Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1892 — BOTH TARIFF AND TAX. [ARTICLE]

BOTH TARIFF AND TAX.

Gov. Bole* Tell* the Truth About the MeKinley Bill Result*. In his recent speech at Ottumwa, lowa, Gov. Boies said: I »m here to address you from the standpoint of the party I have the honor to represent in the State. While it shall be my purpose to do so In a way that my remark* shall not be offen*Mve, I bxpect there are those in my audience who may think differently from myself and from those with whom I act politically. But we are all citizens of one State and one grand Republic, and'what is for the interest of one of ns in low* is certainly for the interest* of ail. We may not agree as to what that I*. but it certainly is our duty a* good oitizens to endeavor -to comprehend the issue* that divide the parties and to comprehend them ftirly and without prejudice. Every elector has upon hl* shoulders a share of .the responsibility for the policy of the Government, and every citizen should feel that responsibility and realize that the vote he casts ha* something to do with the policy. I have been told that this audience is composed almost entirely of farmers, and I shall, therefore, confine., my remarks to that line or argument which seems to me most appropriate before such an audience. There are many issues that divide political parties at this time, but tn my judgment there is one question of greater importrnce to the people of lowa and the nation. I refer to the question that grew out of the national legislation in regard to the raising of the revenue; in other words, the tariff. I know that in the past the common people have been accustomed to look at this quetion as something beyond their comprehension, something that they must leave to others to settle, something that they are not competent to pass judgment upon, That feeling prevails to* considerable extent even at this time. In order to make myself understood, I want to commence at the bqttom of this question. I presume you all know that a tariff la a duty or a tax levied upon Imports for raising revenue for the use of the general government. The Govenor th' n sketched tariff hlato y from the passage of the first act in 1789, when an average of 5 per cent, was levied, to the war tariff, which averaged about 42 per cent. The McKinley bill, he explained, increased the duties to an average of *0 per cent. He continued: You understand from what I have said that the tariff Is no now subject with the people of the United States. It Is one about which wq have disputed a good share of the time that we have been a nation. It is one in which the policy of one party has prevailed for a time and then been overturned by those who differed from them. Now wo find this same old question presented again, and presented in a more exaggerated form than it ever was before, because, with a nation more than a century of age, with institutions more than 100 years old, with manufacturing industries that have outgrown the infantile years, wo find one areat party insisting that the tariff t*x shall be increased for the protection of manufacturing industries beyond any point it ever reached in the nation's history, and wo naturally find another party arrayed upon the other side.

Whore the Difficulty Lios. The great difficulty, as I have said, result* from the fact that the masses of the American people considered the question too deep for their comprehension, and for that reason they have allowed political leaders, perhaps on both sides, to do their thinking for them. I have never had any fear that any question would be finally settled wrong if the people could be made to comprehend it. There arc very few men in the United States who have not at heart the best interest* of the nation, very few who would willlnvly deposit a ballot they honestly believed would prejudice or hartn th* nation or State in any manner or form. So long as questions are of a character that the people can understand and do comprehend, lust so long is it safe to say that in the end they will be settled for the best interests of the state and nation at large. Remembering that the tariff is a tax, and that it is a method by which the government raises a large portion of its revenues, and remembering that all taxes come from the people, I want to invite your attention to the question whether it is just or unjust that taxes should bo levied tor any other purpose than the. necessary revenue of the government. You know, of course, how your State, county and municipal taxes are levied. You know they are laid with a view of making those who are able to bear the expense* pay them. When we come to those national taxes we have been inclined to look at them as something w* don’t pay, something that comes from Somewhere else; and I am sorry to say a great many speakers and writers try to inculcate that belief in the public mind. They have made many people believe that they don't pay the tariff tax. You take no receipt for it; no officer collects It.

Governor Boles went on to show that the tax 1b collected from the eonaumer by reason of the increased price he pays tor goods. He proceeded: . No leas a man than Congressman Burrows told an audience of intelligent people in Des Moines that the foreigner pays the tax and that be preferred the foreigner to be so burdened in the interests of our common people. I am sorry to hear a man make such a statement, for more than one reason. If I could be made to believe that the foreigner pays the taxes necessary to support the Government that protects us I should consider it one of the strongest objections that could possibly be urged against a protective tariff. The Government la for our protection and not for the protection of any foreigner. If any foreign nation adopted a plan by which Americana were me du to pay the expenses of their Government I should say that in some manner and by some means we should rid ourselves of such an injustice. [Applause.] Andi say, further, that if we had the power to make other nations beat our expenses. I believe every man and woman 1 address have too much honor and self-respect to permit the foreigner to maintain the Government that protects us and does not protect him. Governor Boies then explained the Democratic principle of levying taxes for revenue only, urging that protection to certain industries Is unjust to the masses of the people. The Republicans, of course, he said, try to disguise the fast that the masses are being tqxed to enrich favored manufacturers. The fact Is easily demonstrated and wlthlu the comprehension of all who consider the question squarely on its merits. A ?;reat hubbub is being made over the act that the prices of certain commodities have not advanced under the McKinley bill. Bald the Governor: I'oMlbllitle* Under the McKinley Act. “The McKinley law would allow the manufacturers to raise prices If they dared. But they have as much business sense as other classes. The McKinley bill was a surprise to the country up to the time of its passage. The Republicans claimed that the tariff should be reformed in the interest of the masses, but it was soon demonstrated that instead of reducing the tariff on many necessities it increased it. Never in the whole world was such a protest entered against any legislation. A majority of twenty In the lower house of Congress was swept away and replaced by an overwhelming majority of the opposing party. But they say prices have not gone up and you should come to your senses and vote the Republican ticket. Now suppose manufacturers had taken the advantage the McKinley bill gave them and increased prices, what would have been the result? Why, a wave of Indignation such as swept brer the country two years ago would follow, until there was not a vestige of the tariff law left. They knew that and did not raise prices.” Gov. Boies said the alarm which followed his famous corn speech was due to the fact that the Republicans were afraid of the farmers sitting down and figuring their profits and losses. They wanted them kept in ignorance so that the protected classes should still be maintained largely at their expense. C oncludlng, he said: Now. my tanner friend*, go home and *lt by your fireside* and figure out the situation upon your own farm*. If, when you get through, you think it 1* right and ju*t that you should be taxed to build up manufacturing Industrie* away down on the Atlantic coast to make somebody rich whom Vou never saw or heard of; if yon think that 1* jnat to your wife and children, why, go on and vote the Republican ticket.’ But If you see that it is wrong, that what you earn and what your wife and children earn belongs to yourself and not to some Eastern monopolist, then come over to the Democratic party, for that is where you belong.