| Show ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS I To the Editor of The Salt Lake Herald I I am like Tyro a naturalized citizen citi-zen and raising an American family and am also desirous of casting an intelligent ballot therefore I also take the liberty of asking a few questions ques-tions which I hope you will kindly answer FirstI am informed that a plank in the Democratic platform reads thus A Protective Tariff is unconstitutional and a Fraud Is this really so or is it only a Democratic joke If it is unconstitutional and a fraud how does it happen that the tariff bill reported by the Democratic committee on ways and means provides for a partial protection pro-tection to a great many industries and the same bill already approved by the president who was elected under a free trade platform Is not that compromising com-promising with the devil Henry Henry Watterson the great expounder of Democracy in his speech favoring the present Democratic platform said The Democratic party is a free trade party or it is nothing Now which Is it a free trade party or nothing SecondI am also told there is a clause in the platform which says that the party believes in and advo I cates Equal rights for all and special spec-ial privileges to none How does that accord with the fact that in said bill some industries are protected while others are not For instance It appears that the farmers wife who produces eggs must do so in competition competi-tion with foreigners without the 5c per dozen duty provided by the McKinley Mc-Kinley law Is it because eggs are raw material It occurs to me that the egg producer is entitled to the same rights and the same protection that is accorded the Louisiana rice producer who is protected by a duty of 70 percent per-cent on his raw material but of course you know best ThirdI have also heard something said about class legislation war taxes etc etc How about the proposed pro-posed tax on incomes Could not that be aimed at a certain class citizens Is not that a tax that is rarely resorted re-sorted to except when justified by the existence ofa heavy war debt FourthI understand that the Democratic Demo-cratic party is very solicitous for the consumer to see that he be not burdened bur-dened with heavy tariff taxes is that the reason why the party wants to legislate him out of a job so that he I will have no money to buy with and consequently no tariff taxes to pay I F J HAMMERLAND Honeyville U T Jan 10 1894 I We publish the foregoing so that I our correspondent will not have it to say that The Herald refused him a I hearing If he sends it out as a joke we are of the opinion that it is a very inferior class of humor If he means it seriously we regard it as an attempt at smartness without any success What he has heard and what he knows do not appear to amount to a great deal of sound sense The tariff bill introduced by Mr Wilson is just what it purports to bea reform measure meas-ure It is not a bill for protection but for revenue only That is to say the purpose of putting duties on certain foreign imports is to provide revenue for the government to be economically expended for public purposes Therein differing from the purpose of the McKinley Mc-Kinley bill which was to protect certain cer-tain classes of the people and the revenue reve-nue derived was incidental to the main object In view If our Honeyville friend cannot comprehend com-prehend this radical difference the fault is either with his political education educa-tion or his mental calibre As the whole purpose in view is different to that of the protective theory of tariffs there is no compromising with the devil in it Our correspondents notion no-tion of a revenue tariff seems to be no tariff at all because by imposing it on any article of manufactures protection pro-tection may be incidentally afforded to some American Industry As to the term free trade almost any schoolboy who has read up on the subject would inform him that it is used in reference to a revenue tariff in opposition to a protective tariff and that it does not mean absolute free trade which would be no tariff OP anything Tariff reformers are called free traders while the high tariffites who advocate duties almost prohibitive prohibi-tive are called protectionists As to the farmers wife who produces eggs we do not have any information If there is any such a producer in Honeyville the world ought to be informed in-formed concerning the prodigy Down in this region the hens perform the work and they do not need any protection protec-tion except a warm nest and a good coop As eggs are raised in sufficient quantities by American hens both for home use and exportation there is no need for the five cents duty imposed by the McKinley law The hens will not stop laying if the tariff does not protect them The income tax was in operation in England from 1798 to 1816 and has been collected both in times of war and times of peace being increased at some periods and decreased at others oth-ers Ever since 1842 it has continued in force up to the present time It is in operation in the severa German states as well as in Prussia the chief of them also in Austria and Italy It is no more class legislation than is a tax on property which of course is collected only of property owners nor than a poll tax collected of individuals individu-als between given ages nor than a revenue rev-enue tax of any kind Our correspondent correspon-dent needs a political primer c i I As to the Democratic party wanting to legislate anybody out of a job that is worse than maudlin idiocy it Is criminal libel Is there anybody outside of an asylum for the insane that really believes the Democrats or the Republicans want to legislate a copsumer or a producer out of a job Demagogues on the platform and through the press may hurl accusations accusa-tions of that kind against their opponents oppo-nents but all but children and the feebleminded I fee-bleminded understand that to be party buncombe and political badinage There may be people who believe that the policy of the Democratic party par-ty will lead to disaster to the workingmen work-ingmen as statistics show the policy of fie Republican party has operated But no reasonable person believes that either the Democratic or Republican party wants to Injure the workingman and our correspondents intimation is a weak attempt to cast a slur upon the Democratic party and his whole letter shows that he is trying to tackle things he does not understand If he desires information let him ask for It in a decent de-cent way If he wants to be funny let him obtain the aid of somebody who has a modicum of wit and a humorous hu-morous manner |
