TARIFFS DENOUNCED

Evening Post, Issue 113, 10 November 1930, Page 7

TARIFFS DENOUNCED

SiA BAD) ON-WAGES"

ADDRESS BY MR. P. J., O'REGAN

"The Tariff Swindle, or How Protection Bazes Wages," was the title of the fifth address on tlie "Labour Question," delivered in the Trades Hall last evening by Mr. P. J. O'Began, The address was given under the auspices ,of the New Zealand Land Values League, arid Mr. E. Gosse presided. The word tariff, said Mr. o'Began, was said to be derived from Tarifa, a small town at tho entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, whence Arab pirates in the Middlo Ages" were wont to raid civilised commerce. The thing was older than the name, however, for Customs taxes, according to Gibbon, were levied by the Boman emperors, and in fact such taxes ante-dated the Caesars. Neither Boman tyrants nor Arab pirates ever pretended, however, that such taxation was levied in the interests of Labour. That monstrousl fallacy was a modern invention, since it became necessary to humbug men who had votes, but the slightest consideration : would convince any candid inquirer that Customs taxation was an impudent raid on tho earnings of the people. That was by no means all, however, because were it not for iariffs taxation would necessarily be direct, and hence would fall only on people who had property, unless indeed recourse were had to a poll-tax such as that now being levied in this country to cope with the unemployed evil. Customs taxation meant unsound, not to say dishonest, -finance, first because it' took from the taxpayers, in the form of enhanced prices, much more than it placed in the Treasury; secondly, because it meant the farming out of taxes for collection to the . shopkeepers and i tradesmen who sold the goods to the j consumers; and thirdly, because, though it was a sound principle of finance to remit taxation if and when there was a surplus, yet Customs taxation could never be remitted, no matter what the excess of revenue over expenditure, for the reason that vested interests always ■ clamoured for. the retention of duties, j For this reason, as Lord Bryce had j shown in "The American Common-! wealth," the Federal Government of j the United States had an enormous an- j nual surplus, and as the Protectionist j lobbyists would allow of no remission, \ the problem confronting the Govern- ) ment was to find means of spending the j revenue! One plan devised by the Bepublican plutocracy was to spend millions on military and naval preparations which' were not required, for which reason the war with Spain and the European war were regarded as veritable god-sends by American Protectionists. Thus the tariff at once corrupted the public life of a nation and robbed the masses of the people of their earnings.' There was no robbery so infamous as that which was done by the State in the name of law, and unjust taxation invested with the majesty, of the law what was really an act of piracy. If a tariff was to be Protectionist, then it must shut out imports; but if it did that there must soon be a drop in exports, for imports and exports were complementary. Accordingly, when a tariff had the effect of restricting importations, , the revenue would fall, and no amount of tariffrnongering would .balance the Budget. Shis was exactly what was happening So-day both in Australia and in .this country, and the most comforting fea- ' ture "in the situation was that the wreck which tariff-mongering was making of the nation might compel public opinion to read the politicians a much-needed lesson. The . speaker reviewed the fiscal history, of England, maintaining that Tree Trade, as far as it had gone in Britain, had been a great success. Lord Morley, in his "Life of Gladstone," admitted that it was Cobden who had taught both Peel and Gladstone their business, and it was an undeniable fact that the great Budgets associated With, the name of Gladstone and Harcourt would1 have been impossible under Protection. Protection, however, was far from dead in England because had behind it the full, influence of the landlords. Lord Beaverbrook was aggressive because he knew well that the dukes were behind Mm. Mr. Winston. Churchill had once described the so-called Imperial Conference as a "quadrennial squabble overprofit and loss," and he was right. The Conference was being exploited for their own mean ends by the Protectionists; who were using tho colonial delegates as so many pawns ■in their game. There was something painfully ridiculous in the spectacle of colonial tariff-mongers leaving a mass of Pro- . teetionist wreckage behind them and asking Britain to follow their example. It wag the old story of the monkey who had lost his tail. Dealing with the pretence that the tariff assisted to maintain a high rate of wages, the speaker pointed out that wages tended to a common level, that the great mass of unorganised' and unskilled labour could not possibly get any benefit from a tariff^ and that even if wages were raised in the protected industries, wages wouldLsoon be brought'downr.to the general level by the attraction of labourers to the better/-paid-occupa-tions. Protection accordingly was a robber of labour, and there was something daring in the spectacle presented by the robber calling himself a benefactor of 'the working •man. Custoiris • taxation meant that men'who had^no property paid heavy' taxation, but Henry George then maintained that the man who. had nothing but his labour should pay no taxation at all. Finally Customs taxation effectively protected the land monopolist, and it was land monopoly* that was forcing the masses of men to fight-one another for jobs in the labour market. The way out of the morass was quite clear for all-who wished to see it. What the country required was a Budget cutting down the tariff, . commencing with such monstrous imposts as the flour duty and the boot tax, at the same time increasing the land tax. Abundance of cheap land and cheap commodities would soon make the unemployed evil a thing'of history. The workers had the remedy in their own hands, but if they were to be fooled by tariff-mongering and unemployment doles, the present deplorable state of affairs would^ go on indefinitely. , A vote of thanks was given the Bpeaker after he had answered a great irtany questions. Mr. o'Began announced that his next address would be on "Our Land and Our Landless Policy."