Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1912 — What a High Tariff Wall Does. [ARTICLE]

What a High Tariff Wall Does.

Ten per cent of the annual expenditures of the American people represents the burden of indirect taxation through import duties. The Republican protective tariff has been responsible for at least one-tenth of the increased cost of living since 1896. The tariff tax per family averages $l2O a year. Of this $l2O, sl6 reaches the United States treasury and about $lO4 goes' to the beneficiaries of the , tariff—the manufacturers largely, whose profits the Republican party undertakes to insure by preventing competition from abroad. The Democratic tariff bills passed by the house would have saved the consumer $740,000,000 in a year, and the saving would be $1,903,000,000 if all the tariff schedules were written ‘“for revenue only," instead of for the "pro t ection” of the favored few. Here.are presented concrete examples df the higher cost of living due to the tariff, which was written so high in the Payne-Aldrich law that competition from abroad is unprofitable and impossible. The American manufacturer, therefore, is permitted to boost his prices up to what his goods could be imported for. plus the American duty. .