Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1902 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

Protectionism Doomed. The discontent of the people under the tyranny of protected monopolies Is spreading rapidly. Farmers are tired of paying two prices for the commodities they buy, while they get only the competitive prices of the world markets for the products they have to sell. Laborers are tired of paying monopoly prices for the food, clothing and other articles they consume, while their wages are depressed instead of raised by so-called “protection” from foreign “pauper labor.” Last and not least, the Independent manufacturers are very tired of paying heavy duties on raw or partly manufactured materials used iu their manufactures. They are manufacturing more than can be sold In the home market, but they are doubly hand icapped in their attempts to secure foreign, markets, first, by the high prices of the raw materials they need, and, secondly, by the prohibitive duties on foreign goods which effectually prevent any exchange of commodities. The attitude of the protectionists is curious. They profess great anxiety to extend our export trade. They are eager to pay bounties and subsidies to secure larger foreign markets, but they per sistently refuse to receive any compensation for the American goods exported. This is world wide philanthropy in the most acute form. Meanwhile the people must pay the bills unless they have the courage and intelligence to rebel against this senseless and repressive system. The Philadelphia Record sums up the situation admir ably in the following editorial: “A recent official statement of the trade of the country shows that our imports of crude and partly crude materials of manufacture have reached the heavy aggregate of a million dollars per day. The tariff taxes upon wool, hides, iron, steel, lead, lumber, fibres, ores, caal, chemicals and other necessary materials of industrial use are so burdensome and in many instances so needless for purposes of revenue that, furnishing as they do a serious handicap upon the manufacturers of the country in their struggle for a place in foreign markets, they are building within the Republican lines a growing disaffection. President McKinley recognized the fault In the Dingley tariff, and sought to bring about a measurable relief through the negotiation of schemes of reciprocity. But there is no real solvent for the trouble except in the reduction or repeal of the duties. “The working of the taxes on the raw material of industry is Illustrate* Wy the tax on imported hides. By increasing the cost of leather in the home market the manufacturer is put at a disadvantage In selling his wares abroad at the same time a commodity of the first necessity Is made dearer for the consumer. But this Is not all. The rebate paid to tanners on exported leather made from Imported hides enables the foreign buyer to purchase American leather 5 or 10 per cent cheaper than our own shoe manufacturers can buy It. The purchase of imported hides, with the assurance of a rebate of duty when exported, enables the importer to »keep the home price at the level of foreign prices, so that no protective advantage results to the home producer. In its operation the tax on hides is of no service except to the foreign buyer of leather. It Is a direct injury to leather makers and leather users, and a failure for purposes of revenue. “It Is against this sort of backhanded boomerang protection that there is a steadily growing cry of revolt within the lines of the party which upholds a monster it fears to attack."

A Day of Reckoning Coming. The Baltimore Sun can’t understand why the protectionists still cling to their false and foolish gods. It says: “It is a puzzle to the average American to think why our protectionists continue to tight bitterly for existing high tariff rates, while nt the same time boasting of their ability to sell American manufacturers largely In foreign markets. Year by year they sell more nnd more of their wares abroad and could sell a great deal larger quantities of goods if they would systematically cater to the foreign demand. This means, of course, that they can undersell the foreign manufacturer In his own country and can undersell him here with ease. Then why, unless for pure hogglshness, do they still demand a law to enable them to keep out foreign goods?" It is not difficult to understand why the high priest of protectionism so vehemently Insist that the people shall have no other gods before their great fetich. The protected monopolists have waxed fat under the benficent reign of protectionism, and it Is these same fat, prosperous monopolists that contribute the campaign funds for the use of the protectionist priests. The attitude of the protectionists Is perfectly consistent and natural. Nevertheless, a day of reckoning is surely wmlng, when this great Juggernaut, which has so cruelly oppressed the people, will be overthrown and broken In pieces, and the people will be freed from all the burdensome taxes levied to keep up this mummery of protectionism.

The Public Will Have No Benefit. 'rhe jiayment of subsidies to vessels, whether they carry cargoes or not, Is « gratuity of no use to the public. The payment of subsidies will not have

effect of reducing freight rates a particle. The Frye bill allows subsidies to vessels regardless of their ages. An obsolete type steamer may get a subsidy. If the Senator thinks this kind of business is popular it Is likely to discover that It is possible for its judgment to make a miscalculation.—Minneapolis Journal.

A Subsidy Absurdity. One of the most diverting pretensions of the ship subsidy mongers is that their bill when passed would mean the immediate establishment of a semiweekly line of fast steamers to England; a fortnightly mall to Brazil; a weekly line to Manila; another to .Japan, China and Hongkong; another to Australia, and another to Pago Pago. What are these subsidized lines to do? Is it proposed to drive competing lines off the high seas with subsidy? Some of these steamers would be as idle as a paffited ship on a painted ocean. But that they may be kept iu operation the bill eliminates the former provision that they shall carry cargoes equal to 50 per cent of their registered tonnage. To make up for want of full cargoes they will, It is assured, return at least $3,000,000 of the subsidy in postage! The absurdity of this is seen by the fact that with the exception of the new line to England, which could not absorb a considerable share of ocean mail service, and the line carrying letters to and from the army in the Philippines the new lines would bring small postal revenue to the Treasury. If, as asserted, there be an enormous deficit in the British postal revenues for carrying ocean mails, what would be the probable result to the United States Treasury from this subsidy scheme?—Philadelphia Record.

The Tariff Cannot Stand. It becomes more evident every day that the present tariff schedule cannot stand much longer. The paramount issue of the Congressional elections this year will be the tariff and the old lines will be changed very decidedly. There are many men now demanding a reduction of duties who even two years ago would have stubbornly opposed any such thing. The split in the Republican party on this question is widening rapidly. The Republican press is even more divided than the Republican politicians. Seldom has any party in this country been so much at sea as the Republicans are now on reciprocity. They are famous folk for getting together, but if they can reconcile their differences on this question they will beat their own record.—Atlanta Journal.

Farms Not Making Millionaires. The agriculturist of an agricultural country cannot be benefited by a tariff on agricultural products. But they can be greatly injured by a tariff on the things they use. If they have to pay more than their foreign competitors for the tools they use, the clothes they wear, the food they purchase, the material needed for fences and buildings, they are manifestly handicapped in the contest, and that is what the American farmer Is experiencing. The farm is not making any Schwabs er Carnegies or Rockefellers or Morgans—at least not directly. These suddenly acquired fortunes are not the result of tilling the soil, but the tillers of the soil are contributing to every one of them.—lndianapolis Sentinel.

Leave No Trace of Occupancy. The United States should now keep their hands off Cuba. There should be no coaling stations, no naval or military bases on the island. The government we promised the Cubans has been formed—perhaps with too much interference —and will be finally established on May 20, the day set for the evacuation of Cuba by the United States troops. After that date there should remain no trace of United States occupancy other than those monuments we have erected there in the form of civil and civilizing government, improved sanitation and educational methods. To retain Cuban territory is to retain Cuba. The evacuation must be complete.—Utica, N. Y., Observer.

When the Tariff Shoe Pinches. The iniquities of the tariff are becoming more and more known through the study of the question in specific Instances. No matter how strong a newspaper may be in favor of the high protective tariff it will not be likely to tolerate the tariff on blank paper and wood pulp that takes money out of Its pocket and places it in the pockets of the paper trust.—Memphis Commercial Appeal.

A Wolf in Sheep’s CTothins. The hypocrites are still talking about protecting the American farmer by starving Cuba and making it impossible for the Island to buy our farm products. Just now the ‘‘great American farming Interests” that are calling for this program are located in Washington and go by the name of Henry Oxnard.—Sioux City Tribune.

It la Ever Thna. The Oxnard beet sugar trust is trying to do the biggest business on the smallest capital that ever was attempted by any other trust in the country. With an annual product worth |4,500,000 and no more, the trust is trying to control the entire sugar market for *90,000,000 a year. The tall is trying to wag the dog.—Chicago Chronicle.