El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-02
ENGLISHMEN ARE FIGHTING
FOR PROTECTIVE TARIFF
By
Frederic
]. Haskin
XXVIII-THE BRITISH CRISIS

If the tariff refOrmerS had cOntented
themselves with demanding a moderate
revenue tariff, with incidental protec-
ton. upon manufactured articles, ii is
probable that their propaganda would
have ben even more successful But it
was necessary to convert the Tory
landlords. who can be reached only by
one argument-prOfit or its equivalent
And Therefore :he tariff refOrulers pre-
missed a tariff duty on wheat and ether
breadstuffs, saying 1t would increase
the value of the farm products Of Great
Britain. said farms being owned by a
few landlords, and that it would, there
fore bring about a revival of agricul-
ture in the country
Wheat Tariff Injurious.
The free traders replied that the tar
if on wheat if it aided the landlords at
ALL simply would raise the price of
wheat and therefore of bread to the In
people who are forced to buy their.
bread. 1t was pointed out that Great
Britain now, under the most favorable
circumstances, can grow about one
fourth of the breadStuffs it uses, AID
that all of the colonies together do not
as yet produce a sufficient surplus OF
wheat TO make up the other three
fourths of the British consumption
Bread is very much cheaper in Great
Britain than in the United States
Great Britain produces a smaller pro-
portion of its own bread than any other
bread eating nation The cheap white
bread of England is cheap because En-
gland has no tariff. That this is true
was proved during the horrible days Of
the hungry forties", when Englishmen
revoIted and forced the repeal of the
corn laws.
Bread Question Discussed.
1t happened that in the January cam
paign the bread question became the
principle theme for speakers on both
sides of the tariff issue. The Liberals
told the people that if there was tar
if reform, poor people would have to
eat black bread. such as is eaten by
the protected workRen of Germany
The Conservatives replied that 1t wasn't
true; that black bread was better any
how; and that King Edward ate Ger
man black bread every day, proving
the last statement by the baker who
supplied the bread to Buckingham pal
ace. The great black bread issue was
proof Of how important a trivial matter
may become in British politics.
MAKE the Foreigner Pay
The tariff reformers on the stump,
not possessing either the brains or the
holiness of Mr.. Chamberlain. who was
i'll at his home. fell back upan mouth
filling phrases in lieu OF argument. On
CN CI STUMP IOTl SpSlAD1nQeTS OI-
fered tariff reform as a substitute for
the land taxes and the liquor taxes i'm
! posed by the Lloyd-George budget; ad-
hitting that more revenue was neces-
sary but proposing 10 make the for
eigner pay. With the exception of
two or three of the most prominent men
in the Conservative party, all the Tory
campaigners declared that under the
protective system the foreigner pays the
tax They nrOy-ad ~ hxrr 70
Republican newspapers published in the
United States thirty years ago.
Both sides referred often to the Unit
ed States in discussing the tariff cues
ton. The Tories said that the United
States was the most prosperous nation
| in the world, and that its workmen re-
ce1ved fabulous wages and paid no more
for what they bought than the English.
The Radicals admitted the high wages
! in America but made much of the Amer
icon outcry against the high cost of liv-
ing Speakers on both sides quoted for
their purposes from the debates on the
Payne-Aldrich tariff bill
WOrkmen Conservative.
The result was that a great many
wrkingmen, who otherwise would have
been Liberals, voted for Conservative
! candidates because they believed that
tariff reform would save them from
the ruinous effects of foreign competi-
ton. and would make them the equals
of the American workingmen. Another
result was that great many wealthy
manufacturerS-whose only hope of
/ continued prosperity Is based upon an
abundance of free raw material and a
continued era of cheap cost of living
for their wOrkmen-who otherwise
: might have been Conservative, voted
! fer the Radical candidates
There is strong reason to believe that
the remarkable struggle for tariff re-
| form begun eight years ago when Mr.
Chamberlain resigned from the BaIfaur
cabinet to take up the work of the tar
off reform league. will result in a modi-
! fication of the British system of free
trade. The tariff reformers are the foes
OF foreign competition, and il is foreign
! competition that Britain fears even
more than foreign warships As mat
tiers stand today, tariff reform is the
trump card in possession of the Tory
party.
Tomorrow-The Way 1t Works.