The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1909-04-15


done, so that they will be sure that
they are not being taxed for the
benefit of some rich manufacturers.
Another difficulty that Congress ha
is that the people who do the buy
ing are not represented in the hear
ings. They hear a great deal OF
talk from people who want the tariff
raised, from people who will be made
richer by having the tax high, and
they are likely to forget the other
eighty million of US poor folks who
will have to pay. And we poor folks
are not organized, and we have no
special attorney to send to appear
before the Committee, and so the
high tariff is put on.
II is true that each Congressman
ought to represent his people, and
ought to see to 1t tnat the tariff is
kept right, but, sad to say, too many
Congressman have axes OF their own
to grind, and let the good of the peo-
pie slide. First most Congressman are
interested in some business. They
want other Congressman TO vote
high tariff for the products OF That
business, and they are willing TO
do as much for the other Congress
men IL they can have what they
want. So. by the timo they have put
the high tariff on all products that
all the CongresJmen are Interested
In. there is not much left. Each man
votes TO tax the people for the sake
OF getting the other Congressman
to let him feather his own nest.
In the cecond place, there are stu
good many parts of our country
where the people are so foolish as
to let men buy their way into Con
gress, either at the general election
or at the primaries. A Congressman
has to have money to buy anything
and some friend has TO put It up, usu
ally. Now that friend must be rich
business man. and he has his AK to
grind, too. OF course the Congress
man whose job he bought for him vii
do his best, and he makes a set OF
deals with other Congressman who
hsve axes on hand for other rich
friends, and so they merrily boost
the tariff again. And still the people
pay.
A third thing-there are always a
lot OF voters in any district who have
been fooled by the manufacturers In
TO thinking that a higher tariff Will
mean higher wages for them. So thes
voters are anxious to have high
tariff upon the particular thing they
are working on. And the Congress
man know5 that they will forget all
the higher prices they may be made
to pay by an unfair tariff. II they
think they are getting the particular
unfair thing they want. And so there
is another set of deals, and each
crooked Congressman does his best to
get what 90 wanted by this body OF
voters. And, for the sake of getting
that one thing. he will vote TO tax
them on all other things. And each
other crooked Congressman for the
sake of one thing. votes TO tax his
people on others, and so the high
tax goes on. And all the rest Of the
country pays too high for the sake OF
those few. And those few pay too
high on everything else. too, but
they forget that, because they are
not reminded of II very often. But
they do complain that the cost OF
living is very high, only they don't
know why.
SO there you are. Congress has
no real information. and there are a
/ lot of selfish interests that come up,
and SO the tariff law. instead of be-
ing the scientific thing which II is
supposed to be. is a mess resulting
from a free for all fight of ali the
selfish business interests in this coun
try. II gets very confusing before
Congress gets thru with II. and you
can be sure the average Congress
man will not explain 1t TO his people
for he does not want the voters TO
know what he is really up TO, and 30
people get mixed and stop watching
1t. But II they keep to the one orig
inal principle. which. is in the plat
form, and which ought to govern the
making of the tariff any man can find
out for himself whether the tariff is
fair or not. This is the principle
THE tariff on any article should equal
the difference in the cost of produc-
ton at home and abroad"
This system of making the tariff
has always resulted in great unfa!'
ness in many ways. A number OF
articles have always been taxed too
much, so that the manufacturers have
haan ahia IN grow rich at the eX-