Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1890 — Increasing the Consumption. [ARTICLE]

Increasing the Consumption.

How the cheapening of commodities increases the demand for them is shown by David A. Wells, In his “Recent Economic Changes,” by pointing to the lowering of tho price of tea in Great Britain, caused by lowering the duty. In 1853 the duty on tea was 3s 3%d (about 59 cents) per pound, and it has been gradually reduced to (id (12 cents). In 1851 the English people consumed 58,000,000 pounds of tea, or slightly less than two pounds per head of the population; in 1886 the consumption was 183,000.000 pounds, or’ five pounds per head. The lowering of the duty had brought down the price, and had put tea within tho reach of people who could not previously afford it; in this way the quantity used was greatly enlarged. Mr. Weils points out another case which shows how tho removal of a tariff tax cheapens and increases the demand for it. In 1883 wo removed tho trifling tax of 1 cent per hundred on matches. This is reported to have reduced the price about one-half, and to have increased the consumption to the extent of nearly one-third. Senator Evarts once ridiculed the Democrats for objecting to a certain tariff tax by saying it was “only a 3-cent joke.” The cases just cited show that when these “3-cent jokes” are removed or abolished, the people get the advantage of cheaper prices and larger consumption. A tariff tax is a good thing— to abolish.