Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1884 — SHORTER TARTFF CATECHISM [ARTICLE]

SHORTER TARTFF CATECHISM

Question I.—What is the cnief end of onr tariff? Answer.—To put money into the pockets of the manufacturers. 2. What is a tariff! It is a tax. 3. Who pays this tax? Consumers. 4. Who are the consumers? All the people, but chiefly the poor. 5. For whose benefit is the tax laid? For the benefit of the manufacturers. 6. Who are the manufact urers? Moneyed men and capitalists. • 1 7. Are they a large or a small part of the population? A very small part of the people. ' *! ' ' ‘ 8. Are they the rich, or the poor? Most generally the rich. 9. How is it that so few per sons can get a tax put on so many? Because as a general thing they form corporations. 10. Of whom are corporations generally made up? Corporations are, for the most part made up of the rich, for the purpose of making themselves richer. 11. What do corporations tend to become? Monopolies. 12. What are monopolies? Monopolies, or rings, are men who combine to fix the prices of goods, the rate of wages and to forstall the markets. 13. Isn’t forestalling unlawful? ■mb; forestalling is unlaw- - - 14. Why don’t the law punish such men, abolish rings, etc.?

Because most persons don’t understand that a tariff may promote, in our country, a series of monopolies and rings. 15. Why don’t Americans believe that our tariff is mainly a huge ring? , =he people don’t believe it, because their prejudices are excited by such catch words as “Free trade,” “British gold,” “American industries,” “Home productions,” and that the tar iff raisei wages, and helps to pay the public debt. 16. Does the tariff help to pay off the public debt? Yes; when not prohibitory, and revenue is derived from importations. - - - - 17. Isn’t it an advantage to

get a higher price for our goods? Yes; it is &A advantage to the manufacturer, but it is no advantage to the poor laboring man. The money is taken out of the poor man’s pocket book. In this way the rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer. 18. But don’t the tariff go into the United States treasury, and help to carry on the Government and pay the debt? Yes; some of it goes into the National treasury. 19. Don’t the whole tariff go into the treasury? No; only that which is paid on foreign goods. If the tariff is so high as to shut out all foreign goods, then no tariff money goes into the United States treasury: the higher the tariff the less money the United States gets, and the more the manufacturersjget. 20. Where does the tariff money go that don’t go into the treasury? All the money that doesn’t go into the treasury goes into tne pockets of the manufacturers. 21. But if the manufacturer §ets all this money, doesn’t he ivide with his employes? Rarely, law doesn’t oblige the manufacturer to divide his profits with the workmen—and he doesn’t do it, or the employes would not so oft» en go on & strike. 2. Don’t the manufacturers say that they don’t want the

tariff for themselves, but for their workmen? Yes; that is what they say, but at the same time they are always talking about reducing the workmen’s wages; how is this? and while always talking about “the pauper labor of Europe,” why are they using every chance to introduce this foreign pauper labor into the place of the American workman? 23. Don’t the manufacturers want a high tariff for the good of the country? So they profess; but we don’t think the manufacturers love the country so much more than the rest of us do. 24 If protectionists don’t want a tariff for the good! of their workmen, nor because of their greater love of the country, nor for revenue purpose*, what do they want it fori They want it for themselves. 25. What kind of|a tax, then, is the present protectionist’s tariff? It is the old war tax in time of peace; it is a tax on the many for the benefit of the few; it is a tax on the po.jr for the benefit of the rich; it is a partnership between the manufacturer and the Government for the benefit of the manufacturer. 26. Would you have no tariff? Yes; I would have a conati tutional tariff. 27. What is a constitutiofial tariff? We should lay our tariff on luxuries, wines, silks, jewels, etc., on what everybody wants, and nobody must have.