Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1908 — SENSELESS PROTECTION. [ARTICLE]

SENSELESS PROTECTION.

Wall Known Indianapolis Manufacturer • peaks Out In Mooting, It is well to emphasize on occasion that the tariff is a tax paid by the people and that no industry can acquire a rested right in its permanent payment. Surely If there were a more general understanding that the tariff is a tax in which private interests share the proceeds with the government there would be a more rigorous questioning of various duties iraposedi than has yet been manifested. In the case of every tariff the government collects the tax only on the foreign article imported, while the home producer collects it on the article made at home. It Is given out that congress is well Informed on the tariff, but It is painfully noticeable that when congress has a tariff law under consideration It falls rapidly away from a discussion ■of duties on their merits and resorts to the famous log rolling method, which is based on that high dictum of statesmanship. “You»tickle me, and I’ll tickle you.” The present tariff la Just such a hodgepodge ns may reasonably he expected under the circumstances. If the “Infant” Industry does not-be-come lusty aud mature after the lapse of some years, then It would seem to be an indication that It Is constitutionally Incapable, In which case taxation in Its behalf Is worse than mone; thrown away. On the other hand, if It does become healthy and strong and able to stand without props, then It is time for the props to he taken away. The magnificent showings of our statistical tables are rather convincing evidence that most of our Industries are able to stand on their own feet at this time, and very little has been heard for years about Infant industries. Frequent charges are made that various duties have thus become “trust” protectors instead of “infant” industry protectors, all of which goes to show that there are various sorts of abuses which may grow up under a protective tariff which is not amended from time to time. Ills well to remember that one of the ways to build up home industries is not to tax the raw materials they use, and also it is a senseless policy which puts a premium on the rapid exhaustion of our natural resources.—D. M. Parry; Extracts From Article in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, September, 1908.