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Show HIGH TARIFF WIS HHWEHMH Large Land Owners Declared Responsible for Prohibitive-Duties Prohibitive-Duties Demanded. CHANGE IS IMPERATIVE Free Foreign Imports Said lo Be Only Remedy; Economical Economi-cal Conditions Desperate. By FREDERICK WERNER. Special Cable to Tho Tribune. mSHLlN, Uct. III. Tho population of the German empire numbers about six-ty-i'i ; millions, and most of those live in the cities, occupied in industrial and commercial enterprises, but in spito of this it is the largo land owners who decide tho politics of tho empire, impose im-pose the taxes and determine the duties levied oh all imports. As a result, (ioriuanv is separated from tho rest of tho world by high tarifl" walls, and duties are paid on moat and all kinds of foodstutfs. The duty is in many cases so high tbat il is. practically prohibitive, which means that tho statu derives no income from it. The regime of the great land owners has found a. remedy against this too to raise tho necesMiry roveiiuo for tho state a. number of heavy taxes havo been laid on the shoulders of thu people, which am promptly paid, to bo sure, but which in tho main hit only the large population ' of tho cities, whilo the rural population goes froe. Tax Arouses Storm: During last year Germans paid fveivo million marks in taxes on tobacco, twenty nino million marks on cigarettes, I4f5 millions on sugar, fifty-nine millions mil-lions on salt, 1S3 millions on alcohol, 122 millions on beer, twelve millions on petroleum, seventeen millions on matches, and Ho ou. To understand the injustice of this, quo should note that iu tho (.tcrman empire, whose legislators stubbornly rofuso to increase tho inheritance in-heritance tax on iho groat fortunes and enormous landod estates, tho nco-plo nco-plo aro taxed . seventeen million marks a year '.on .matches alone. This particular tax. which is only four years old, arouse?!' a storm of indignation, in-dignation, but llio ".junkers" (landowners) (land-owners) forcod it through, while at tho same time, brutally refusing "tho liberal party's demand for an - increased inheritance in-heritance tux. The tax on matches pays well for the Germans are a patient people. High Prices Must Change. Tho Gorman chancellor of empire has, during recent weeks, held several conferences con-ferences to discuss measuros to end the rise in tho price of meat, but few are tho Germans who expected any permanent good to result from those. Evcryono knows beforehand that tho government cannot and will not adopt the only effective remedy to opcu tho gates to free imports from, abroad. On tho contrary, Germany's politics is now more than ever based on, the narrow interests of the laud owners," and only a revolutionary movement, might bring about, a change and cause thoso in power lo give in. It is difficult diffi-cult to sav if Such a general revolution revolu-tion will come, but ono thing is certain, cer-tain, economical conditions in Germany arc desperate today among hundreds of thousands of families of the working work-ing and middle classes, whore it is simplv impossible to provide the necessary neces-sary .food because of the high prices. |