The Owyhee nugget. ([Silver City], Idaho) 1905-1984, 1909-04-02

1 tOeoOA AAOW ~ O6h AOWOA RAAONc WAOh
almost every dutiable article is control
led by trust is another economic
enigma. Taft is right when he declares
for a revision of tariff on lifes neces-
stiles.
The story of protective tariff (not a
revenue tarif) eniold atale Of humbug
deception, rascality, corruption, dis
honesty and political perfldy which has
few parallels in political history.
If the American consumer is not an
ass, it is marvellous how we'll he initiates
the docile stupidity Of that meek beast
burden. Take for example the emol-
lent which is commonly served up to
us when we complain of the cost of
living.
"Yes, the cost of living has risen," it
is said, 'but behold how wages have adj
vanced also, you spend more, but praises
be to Allah, you have more to spend"
This is an irridiscent fraud which ex-
President Roosevelt punctured time and
time again. The average cost of goods
has increased 35 per cent, the average
increase in wages has been 10 per cent
and the other II per cent has built up
the fortunes of the great manufacturers
and trusts.
At the late hearings before the con-
gressional committee on the tariff, Dali
zell and his fellow stand patters seldom
failed to sneer when it was said of
particular duty that it made this article
or that, cost penny, just penny, more
to the consumer, who cares for penny?
Well the protected millionaires care for
it, they will spend thousands and tens
of thousands of dollars to reap penny
over and over again during the year on
some article Of general consumption
used by our 81 900. OOOof people. Again,
is it not true that the penny belongs to
the wage Garner, who has honestly
earned it, rather than to the trust mag
nate, who has corrupted the national
congress to get it?
Think of cent added to every pound
of coffee, sugar, salt, raisins, cornstarch,
currants, soap, to every gallon of kero-
sene, (and while we pay % cents for a
gallon here, onr friends in India, Aus
tralia, and New Zealand and England
pay not to exceed 16 cents) lie this cent
worth fighting for? It means the diff
ference between a surplus and deficit
in the family budget.
In the last analysis, the protective
tariff as we now have it, makes it hard
er for the shop girl to live without sci.
ling her virtue, and for the working
man to feed, clothe and school his chill
dren, without being dishonest, at the
other extreme it adds to the surplus of
the Pittsburg millionaire and swells the
millions OF Standard Oil.
One of the common apologies for the
exorbitant tariff is that, however eyre
giously it fools the farmer and pliers
from the kitchen maid aud plucks the
day laborer, still it does nothing for
Standard Oil. Nothing on the surface,
but little below the surface Dingley-
ism is a veritable gold niue for Mr..
Rockefeller aud his churches and
schools.
Let us indicate how the octopus
gathers in harvest from the tinplate
duty. This duty, which is one and a
half per cent, is related to any person
who imports tinplate, manufacturers it
and exports it again. Now mark. All
the the tinplate made in this country ia
controlled by trust, which sells its
product by the wholesale for 81 hun
dred here and for So hundred in Eng.
land. The farmers wife cannot afford
to go to England to buy her clippers
and pie tins, but the Standard Oil makes
money by going there to buy its sheet
tin to make oil cans of. 1t gets the