Evening star., 1925-06-29
American Tariff and Foreign Debts.

American Tariff and Foreign Debts.
The free-trade and low-tariff hounds
will soon be in full cry. Already there
are signs and sounds of the coming at
tack on the protective tariff. The at
tack is not confined 10 the Democrats.
From the other side of the Atlantic
Ocean comes the suggestion, even
threat, that if the American tariff wall
is not lowered SO as to permit the sale
Of European goods in the United
States there will not be the slightest
chance Of Europe's ever paying this
country its billions of dollars of war
debt. And from some so-called Ameri-
can international bankers, who have
enormous credits abroad upon which
they hope to realize. comes wall, too.
They fear there will be no chance of
getting their money back unless some
thing is done to permit the foreigners
TO make money, and the easiest way
for them to make money is to sell
goods in the United States, where to-
day there is plenty of money.
The Democratic slogan for years
has been low tariff for the benefit of
the American consumer. The Demo
cratic slur on the protective tariff has
been that it enriches the few to the
loss Of the many. The Democratic
arguments have a pleasing sound. But
why is it that our foreign competitors
are seeking also a reduction of the
American tariff? What is one man S
gain usually is another mans loss in
the commercial world If Europe can
become richer through reduction Of
the American protective tariff 1t is
likely that the United States will be-
come poorer. For not all the money
that the European manufacturers and
traders make through selling their
goods in America will come back to
this country in the form of debt pay
ments, thereby reducing America S
own war debt and American taxes. An
appreciable share of these earnings
will stick fast to the Golfers of the
Europeans.
The American consumer is doing
pretty well just now. Wages are good
and employment is not lacking In
dustry, generally speaking, Is In good
shape. But suppose the tariff is
lowered and cheaper European goods
are permitted to food the country
Where, then, will the onsumers, the
manufacturers and the farmers find
themselves? OF what avail If prices
are cheap, if they have little money to
purchase? The answer is that it is far
better to protect American markets
which, after all, consume the heaviest
proportion Of American production,
than to turn those markets over to
the cheap goods of the foreigner. with
a consequent reduction Of Americas S
own output.
The eyes of the Democrats turn
longingly to the American farmer, par
ticularly the farmer of the great
West. The Democratic hope is that
the farmers, who have been through
period of depression following the
war, will rise and smite the Republic
ans and their tariff. They hoped it
II year ago, when radicals put a third
ticket in the field. They hope it now,
believing that the farmers have grown
tired of paying higher prices for the
goods they must purchase because of
the protective tariff, which keeps out
the cheaper foreign goods. The Amer
lean farmer, however, is in better
ta
The American farmer also is diversity
ing his crops more today than ever
before, and he finds that many of his
crops are protected by the tariff, He
is inclined TO ask further protection
FOR his products, rather than to ask
that the protective tariff be thrown
overheard.
The standard of living in this coun-
try is far higher than it is abroad, for
the laborer as well as for the en-
ployer. The standard of living has
continued to rise under the system of
protection afforded American indus
try. Reductions of the tariff proposed
by the Democrats have resulted dis
tinkerS have had their way. War
burst upon the world in 1914, when
American industries We're beginning to
feel the effects of the last Democratic
tariff law. When the war was over
the Republicans came into power, and
the protective tariff was again re-
newed. So far the Republicans have
had the better of the tariff argument
If the European nations cannot pay
their debts to America, it would be
far better they remained unpaid than
to ruin American industry, lower
wages and force the workers into
distress. In hard times the poor be-
come poorer more rapidly than do the
rich.