Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1912-06-21
spssclAL CORRESPONDENCE.
BY CLYDE H. TAvENNER.
Washington. D. c., June II. 1912

be answered with one woTd--tariff.
The tariff was originally employed t
meet the expense Of the civil war. To raist
money for this emergency the government
decided to tax every article of manufacture
The American manufacturers complained
of this, and justly. They said the take:
were so heavy as to be ruinous, because
they could not compete with imported ar
ticles which did not have to carry this tax
So plan was devised to protect the Ame-
rican manufacturers.
I'VE will place a tariff on all imported
articles" said the government. (which will
put you on an even or better-than-even
footing with your foreign competitors"
Everyone understood this protective sys-
TEN was to be but temporary. to meet an
unusual condition, and that the tariff on
imports would be abolished when 1t be-
came no longer necessary to require the
American manufacturers to pay a tax on
their manufactures.
But in the meantime the privileged few
had discovered that in the tariff lay a
means by which they could build up enor-
nous fortunes. These fortunes were pointed
to as an evidence that the tariff was a
good thing. The protectionists fooled the
people by making them believe that these
fortunes had come from 1.-THE foreigners,
when the fact was that the fortunes had
been wrung from the common people who
had been forced to pay artificially high
prices for the things necessary to life.
The protectionists knew in their hearts
of this deception, and then and there did
humbug and fraud become part and parcel
of politics But the people have learned
at last that tariff for protection, that tar
fnr Nhov "a inf
ficient revenue to meet the expense Of the
government, has no excuse In logic or eco
nomics. 1t needs no argument to convince
the average man now that to reduce taxa
tion is to reduce prices.
From the first the manufacturers have
never been satisfied with reasonable
amount Of protection. but they keep on de-
manding more and more. The result is
that the American consumers are today
paying dividends on trust capitalization
of thirty-thTee billion dollars. seventy per
cent. of which is water. while American
working men and women, particularly those
who labor for the most highly protected
trusts, aIe receiving wages as low as So,
81 and'$8 week.
And this Is the reason the Republican
party is beset by its present difficulties.
Coal BARoNs GREEDY.
Preparations are being made to add
SIS, 100000 to the nations coal bill this
winter. Each one Of US must contribute
our pro rata to the fortunes of coal barons
There is no reason or justice for the extent
of the increase except that millionaire
coal kings want the money and are in a
position to make the people either come
across" or freeze.
The coal operators. who have been forced
to grant the miners an increase in wages
which they say will mean an additional
cost Of 100000 In labor, are going to
force the consumer to pay a sufficiently
high price for coal to enable them to stand
this increase, along with an additional ex
tortiOn of $i0,000,000 which will be clear
profit to the trust Thus for every dollar
in increased prices that the coal operators
propose to collect this winter for the miners
they have decided to extort two dollars for
themselves All us helpless consumers
have to do is to pay the bill. Always,
always. II is the consumer who pays
EXIT THE COMMERCE CoURT.
The death knell of the Commerce Court
which made specially Of reversing the
decisions Of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission whenever those decisions were In
the interests Of shippers and consumers,
and Of sustaining the commerce commits
sion whenever its decisions were favorable
to the railroads, has been sounded. The
Democratic House voted ii out of existence,
and coalition Of progressive Republicans
and Democrats In the Senate has sustained
the House.
MILKING THE COUNTRY BANKS.
MANAGER Sherer, of the New York Clear
ing House, testified TO many things before
the Money Trust investigating committee
that will cause the country banks to sit up
and take notice.
The clearing house was shown to be
composed Of fifty New York banks. No
bank with a capital stock amounting to
less than $l,000,000 is eligible to MEM
bership.
Mr.. Sherers testimony revealed a system
by which the New York banks gouge the
country banks and their clients out Of
millions.
He said that 1t cost cents per $1,000
to collect the checks Of country banks.
The clearing house. he said, collects 20
cents per $1,000. or ten times the real
cost.
The average charge per day for collec-
tons Is about $4,000. II amounts to about
y5O,OOO,OOO year. From this neecinB
process the fifty banks comprising the
clearing house association extorted suffi-
cient tribute from the country bankers last
year to enable each of the fifty New York
banks 10 pay an 3 per cent dividend on Its
capital stock.
Thus II becomes apparent to every fair
minded person why the New York city
banks and financial magnates so bitterly
opposed the investigation by Congress Of
the Money Trust.