Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1910-06-01
WHAT The TARIFF COSTS.
The Individual Pays $3.50 TO the Govern
ment and $94. so to the Trusts.

I-One hundred and thlrty-three
millions of dollars!
Try to comprehend the magni.
tude of this sum if you can, and
then pause and reflect over the
fact that 1t is the amount the Sen.
ate has voted to spend Oh the
navy in single year, and In q
time of profound peace. Then
consider that only II years ago, in
1898, the naval appropriation was
but $33, ,003, ,234, or one hundred
millions less than the amount ap-
propriated for the coming year.
A fact in connection with this
awful increase which the public
seldom hears ls that every penny
of this 500, 100000 which is to
be spent in excess of the amount
used in 1898 comes from the peo-
pie; not from the rich, but large
ly from the working men and VIC
men.
1t is the ultimate consumer
who pays the battleship bills, who
maintains an ever-increasing army
OF officeholders i'll Washington,
and who meets the one-hundred-
and one extravagances of the gvv-
ernment. He does it by paying
excessive prices for the things he
buys.
The government raises practi-
cally all of its funds through the
custo MS houses and the internal
revenue Offices, where taxes are
levied on things eaten, worn or
used by the people. When the
consumer purchases a protected
article, and practically all of the
necessaries of life are protected,
ne pays the real or natural value
of the article and in addition
thereto the amount of the tariff
tax.
The more batt.eships construct
ed, the greater the amount the
government must raise through
the tax on consumption, aud the
greater the COST of living.
Thus it is not 30 strange that
under the Taft administration,
which is spending more than twice
the amount used by Cleveland to
run the government, the cost of
living is 80 per oent. greater than
under Cleveland administration.
While the hat, coat and shirt of
the masses are taxed almost II
per cent to build $11, 600. 600 bat
tleships and keep an extravagant
government in spending money,
Messrs. Rockefeller, Morgan ct al ,
are not asked by the federal gov
ernment to pay any tax whatever
on their swollen fortunes.
Wealth escapes Tearing it's just
share of the burden of taxation
because of the absence of a fed
eral income or inheritance tax,
such as were long ago adopted ty
Great Britain, Germany, France,
Japan, Holland, Australia, Den
mark, Switzerland, Australia and
New Zealand
A majority of both branches of
Congress were in favor of tacking
an income tax clause to the new
tariff law. Such legislation
would now be on the statute books
had not President Taft and Sen
asor Aldrich defeated the project
by substituting a corporation tax.
That the necessary three-fourths
of the state Legislatures will not
vote to amend the constitution is
now practically certain, which
means that an income tax can
only be secured at the hands of a
Democratic administration.
It is estimated that in 1908 the
cost of living was nearly 12 pei
cent. higher than it would have
been without a tariff. Hence,
calculating that the average fami'
lily consumed $a3l worth Of sup
plies per annum, its increased
payment on account of the tar fl
was Sill. Of this Sill, $3.50
went to the g overnmant in collec
tions, and $94 so went to the
trusts in high prices. Of thil
$94 so, SO .25 was on the woolens
more than $17 on other clothing
1925 on furniture, 1926 Oh bee
and mutton and Dnrk X10 25 or