APRIL 16, 190
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best and most economical means of supply, it
is not only foolish but useless to seek to de
stroy them. The trusts have come to stay.
Instead of wasting time and energy in fighting
tliem it is clearly the sensible plan to welcome
them, and guide them into safe and beneficent
paths. Legislation can and should be devised
to extract the fangs of the beef trust and other
cruel monopolies that oppress the poor by in
creasing the cost of living. But the beneficent
trusts and nearly all of them can be made so
should be encouraged and fostered by wise and
progressive laws. Kansas City Journal (rep.)
RAISING THE COST OF LIVING
Burdens Which the Payne Tariff Bill Will Im
pose Upon the People and Benefits
to Special Interests
The Payne bill is distinguished from all other
tariff bills in the last thirty years by a duty on
importation of tea. This is a' wise provision.
Every penny, less the cost of collection, upon
importations of tea will reach the United States
treasury. The greater part of the other duties
proposed are simply in the nature of a surrender
of taxation in favor of special private interests
which our government clothes with power to
levy tribute on the great body of consumers.
To illustrate: We will import under the Payne
bill probably about $500,000,000 worth of high
ly protected products which will pay an average
ad valorem rate of duty of at least 40 per cent,
while the domestic producer, by reason of the
prohibitive or restrictive duties of that bill,
through the agency of the trusts, will raise to
the duty line the selling price of more than
$10,000,000,000 worth of like domestic ' pro
ducts to the consumers of this country.
In short, the bill, when enacted, will not only
impose high duties upon $500,000,000 of im
ports, but in practical effect will permit a few
thousand manufacturers to make 90,000,000
consumers pay them tribute of $4,000,000,000
in the enhanced price of their goods.
France exempted its nobles in the eighteenth
century from taxation, while the peasants and
the middle classes defrayed the expenses of gov
ernment. We go further and delegate to a few
thousand men the exclusive privilege of practi
cally taxing for their own benefit the whole body
of our consumers.
This proposed bill of Mr. Payne's will not
curb the plunder of a' single trust. It will not
add a dollar to the public revenue, and revenue
we must have. We have a deficit in the pay- -ment
of ordinary current expenses of the gov
ernment of about $90,000,000. The appropria
tions for the fiscal year 1910 are $1,044,000,
000. It is evident that Mr. Payne and his asso
ciates appreciated the danger that this bill would
not produce sufficient revenue for the expenses
of the government, because they provided for
the sale of $40,000,000 of Panama bonds and
authorized the issue of $250,000,000 of treas
ury certificates. Our tariff makers have simply
provided for forced loans to defray the current
disbursements of the government rather than
to lessen the burdens of consumers by reducing
prohibitive duties and thereby making the bill
produce a sufficient revenue.
The cruel wool and woolen schedules remain
unchanged except as to a slight reduction in
carpet wools, while the duties on carpets of
every description continue, and average from 136
per cent to 156 per cent upon the cheaper grades
of carpets used in flats or apartments by the
poorer people. William Whitman will still enjoy
six cents per pound duty on "tops" notwithstand
ing the cost of changing 100 pounds of wool to
"tops" through "combing" is not five cents. Not
only have the woolen men been secured in the
continuance of high duties on woolens, but the
glass manufacturers are to enjoy even increased
profits on a considerable part of their product.
The duty on the smallest size of plate glass has
been increased from an equivalent of 82 per
cent to 103.04 per cent. The second in size has
been increased from 63 per cent to 73.3 per
cent, while window glass, now made in this coun
try more cheaply than anywhere else in the
world by the use of recently patented machinery
controlled by a single corporation, remains still
protected by duties of from 80 per cent to 200
per cent.
In the schedule devoted to cotton goods and
yarns no material decrease in duties exists, but
there has been an -increase of duty on mercerized
fabrics and an Increase of duty on hosiery so
great as to amount to almost a prohibition of
imports. While a reduction of the duty on
leather has been proposed, still the duty on
women's and children's leather gloves of certain
The Commoner.
sizes has been increased from 30 per cent to
300 per cent over the rates existing in the Ding
ley bill.
There Is, however, no agitator in the world
so powerful as injustice, and ere long the great
body of consumers will appreciate their help
lessness, and then they will unite and put an
end to these oppressive duties. Franklin Pierce
in the New York World.
IS THE "G. O. P.'S" DOOM DAY AT HAND?
Genoa, Ohio, March 15. Editor The Com
moner: Enclosed you will find a clipping from
a local weekly paper. The editor of this paper
is an old republican, eighty-four years old and
I think it quite Interesting to note the view
he now takes of the republican party. He seems
always to have been one of those standpat fel
lows, but he now seems to think that the re
publican party is about to close its career.
G. E. NEIHOUSEMYER.
DOOM DAY
The fate of the republican party seems to be
sealed. President Taft has called a special ses
sion of congress to meet Monday next, to revise
the tariff; which means that it will bo placed
on a comparatively free trade basis. This Is
to be done "to increase the revenue," that the
government may have the money to continue its
extravagance as demonstrated during the past
ten or fifteen years. It Is a little singular that
our lawmakers never think of economizing
never think of dispensing with a horde of useless
officeholders and cutting down the extravagant
salaries of those necessary to transact the busi
ness of the country.
One-half the duties on lumber and the man
ufacture of lumber are to be cut off. Hides
are to bo placed on the free list. The duties on
wool are to be greatly reduced, as well as the
duties on all imported goods of every descrip
tion. A duty is to be put on coffee, and that on
tea Increased. Won't that bo nice? There also
is talk of a revival of the war taxes on telegrams,
bank checks, and so on infinitum. There is also
talk of Imposing an inheritance tax and of re
viving the stamp tax!
All of which forebodes dire disaster to the re
publican party and to the country. If such
statesmanship (?) is carried out, the republican
party has elected its last president. It has been
a grand old party, but it looks as if Its "doom
day" will soon be here. Well, we were in at its
Inception and it may be fitting that we should
witness Its exit.
A STUPENDOUS HOLDUP .
Olof Larsen, a hardware dealer of Lyndon,
Kansas, makes the following interesting contri
bution to tariff literature:
In the March 12th issue of The Commoner,
Mr. Harry Boarman of Washington makes a few
remarks concerning the tariff robbery that the
American people have endured a long time and
are now called upon to endure in a more aggra
vated form than ever for at least four years
more under the monopolistic trust worshiping
administration of Mr. Taft and his cabinet, made
up without a single exception of old cunning,
skilled and unprincipaled corporation attorneys
whose life has been spent in defeating the ad
ministration of our laws, justice and keeping our
rich malefactors out of the penitentiary where
they in all justice and decency belong, by virtue
of such men's works and he assistance of the
corrupt machine ridden republican party and
laws and courts are now become the laughing
stock of the civilized world.
I very much doubt if Mr. Boarman or the
majority of The Commoner's readers realize the
magnitude of this stupendous hold up that we
are forced to stand for. The writer has spent
several years in the employ of the International
Harvester trust, the last four years of which I
spent having charge of a large territory for them
in northern Europe, quitting their employ about
seventeen months ago, am now engaged in the
hardware and implement business here. During
my trips to Europe I sold to European dealers
harvesting machinery F. O. B. cars at Chicago
as follows: Binders $33, mowers $12, hay rakes
$5, and reapers for $15 less than "they are sold
to American dealers, besides selling the Euro
pean trade a special, stronger made and more
durable machine than domestic types, in order
to handle the heavy crops raised over there and
compete with the substantially built European
machines. Here the trust is free from any such
competition as our tariff imposes a prohibitive
duty on machinery, namely $85 on a self binder.
All other American manufactured articles are
sold abroad at about the same ratio, for instance,
a certain Waltham watch movomont which costs
liero $18.50 is sold all over Europe for $12,
m i1 mlght so on and mention hundreds of
articles. The fact Is wo can manufacture goods
cheaper hero in tho United States than they can
in Luropo in a great many instances. There
lore there is no need of any tariff, only for tho
purpose of robbing our own people for tho benefit
of a few "undesirablo" citizons.
In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, whero I
worked, tho railroads are owned and operated
by tho government and although it costs moro
to operato tho roads there than here tho nominal
first class passenger faro is only seven-eighths
of one cent per English mile, and freight and
express rates in tho same proportion; neverthe
less tho roads are making a yearly dividend, a
portion of which Is divided among the em
ployes annually, who aro also pensioned for life
after serving tho government in this capacity
for a certain term of years. Nice comparison,
this, hero in our boasted advanced civilization
tho government in tho hands of the republican
party serves tho office of tho highwayman hold
ing up tho people while tho trust robbers go
through our pockets.
OLOF LARSEN.
STRAWS -BY A WOMAN
Chautauqua, N. Y., April 8, 1909. Editor.
The Commoner: I enclose some political
"straws." Sometime you may care to uso them.
Before tho late election democrats and many
republicans expressed unreservedly their bellof
that if Taft was elected tho twenty-nine million
dollar fine of tho Standard Oil company would
never bo collected or cut in half. A staunch
republican recently said to mo: "Even Mr.
Bryan's bitterest enemy never Imagined tho case
would end as it has recently done. The lane
may be long. I think I can forcseo tho turning."
Last week I asked a "doubly dyed" and most
zealous republican tho following questions. I
am sending you tho result:
If tho democratic party had been in power
for twelve years would not you and all your
newspapers bo crying out over tho "damning ex
travagance" of the democrats because of tho
present large deficit in the public fund?
If a democratic president had been elected
and you knew It took moro than a million dollars
to elect him, and five million moro to inaugurate
him, would not you have been indignant and
soundly denounced tho party for their wanton
extravagance?
If Mr. Bryan had been elected and had asked
for and received an annual appropriation of
$12,000 for automobiles and their care, would
not you have "fussed" long and loud?
If a democratic president had been elected
and had promptly made up his cabinet from cor
poration lawyers giving tho bureau of corpora
tions into the hands of a Standard Oil lawyer
would you not have said to express It mildly
the people are not considered plutocracy con
trols our national government?
If a democratic president had been elected
and immediately tho business men in many In
dustries had reduced tho wages of labor and
closed many plants would you not have laid tho
whole blame of business depression and tho ills
of the unemployed on the party in power?
If a democratic president had been elected and
in a public address, following that election, had
said would you not have said that the
thought behind the expression was treason to
the federal constitution and that personal lib
erty was far from safe?
Now I can not at present recall the exact
wording of that last question and have "passed
on" my papers containing It to neighbors and
voters, but it was a plain statement of what the
legislative, executive and judicial folk must do.
By legislative action, executive decree, and judi
cial interpretation the constitution must be ma
nipulated to fit present conditions. Am sure you
have tho exact wording.
Bishop Warren Candler of Atlanta makes a
fine reply to this same. My Atlanta Journal is
also "passed on."
Well, I asked of my good republican friend
a reply to these questions. The gentleman frank
ly replied: "A' vigorous and a most emphatic,
not to add an Indignant, yes, to each and all
your very pertinent questions."
' It is a bundle of "straws." If they are of any
use to "our party" and the cause of right you
can use them. Not over my name, however,
for they would loso their force. They are a
woman's questions, and being so would ba
"pooh-poohed" by many of your readers.
41
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