are really one factor in the production of wealth. But labor is intelligent; it is life itself and must control. Either the laborer must own the capital, or unite his interests with the owner of it. Then the interests of capital and labor are united, and protection to labor comes under the law of self-preservation. Labor-saving machinery would be utilized for the benefit of all, and wealth would increase, and poverty, with its consequent crime, degradation, and misery, would disappear, and the blessings of a true republic bring to realization all that the patriot fathers aimed to accomplish.

CHAPTER XVI.

TARIFF.

"The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of the few, and to render the masses poor and dependent."-Daniel Webster.

"If I could, I would have free trade with all the world, without toll or custom-house."-Emerson.

INTIMATELY Connected with the question of the relations of labor and capital is that of tariff. The question arises from a conflict of local interests, as a method of raising a national revenue and protecting certain industries. In manufacturing districts, high rates of tariff are contended for, and in agricultural districts the theory of low rate and even free trade seems to prevail.

A tariff is a tax or duty laid on certain articles or commodities imported from foreign countries, as a mode of revenue and for the protection of domestic manufactures.

As a source of revenue, it is quite generally admitted. This arises from the concessions of political parties in recognizing a tariff; but this method for revenue is open to serious objections,

even if a better system were not at hand. As a means of protection, it is a complete success to the extent to which it is carried. But whom does it protect? Labor, and thus lift it from servile dependence? The fact, as shown in the United States Census Reports, that wage-labor is less than a dollar a day, and has steadily decreased about eight per cent since 1870, will show that labor is not the object of its fostering care. But somebody is protected. The rapid increase of capital in manufacturing and mining localities answers the question. But the tariff system is open to other serious objections, which will be considered in this chapter.

Not only will the reader's judgment be appealed to, but facts from authentic sources will be presented to explain why politicians and subsidized journals are so sensitive on this subject. Let us illustrate :

"A St. Louis merchant went to New York to purchase goods. He first called on an English merchant who sold goods from his own manufactory in England. The St. Louis merchant asked the price of some woolen goods, and was told two dollars a yard. Said he,How is this? Before the war I got this kind of goods for one dollar a yard.' 'Yes,' replied the English merchant, 'such was the price then, but your government has put one dollar a yard duty on this goods, and now we sell for two dollars, and pay one dollar to your

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government, and put the other dollar in our own pocket.' The St. Louis merchant crossed the street to an American merchant, who manufactures his own goods in the United States, and asked the price of the same quality of goods, and was told two dollars a yard. He replied, How is this? The English merchant sells the same article at the same price, and he pays a duty on his goods.' 'That's so,' said the American merchant; 'the English merchant sets the price, and we sell at his price, and that's where we have the advantage of him. We put the two dollars in our own pocket.'

If the duty be laid on imported goods of the same kind that are manufactured in this country and sold, the duty goes to the government; but if manufactured in this country and sold, the duty is added to the cost of manufacture, and goes into the pocket of the manufacturer.

To show the inconsistency and injustice to our industries, let us take two of the staple products of our own country, namely, sugar and tobacco. A duty of from two to five cents a pound is laid on sugar, and an internal-revenue tax is laid on tobacco.

Through the manipulation of the markets, capitalists control the price of sugar, and wholesale dealers and refiners receive a profit equal to the duty imposed on all the products of this country, at the expense of the consumers. On the other hand, a tax is laid on the tobacco that is produced

in this country; that goes direct to the government. So we see that in one instance the benefit goes to the favored capitalist, in the other it is paid by the producer. This discrimination is in favor of a certain class and against another. Even if the sugar-producer got the benefit, the injustice would have been no less; but the government is never guilty of favoring production. Both commodities are produced and imported, and bear the same relation to industry and trade.

It is urged that tariff increases the price of labor and of agricultural products, thus increasing the prosperity of the country.

It may be of interest to the reader to look back and ascertain if protection in the past has done anything in the way of redeeming the promises. that have been made in its behalf.

"Unfortunately for purposes of comparison, this country has never enjoyed absolute free trade since the machinery of the Constitution was got into working order. We will have to content ourselves with comparisons between periods of high duties and periods of low duties. If protection possesses the virtue claimed for it by its advocates, every advance in the rate of duty will be found to have been succeeded by, first, an increase in population through immigration; second, a falling off of exports, of farm products; and third, in an increase in the price of the same; and on the other hand, under periods of low duties the opposite of the foregoing results will be found to have succeeded.