Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1882 — A FAMILIAR EXAMPLE. [ARTICLE]

A FAMILIAR EXAMPLE.

Explaining the Operation of the Tariff as to Most Articles of Necessity How Protection Works: From ExGcvernok Whitcomb’s ‘Facts for the People.” Suppose one ot our fncoriMirafed towns in Indiana should pass a I-iw or ordinance that all articles brought witinn. the lown limits to market, from the country, sho’d payga tax. Among others, suppose the tax of fifty cents on every bushel o! potatoes. Suppose a buihel ot potatoes cou.u be raised for fifty cents ‘1 he farmer, taking them to market, to ‘nuH»e-linm-’l* whole,’’ would beebiigid. then, to charge one dollar a bushel: that is, fifty cents ior the trouble of 'raising and hauling tnein to'town, aim fifty cents for the tux which he would be obliged to pay far the privilege of selling them. Now. one raising potatoes in town, in his garden, or on his out lot. with (be same trouble or expense of fifty cents a bushel, could get his dollar a bushel in market also, although he would have tc pay no tax; because lie would ask and get the highest price in market. For the tax on the farmer’s potatoes would keep them up to a dollar, and the town r-eopie must pay that or do without. And i* is man - fest that the tax, although [ant by Ilf farmers, in the first instance, would, afur all, be paid by the people in town, who were the buyers: th? fanners being obliged to charge j -st so much more, So high a tax, to be sure, would '-ante fewer potatoes io he eaten i.-t town, and of course ewer wm.l ljjbe sold by the hirmer. Ihe •a'tner also could no l buy *<’ mar-y articles in town as he would have clone bad he sold more iiolat. ps. lie couldn’t be as good fl customer to the :n<viunii-s in town, nor ge> as much ■•■t-cai tea, oolite, •-alt. iron, etc.,-as he won: i hv.ve done if he had sold or exchanged more ot his potatoes fie can’t, for instance, get leather from the tan yard in torn, be i‘tiut:e the people in town can’t afford to give the money for Lis r. rm! (ice He d not, well prep:.red so" Umning ea-b'-r ott n-8 farm, mid besides he »a -too uiai y other matters to : tiei-d to; !>’ > lenUmr he must hjive, and the lime Hi-t !>'• t kes to lan an inferior ar’icle, w <uld have* enabled hili; ls» raise potatoes enough to buy twice as much frm the tanner, if t‘ e tax was not in the wav.

So 'ar such a tax won! i diminish tiade, and be injurious to Loth parties. Now the operation of such a law, between town and country is precisely that of a tariff between this and a foreign country. The most difficult National question can be understood by any man who is able to attend to Isis own business without the aid of a guardian, it exhibited to him by a familiar example, and if he will think for himseit. There are too many who are interested in veiling such ques* ftons beneath the mist of deceptive words and|noinpous declamationBut to return. Another and more important effect wofild be produced by this town tariff. The advanced price on potatoes, occasioned by the tax, would not all be paid into the town treasury. That part paid on the potatoes sold by the farmer would go into the treasury, but the extra titty cents a bushel paid for those raised in town would go into Hie garden* (t’s pocket, li e gardener would be benefited by that part of the operation, and not the town government, for carrying on which the tax was imposed Again: If the tax on potatoes should lie so high that the farmers would take theirs to other, towns where the taxes were not so high, turn none would be brought from the country to the first town, and no tax would be derived from that source. That would be .prohibitory tariff; and the first t «W’i would be compelled to resort to dr ect taxation to piiy the town expenses. The farjners, too, being compelled to trade with other towns the mechanics, merchants, cl-., in the first town, would lose the beueiit ot their custom. °

But the potatoes tluit might yet be raised in our own town would still bring a dollar a bushel, although it. would cost the gardener but fifty cents a bushel to raise them. Tne remaining fifty cents would then be a tax on the rest of the community, fcr the exclusive benefit of the gardener, not a cent of it going into the treasury, for the common benefit of the citizens. All this would be bad enough. But the argument of the town Council would be that they wanted to protect the gardeners, until they could raise and sell potatoes as cheap as the farmers, and mahe the town independent of the country.— Well; suppose the tenjorja dozen gardeners should have bought up nearly ail the out lots for that purpose, and haying no other cultivation to attend to, should, by the aid of machinery, wealth, etc., actually raise potatoes so cheap that after the people of the town'had bought, all the potatoes they wanted of them, at a high price, there would sill be an overplus which the gardeners could afford to be at the expense ot sending to the other towns, and undersell the farmers, Would the gardeners need a tax on their neighbors lor their own protection my longer? But perhaps it might still be urged that if the profits of the gardeners were so high it would encou age others to turn gardeners also, and so cheapen the article. But (to make the comparison just, as to our large manufactories) suppose it required great wealth to procure machinery, etc., to engage in the business, that it could generally be done only by rich •companies. They could then'undersell any new beginner, and break him up, and then indemnify themselves by again raising their prices. Besides, it is seen that they already railed more potatoes than were used in town And would the gardeners ask for an increased tax if they believed it would cheapen the article anu diminish their profits? Another argument is that by encouraging others in town to turn gardeners there would be fewer mechanics, etc., left to attend to their old business and more gardeners to buy their work But there are but few gardeners needed, as their work is carried on by machinery, etc., audit is not machinery but human beings that need shoes, leather, salt, sugar, coffee, etc. The gardeners can ttse only a small part of these articles, which are for sale in town, and by their high tax they have driven off the farmers, who would have used them in exchange for their productions. Is it strange that under such circumstances the gardeners should become rich and the rest of the town complain of “hard times?”

Not satisfied with this, however, suppose the gardeners made wealthy by this very tax should beg the town Council to lay a still higher tax on potatoes. Would there be auy reason or justice in it? It might be natural enough for the gardeners to ask, but would you suppose that a town Council, fairly elected bv all the citizens, would pass such a law?' Would you suppose that, to gratify one-tenth part oi the people of the town, they wo’d be willing to increase the already heavy burdens of taxation on the other ninetenths ? Now let us suppose that each one of the twenty-six divisions or wards of the town was entitled to elec! a member of the town Council, and that these gardeners lived in the four or five outer divisions, and where, by their wealth, which they had got by this very tax, they sho’d be to control the elections, and elect members friendly to their wishes and interests. It would not be very strange if these members should yote foranyam’t of tax. But would it not be passing strange if the members elected in the other wards or divisions should vote for it? If, however, they should be so ignorant, or so far seduced by plausible speeches and flattery, as to desert the interests of their confiding neighbors, and vote to tax them still more, ought they ever to be elected again? Now this is a plain and familiar example of the operation of the tariff upon I the whole United States as to most articles I of necessity. Ihe reader will be able to make the application.