Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-02-03
THE TARIFF NOT TO BLAME

THE TARIFF NOT TO BLAME
The st. Louis Globe Democrat, re,
publican paper has the following article
| concerning the tariff which we think of
interest vt this time:
In ST. Louis and elsewhere ignorant
or reckless takers persist in laying up
on the tariff the blame for the high prices
in food products. AT meeting of the
Central Trades and Labor Union of st.
Louis on Sunday in discussing this sub
ject one speaker said: 1t is the tariff
wall that keeps the price of necessities
up. The steel trust went before congress
! and told it that high tariff was needed
to protect the trust against its employees,
against the workingmen. The worth
lessness of the testimony of this particu-
lar witness is shown by the fact that the
duties on nearly all the products of the
steel mills were reduced in the Payne
tariff far below the rates in the Dingley
act. Pig iron, which carried duty of
"a ton under the Dingley law, was cut
to 81 ton. Bars, blooms and billets
was reduced from $l2 a ton to -. The
Dingley rate of 1874 ton for steel rails
is down to 1929 under the Payne law.
Wherever the duty on iron and steel
was changed, it was, in almost every
instance, changed downward.
The Stiffness which attributes to our
tariff the rise in he cost of living can
be shown in many ways. Says a letter
from Berlin, published in the London
Daily News: "A sadder Christmas Ger
many has never had since the foundation
of the Empire, and if the word bad
times was ever justified it is so at pres
ent. Owing to the shortsightedness of
the people who have shaped the policy
of the empire during recent years the
prices of the necessaries of life have
reached height never before attained.
Did the Payne tariff cause the high
prices for food and other necessaries in
Berlin and the rest of Germany A like
story comes from England, France ana
the rest of the great industrial and com
mercial countries. France, Germany
and most of the other countries have
tariffs England has none. But in En-
gland as elsewhere prices are up. Many
causes can be cited for the higher prices
I, for the necessaries of life in the United
States. Among them are the increase
in the gold supply, the drift of the rural
population to the cities, and the prefer
ence which the great body of immigrants
have for work in the factories to work
on the farms, The supply of food pro
ducts have not kept pace with the de-
mand. While the population of the
United States is expanding at the rate
of 100000 year, the increase in the
production of wheat, corn, meats and
most of the other food articles is scarcely
perceptible from year to year.
| Even if the charge were true that the
tariff caused the higher prices for the
i necessaries of life, and, except ina minor
and indirect degree, is it not true, how
| would the removed of the tariff help
matters? Under the Democratic Wilson
! German tariff of l894-97 prices of wheat
corn, meat and other foods were lower
than they are now But that was during
the industrial collapse which Democratic
I victory in 1892 brought. As the country
knew just what was coming when the
Democrats carried the country, the col
lapse arrived before the Democrats had
chance to legislate. The low food
prices of the Democratic days carried
I! very little comfort to the idle workers,
and there were millions of them, who
had no money to buy them. Prosperity
always brings increased prices for the
necessaries of life. The tariff is very
large factor in producing prosperity.
The tariff sets the wheels of industry in
motion, it gives activity to the railways
fills the pay envelopes of the wage-work
ers, swells the deposits in the savings
banks, and enables the people to eat
more and better food and wear better
clothes. This increased demand for the
necessaries cause rise in prices. But
the man who was idle in the Democratic
days finds that, to him, the prices of the
necessaries have fallen instead of risen
1t is easier for the man who is employed
topay $l25 bushel for wheat today
than it was to pay 80 cents bushel fol
it in Democratic times when he was idle
and did not have the so cents. To the
extent to which it brings prosperity the
tariff, indirectly, aids in advancing
, prices of the necessaries of life. But the
fair minded, intelligent wageworker viii
be very slow about condemning the tariff
on that account, The Democrats threat
en- to bring the high prices into polite.
as pretext for an assault upon the tariff
AS the congressional canvass is near a
hand this will be an excellent time fol
them to push this issue forward Thi
would give the republicans an opportun
: ity to make contrast between condi
tions now and in the democratic days
! Under this sign the republican part,
would conquer.