MONDAY, JULY 20. 1909.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13966, 26 July 1909, Page 2

MONDAY, JULY 20. 1909.

THE AMERICAN TARIFF. Once more the Aiueikun people have been sacrificed on Ihe altai of high Protection. For some years they have agitated for a reduction of the heavy duties imposed by the Dingley taiiff, and it was hoped that the revision recently undertaken would jrive them some relief. The Republicans, according to the Evening Mail, a Republican paper published in New York, have never gone into Congress more definitely pledged to a course of action than they were to a downward revision of the tariff, but the promises* of platforms and candidates have been trampled under foot ; politics, not patriotism, and greed for special privilege rather than regard for the common welfare, have become the dominant influencs in the Senate. The tariff has been revised, it is true, but the effect of revision is to raise the average duty slightly, from about 44 to 45 per cent., so that it is not surprising to learn that the feeling among the j>eople is one of betrayed confidence and indignation. The trusts have triumphed over the people and their representatives in Congress. There is a general impression, especially among the advocates of protective tariffs, that America is a country of high wages; and so it is in a sense, but the high cost of living neutralises the advantage. The true test of w^ges is their relation to the cost of living. * Taking railway men as representative, since 1892 their wages have been raised from 1\ to 12 per cent. But in 1907 a ten years' comparison showed wholesale prices to have risen over 50 per cent. Retail prices had probably increased in an even greater degree, bo it will be seen that the cost of living must have increased out of all proportion to the rate of wages. Then the pictures drawn by Foster Fraser of the conditions of labour in some branches of labour in America are every bit as horrible as are to be found in the worst sweated industries of England, so it is evident that Protection does not protect the worker from being exploited and downtrodden. Nor does it prevent trade depression, for the depression which has been general all over the world for the last two years commenced in America and was more acute there than anywhere else. A higii tariff, however, does enable the rich manufacturers to become richer at the expense of their workpeople and the consumers. How do they manage to " dump " cheap goods in the English market? The tariff prevents other countries from competing with tlieui in their own market, ami they export their surplus manufactures at any sacrifice in order to guard against the glutting of their own markets with their own goods and a consequent fall in ]nices. By this means they make the American purchaser of, say, a pair of boots pay for that pair and, in addition, make up the loss on another pair "dumped" in England and sold there at halfprice. A well-known writer declared- some time ago that the Americans have to pay at least 45 per tent. (Customs duty) extra on their imports of same 570 million dollars, and they have also to pay proportionately higher prices on the far greater quantity of local produce used in their domestic commerce. For every one who gains by the tariff there are probably ten who lose. Is it any wonder, then, that the people are indiguant with their representatives for permitting the tariff revision to go through without easing their burdens!' In New Zealand we have not yet reached the stage when trade and industry are dominated by trusts and wealthy manufacturers, but we are drifting that way, and the experience of America should enable us to see how difficult it is to throw this "old man of the sen" which protective tariffs foster, when once it has secured the upper hand.