The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-08-01

tisties:
The following table shows the con-
sumption value Of articles on which
rates of duty have been increased and
\ decreased in all cases where amounts
of production can be ascertained:
Duty Duty
decreased. increased
oils: Painls....-..........s 4ss.oas ss4 auIoaa2o
Schedule b. earth and
earthernvare ---.-...... 12S, 423 1872 ...,......
Schedule c, metals and
manufactures of........I24s. 2oO169 II. 4s2. 255
Schedule -, lumber. 566 SO $50 81. $50 372
Schedule =, sugar. 800 g65, $50 ..-...--..
Schedule 7. tobaCco.......No change.
products ....-..........e. 4ss. 4aosg Assooas
Schedule +, wines and
ana liquors ...-.....-.. $500. 462. 00l SIS
Schedule j, cotton-....... ........... I,622 02f
Schedule ], fax, hemp,
1ute ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Fiji, l45 500, 445
Schedule K, wool. No statistics. No change.
Schedule T. silk 1881, 365 l06sl 646
Schedule n, paper and
pulp ofsbZSt Zoo 81 $50 400
Schedule n, sundries us, 42s. o6s 1o 500, SOS
Totals .................4.g78.l2e12 S52a255
"The consumption value" says Mr.
Payne. Tt win be observed that he
doesn't say "the value of imports" No,
indeed he is just simply putting into
his statement the entire value of all we
use. There is little item of
/ S4S3. 430,G37 Of consumption value" of
agricultural products. That means, nos
that we import that amount; not at
all; simply that we eat 'em. In fact,
we raise 'em right here, inside the tariff
wall Why does Mr.. Payne put them
into his table?
There can be but one answer. Be
cause he wants it understood, for the
purposes of this argument, that lower
ing the duty somehow lowers the cost
to the consumer.
The natural and unavoidable coroi-
larry to that is that raising the duty
raises the cost to the consumer.
And that justifes the broad assump-
ton that the cost TO the consumer goes
/ up with the tariff rates, and also goes
down with them.
/ Which is excellent Dem7 cratic doc
trine, but has never before been ex-
| pounded on such good Republican
authority as that of chairman of
Ways and Means in charge Of a tariff
/ bill.
Take metals and manufactures of
metals. Almost all we use in this
country Is produced here. From pig
Iron" Kelly and Randall and Mckinley.
straight down 10 Aldrich, it has been
orthodox high-protection doctrine that
the tariff Is not added to the cost. It
has always been urged that the high
tariff makes the cost less. by stimu-
iating production and competition. That
has been absolutely fundamental
Then why does Mr.. Payne include in
his table our total consumption-prac-
tically all of it produced at home
Manifestly, because he wants US to
think that under reduced tariff rates
on it we are going to pay less for 1t.
If that isn't what he wants us to
Z
/ Put those figures in his table?
And there is the item of agricultural
products. Payne tells us that the
duties are decreased Of S483.O0O,OOO
worth of the agricultural products we
consume. We raise those products here;
/ they never see a custom house or an
appraiser. Yet Payne would have us
believe that they are going to be
cheaper because the duty has been
| lowered. Instead of importing them,
we are the worlds greatest exporter of
them. Instead of our tariff making
the price on them, the sale of our SUI
plus abroad makes the price. That Is az
/ fundamental a proposition as there is
in political economy.
Mr.. Payne knows all this; he couldn't
/ possibly have risen to his present po-
sition without knowing it.
There is good Democratic and very
respectable economic authority for the
belief that prices are increased, on
articles in which there is possibility OF
foreign competition, by increasing the
duty. The Republicans have never
admitted as much-until now. But no
body ever dreamed. before Payne, that
prices were increased by the tariff. on
articles which are not and in the nature
of things cannot be imported.
II the Payne table means anything
it Is either that Payne has become tn,
most extreme of all free-traders, or els,