| Show = = HIGH TARIFF AND LOW PRICES Our protectionist neighbor indulges in another of its contradictory dissertations disser-tations on the tariff the chief purpose of which appears to be to convince The Herald that a high tariff reduces the price of commodities But at the same time it contends that the cause which produces those low prices makes I high prices for wool How that happens hap-pens it does not attempt to explain Indeed there Js not much explanation about its attempt but rather indulgence indul-gence in its common spitting of spite and venomous expressions Where our unpleasant neighbor found anything in The Herald as to the price of tin eonneetloll with the tariff we do not know A little more salt appears necessary to keep the Tribune from decay Its elaboration of the subject of salt manufacture is entirely outside of anything The Herald Her-ald baa advanced on this questioI But here is something which none of the high protectionists have been able to make clear to common folks If the effect of a protective tariff is to reduce re-duce prices and through its operations opera-tions they have been brought down slow s-low that in many cases the home goods are sold for less than the duty on the foreign article what is the good of the duty and why keep up the tariff And if prices have been so reduced re-duced as claimed through the operations opera-tions of the tariff what was the sense of McKinleyism in putting up duties higher than they ever were before The avowed object of protection is to raise the cost to the consumer of imported articles so that the AmerIcan AmerI-can manufacturer may be protected Where is hIs protection but in the opportunity afforded him of charging as much for his productions as the cost of the foreign article with the duty added If that is not the purpose pur-pose of a high tariff it is not protection protec-tion The improvements in machinery and the facilities for manufacturing which have increased with experience and the skill acquired by intelligent practice prac-tice for years both by employers and employees have lessened the price of a great many commodities They could be put on the market at a much cheaper rate with fair profits to the capitalists if it were not for the protection pro-tection affQrded them by a high tariff That enables them to charge higher prices for their wares than they would dare to do if the taiiff was lowered or taken off the class of goods they sell These are simple facts that anybody can understand But who can see any sense in putting a high duty on a given import if the same class of article ar-ticle can be produced and sold here for less than the duty If It is true as protectionists claim that this is the case where is the excuse for not only retaining the duty but making it higher high-er as in the McKinley bill Further If the workings of protection protec-tion have been to bring down prices why are manufacturers and their Republican Re-publican protectors so averse to lowering lower-ing the tariff If the higher the tariff the lower the price of commoditiest then the lower the tariff the higher the price of commodities and the greater the profits of the class which the Republican Re-publican party desires to protect The truth is that the protection argument argu-ment lacks an essential feature truth as its foundation Its supporters kill their own arguments That is one reason rea-son why some of them our morning contemporary for instance I cannot put a case or reply to an opponent without becoming abusive they find themselves in a corner and so get spiteful spite-ful and vituperative Tariff reform is a necessity of the times It is at hand All the auger and nonsense > of the protectionists will avail nothing When it has had tim to bring forth its benefits the court 0 a E 1 try will rejoice in the change and will wonder why the high protective tariff was permitted so long to survive t |
