The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1921-07-07
THOU ART THE GOAT

Republican papers are inclined to hold up the
fact that duties in the Fordney tariff bill placed
in some cases lower than they were in the Payne
Aldrch act as a positive merit This contention
is worthy of little notice. because of It's implied
major premiss that lew duties are better than high
ones; but it may be dsregarded for the present
for consideration Of some of the other aspects of
the pending BILL
This bill is carefully designed lo do three dis
tinct things three things by the way, which
usually regarded as inconsistent with each other.
First and incidentally, ii is TO raise revenue; sec
ond, and always important, to empower American
manufacturers 10 ovcrcharge American buyers, and
third, and somewhat out Of the usual scope of pro-
tectve measures, to give American importers
chance to make money from German imports
This last raises peculiar suation-one re-
quiring goat of almost unlimited carrying power
and the American consuming public has been
selected for that honor
If you are bringing up a family and keeping
ends together en- an income of two or three thou
sand dollars year, you are the goat. our task
is to support your government by providing it with
funds support big business by supplying the profits,
pay off the war debt of the United States, keep up
the interest payments on the loans of our recent al
lies, and pay off the German indemnity.
Germany must pay To that proposition there
is no dissent. But in order to pay she must pro-
duce goods in large quantities and sell them abroad
Nobody denies that. And it is equally incontest-
able that this country, being just the only
that would pass inspection by bank examiner,
must be her chief customer.
German laborers are working for less than half
American laborers will accept, and Germany's eff
fciency still further reduces the cost Of production
so that standard goods are being produced there
today at about one-third Of what they are made in
the United States.
When they are sent out of Germany they are
subjected to a tax Of twenty-six per cent the
proceeds of which are pocketed by France, and the
equivalent is tackled en- to the price of the goods
When they hit this land Of the free they are to be
met by Fordney tariff tax of, say, fifty per cent
This is turned over to the federal government, and
another addition made to the price of the articles
Then they are to be taken in hand by the Amer
lean manufacturer, given an American label, to
take away the disrelish CT the MADE in Germany"
trade mark, and another tax in the form CT a sub
stantial profit is levied and pocketed by the import
err, and another addition made to the price; after
which the goods will be passed TO the goat, who
will buy the article with all its price accretions and
ten TO one he will think he is buying a genuine,
made in Yankeeland article and helping to keep
the Hun products out Of the country.
1t is grand scheme for trimming old Ioi Pol
loi, by far the greatest yet devised by congress
sional ways and means committee. The pili(uI
little seven hundred million dollars of federal rev.
enues which it is estimated 10 raise is only frac-
ton of what it will extract from the consumer.