Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1928-10-19

In this article, which has been
called one of the most lucid ex-
plantations of the tariff on rec
ord, Anna Steese Richardson,
celebrated magazine writer, de-
scribes the relationship of the
tariff to family income, purchas-
ing, etc.
By Anna SteeSe Richardson
Washington, October 18.-Why do
women thrust tariff aside as some
thing we cannot understand?
Why do some of us think the tar
iff is a puzzle which only business
men can solve?
We women work out knottier
problems every time we face a
household emergency. 1t is as sim
pie as budgeting the family income
or figuring out monthly payments
on the family car and the vacuum
cleaner.
Our business is home-making. We
the home-making women of the
United States, are the purchasing
agents for at least so per cent of the
25,000,OO0 families living in cities,
towns and rural districts. We buy
everything for our homes, from a
paper of pins to a suite of dining
room furniture. Statistics gathered
by the U. S. Department of Com
merce prove that we spend so cents
out of every dollar which goes into
the cash register of retail store.
Eighty-five cents of every dollar
spent in department stores is hand
led over the counter by a woman.
We contribute from rs to 70 per
cent of the money spent in drug
stores, 50 per cent of the money TAX
en- in by grocer's and 80 per cent
of the huge amounts spent on jew
elry. A woman has the deciding
word in the purchase of 70 per
cent of family cars, and we women
select 65 per cent Of the neckties
worn by American men.
The total value of retail sales in |
this country last year was in excess
of forty billion dollars ($40,0O0, 0O0,-
000), of which we hOme-makers
spent four-fifths or more than $780,
100000.
Show me, if you can, any one
group of business men who handle
any such sum in the course of a
single year! Are we or are we not
business women with our homes
as our plants.
We know the retail market con-
ditions and the bargain season for
different types of goods. We know
the cost of food and how changes in
rain and drought affect
prices. We can grasp the details of
IN insurance policy, be it life, acct
lent, fire or automobile insurance.
We confer with our husbands and
ions on investments and we handle
,ank accounts, keeping our check
looks perfectly balanced.
But when any one says Tariff, :
We sigh and reply-''Let friend hus-
Dand think about that"
aren't we funny?
For tariff is something we should
nd can understand. 1t enters into l
,ur ability to buy most of the things /
We need,-food, clothing, furniture,
and luxuries. 1t sets the /
tandard of living for practically ev- !,
ry family in the United States be-
ause it protects the manufacturer I.
f almost every type of merchandise, =
nd therefore the wage rate in his
liant"
Here, then, is a challenge to the :
of America. Here is
ne more problem for them to solve
n the home. 1t is far more import d
III or OF
ng market reports and advertise I"
lents in the newspapers, because
rithout our protective tariff we Il
rould have smaller incomes to bud d
ct, and less food and clothing to d
NY for the family. Our first step is II
how a protective tar u
t system affects home-making is to
efne the phrase, to learn what it :
ctually means. =
The definition, which appeals to >,
lie because it is very clear and sim tt
lie, was furnished by Mr.. Edward
elson Dingley, who was the father u
f a famous tariff measure. 1t runs: a. d
Protective tariff is a duty Il
upon foreign goods competing
with domestic goods in the Am II
erican markets-(a) to make I"
foreign cost of production ~
equal to the domestic COST o. q
to compel foreign purchasers
and manufacturers to pay for 81
the privilege of selling their Z.
goods and wares or merchandise u
in the American market" =
The next step is to find out what ~
ould happen to the home-makers ~
the United States if the protective VI
riff were removed, and the cost of al
goods reduced to the
vel of the same goods produced by u
Dor in foreign countries. The in ~
me of the American family would II.
op Immediately to the level of the III
ages paid the same type of work.
S abroad, and living conditions
+ the families of American work ' Le
en- would deteriorate in proportion. III
Perhaps your husband is a car ~
inter- earning $10.16 a day. You
IN your home, a photograph or = -.
dio. There's enough in the saw :.
IS bank and in insurance policies ~
assure those fine children of Pc
urs a high school education, pos III
,ly college, if they are ambitious. CT
the garage there's a tidy car into %
itch the whole family piles for a A.
lie at the end of a hot day. The W.
ildren belong to the school orches- VI,
!, your husband and you to a card W.
Id, and you all go to the movies
len there's a picture worth seeing.
How many of these privileges WI
uld you enjoy if your husband