The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-06-12
The Consumer Pays All.

1t is easy to theorlZe over the
tariff revision, to point to the three
hundred odd reductions made by
the Senate and House committees,
to insist that there is a revision
townwa.d, but there are certain
fundamental facts which cannot
be obscured or explained away
and which are the only facts OF
vital interest to the consumer.
Apparently through more or less
of an accident, the Treasury de-
partment has been led to make
public certain figures which are
of striking Importance. A table
prepared by newspaper cores
pendent enumerated some forty
articles which the comparatively
poor man is compelled to buy, and
applied to the Treasury for state
ment of the exact amount of duty
collected on these items under the
Dingley law, the House tariff bill
and the Senate bill. All of the
items are actual necessities. 1t
is shown that the duties are extra
ordinarily high and that practi-
cally no reductions are made by
either of the pending tariff meas
ures. In most instances the tariff
has not been changed at all on
those things the consumer is most
often compelled to buy. Did
space permit we would be glad
to reproduce the entire table.
Under the circumstances we are
compelled to content ourselves
with citing a few instances. On
mems summer suits retailing at S15
the tariff is S4.76 In other words
the purchaser gets S10.24 worth of
suit and contributes 81. rs over and
about the value he receives as
tribute to the American manu-
facturer.
On a winter suit retailing at the
same price he gets 1896 worth OF
suit and his tribute to the manu-
facture is 1854. If he buys Sis
cloak for his wife, he pays 1854
over and above it's value as tribute.
If he buys her cotton dress for
$40, the tribute is S2.55. On a
tapestry rug for which he pays
SIS, the duty forces the price up
S5.16. Without the tariff he could
buy the same rug for 1884. When
he buys ham for Is cents pound.
he pays on every, pound 5 cents
tribute to the packer. When his
wife buys graduated sugar at
5 ia cents pound she pays 3-4
cents a pound tribute to the sugar
trust. If man buy a Sis watch
he paid $3.50 tribute under the
Dingley law, but will have to pay
50 IS under the new tariff. If the
farmer or householder wishes to
put tin roof on his dwelling or
barn he will pay / 1-5 cents
pound duty for all the tin he uses.
On an iron cook stove selling for
SIS the duty is about S6.75. On
wooden underwear selling at $3.50
per garment the duty is Al 1-2l
cents. On all of these things
which go serious increase the cost
of living and render the tariff SO
seriously increase the cost of liv-
ing and render the tariff so serious
a burden to the poor man no re-
duction whatever is contemplated
by either House or Senate. In
fact intelligent study of the pro-
posed reductions demonstrated |
the fact tibet they will save money
only to the manufacturers whose
finished products will be as highly |
protected as ever, SO that the |
consumer is certain to receive no
benefit whatever from the Repub-
lican tariff revision. All the fig
ures here cited were prepared by |
the experts of the United States
Treasury and made public by the
Secretary of the Treasury, SO that
there can be no dispute whatever
as to their accuracy.