Show t L AND THE TARIFF h 8 Andrew Carnegie the exemplar of oC r wealth created by tariff favor has bas writ I ic in for the century magazine an ar article art 1 j t tide Icle on tariff revision which Is c ceraIn r rf f aIn to cause a profound sensation 4 among mong the beneficiaries of or Import tax I atlon flon on Not since Rince Mr Ur Havemeyer the igar magnate declared that the theT T tariff riff Is the mother of trusts has hasi i 1 There been such a frank admission of j f yie he fact that the tariff Is no longer deemed a necessary even by those who 1 Save litt ne profited most by b It j What What purpose Mr Carnegie has In making his statement at this time Is Isi i Wt not known nor need his motives be questioned since a reduction In n the thc 0 Schedules Is iI not likely lIkel to profit him or ri r It i his Interests However great weight i must attach to what lie he says aYs because u S o fa individual American has been ku su j f directly enriched by b tariffs and the 1 teel Industry in which he Is still a aI aJ aI I I powerful J factor Is the object of ot at atas atI I 1 Ick as one of ot the most vicious I lous of or the established with tile me aid of I tariff legislation Moreover what hat Is T true rue of ot the steel trust is also true of 3 other trusts which paral t its history t The Tho most significant paragraph of i Mr Carnegles contribution reads I f rhe he writer has hall cooperated in making makinI 1 reductions r as steel manufacturers 1 I I became able to bear reductions r Today f 1 they th ey need no protection unless perhaps In 1 I onie new specialties unknown to te the writ j i y fir r because steel is now produced cheaper I fierI bere n re than anywhere an where else notwithstanding je higher wages paid per man Not a n ton 1 r f steel lit eel is II produced in the world at as ast t I an outlay for fol labor as In our coun o ry n Our coke real coal and iron ores are much cheaper because more easily ob obtained 9 j and transported and our output pr pu man Is la much greater owing chiefly chien to tot t the large standardized orders obtainable t only upon our continent the specialized toll oll mills the machinery kept weeks necks upon uniform shapes without change of oC rolls t and several other advantages l i I i The day da has passed when any an foreign 1 can con seriously affect our steel teel 4 manufacturers tariff or no tariff The I j republic r has become the home of oc steel find nd this Is la the age of steel It may mav mu probably 1 1 ably abl be found that there exists the small 1 manufacturer of oC some specialty In steel which hah still sun needs a measure of oC protection r The he writer hopes if It such there be b the t committee Ommittee will 1111 give patient attention to weh casts cases i e That has been the contention of oft t every evel tariff reformer for some time it itTs ItTs Ts f s bori ut by b y the low prices at which j II steel trust t products have hav been sold soki f abroad i In competition with foreign manufactures s it has been established by 1 every statement of or the steel trust relating to ltd It ft cost co t of oC manufacture tl and yet the Republicans have Insisted 1 that a reduction of oC the tariff on steel t uld mean the ruin of the industry g and the paralysis of the trust l Time Tim was sas when hen the 4 advocates of an 1 tariff argued that the he k JJ l dr p paid the tax ta and a good many m n peo pe 4 e believed the assertion Then it was ry for the salvation of oC the American 1 laborer I bo r from foreign labor competition i r pauper labor I bor as n It was ra called That c f t 1 f r l 1 e aits U t in han haf been beit the importers 6 lf t pauper labor bringing It into more i and more pernicious competition jl i th American citizens than that any am free 11 trade frae policy polley could rould effect Bereft of or these excuses the protected interests now abandon all other pleas j and boldly demand a tariff that shall hall f protect them enough to guard their i monopoly of ot the market and in add addi i Iten give she them R a reasonable profit That reasonable profit was as one of i the or E re Republican campaign campain promises Be Before Before 1 fore the ways was and means committee the theL J L t Interests that argue for an increase in M 1 I We tariff on their particular products t pom om to think that reasonable profit I all the people will stand or more If It congress can be induced to 1 grant ant It The hearing has degenerated c i tto t to a great gre great t grab game ame In which the 1 protection beneficiaries ben are arranging to toI I r grab b everything and leave the I I and producer nothing t It J f Mr Ir Carnegles article had ha no other t t it would be lie valuable because it itJI Ita J JI g a lucid 1 ld exposition of existing g fact tast by b bt t i JUt ft f uth whole knowledge cannot f I U l 1 Steel and iron have il 3 b been en n the sacred acred t white elephants I t tr y t a 1 r lo I of the protective cult From Fron Pig Iron Kelly Kell down to Payne and Dalzell the apostles of or a robber roHber tariff have hae pointed to the steel Industry as an art example of oC the benefit and need of o a prohibitive duty dut Mr Ir Carnegie says sa s such a duty Is no longer necessary that the in infant Infant Infant fant Industry has grown to maturity and Is able to get along without the nourishing aid of ot the tariff and nd by in inference Inference inference ference It Is fair to assume assume that the same thing Is true of the hundred and andone andone andone one industries which have hae attained trust proportions and are robbing the whole nation by b the grace of oC a Republican Republican lican tariff In his liis discussion the laird of oC Skibo says Ia the present tariff penalizes the rich richand and bears lightly on the poor We Ye to differ with him im without seeing the tile text of f his l ls argument It u may ma be beIJ IJ 13 that the articles consumed eon umed and anda a J 1 by the rich bear high duties but venture to say sa that the very er large proportion of or money collected at the tha th customs results directly and Indirectly I 1111 In n the impoverishment pr dU dUIng Ing classes clas es Little duty dut ib is i c Ct d on steel products but the existence of oC a high duty dut on such products has enabled the steel trust to t charge chargo exorbitant nt prices for tor steel rails ralls barbed wire structural structural tural turn steel and every eer other article le leste cf ef steel ste manufacture These prices result In excessive Mst cost of o railroad con construction c on n in high building costs and an in i raising raiding the price of living to every eel In Individual Individual consumer r in the nation It results In an indirect tax for the profit of the steel trust without any an commensurate commensurate return to the government or ur the individual who is taxed When hen the nation collects and spends a billion dollars annually most cf oJ which comes front from customs duties s it itis Itis Itis is useless to say the he tariff tax doe not IlOf II dome ome out of ot f the pocket of the people ople They know knon better bett and while some cf of them believe honestly that they th do not pay their share of the tax the masses can an count the cost cst In almost everything e er they eat wear or use in their dally d ll life It is probable the present congress n l ss will follow Its predecessors in Republican can legislation and maintain the exist existing ing lag duties it does there will m be bc bean bean an accounting atthe next congressional al a election Big crops at high prices and an enormous natural resources being turned Into wealth cannot always alwa s con continue continue continue The taxing power of the gov government government has almost reached the limit of the producers capacity to earn and Mr Ir Taft is only recognizing the lie In Inevitable evitable reaction when he pleads for foran foran foran an honest revision of oC the tariff In be bc behalf behalf half of ot which Mr Carnegie has con contributed contributed contributed a most potent argument |