake, or pie or the
theatre. what can you do with s44
a month";"
This is not the opinion of trained
political expert or even of an office
holding statesman; it is just the bare
statement Of facts from one who is
trying to live in country where
every article of necessity is oppres-
sively taxed in order that overgrown
giants may have that protection
which was once thought necessary
for struggling infants. And when
the talk is over and done about the
-ariff helping the workmen it's worth
while for the workmen to stop and
consider how much Of this oratory
IS based on truth and how much Of
It is mere claptrap used to obscure
the real facts and to maintain a
Durdensome and killing tax on the
poorer classes of a community.
For example the poor wear clothes.
and yet the tariff on wools is II
cents a pound, and woolen clothing
and blankets carry a tax that varies
rom 134.97 on the cheapest to 94.32
IN the highest grades. We have been
lourishing and protecting our cot
:cn manufacturing industry for near
y a century; yet the average tax
On cotton today is 1910, and when
he amount of cotton cloth used by
he poor is considered the weight
If this tax stands out in all its Sc
7erity
There are SO.000,000 people in the
United States and they all wear
shoes, but congress and the polite
ans have taken small note of this
'act from the wearer's standpoint,
'or there has been an increase of 25
,er cent in women's shoes alone in
he ten years between 1890 and
1900. The raw material for shoes
S hides, and w. L. Douglas, the great
shoe manufacturer, who was also
governor of Massachu-
setts few years ago, is authority
'or the statement that $30,000,00Q
per annum could be saved the people
Of this country by taking the duly
off hides. but the duty stays on.
The fact that man is poor does
not make him any less desirous of
living in house; yet every stick
that goes into his humble dwelling
IS taxed under lumber tariff. This
means according to the estimate of
the labor bureau at Washington
that it would cost Ala per cent more
for material alone to build a house
in 1909 than it would have cost in
1908. Nor does the tariff hold its
hands with what we have enumer-
ated. Practically everything that is
or worn or used levies
IN oppressive tax on the poor in or
Ter that the government may gain
some revenue, while favored bene-
iciaries amass stupendous fortunes.
The tariff is not only unwise; it
S unjust, and some day the people
who are bearing that burden will
find it out and then the national
government will reduce its expenses
md change its source of revenue un-
il the cost of living is made to
larmonize more nearly with the in
.ome Of the great body of the citi-
:ens. It was just such a letter as
he one we have printed above tina
made the workingmen of England
Use sixty years ago and break down
he bread monopoly of that country.
The workingmen of America also will
Use some day when they understand
ne true inwardness of the tariff
in this country.
"Sickening Siush and Twaddle."