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i MR. HOKE SMITH,
ADDRESS AT THE
EAST GEORGIA FAIR
DELIVERED NOVEMBER 9TH IN
Upon the Tariff as It Affects the
ers of Georgia—A System Which
Draws Millions from Georgia as
Tax and Tribute—No Return
Jh'ellow Citizens of Georgia:
I must tell you, with deepest regret,
the latest news points inevitably to the
jfeat of Cleveland.
EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS TARIFF REFORM.
Prepare at once to hear that his
and tariff reform caused the
■success.
You will be advised to abandon
for the hope of future victory.
THE TRUK POLICY.
. 1 am here to-day to urge that you
squarely by the policy of tariff reform.
is the greatest of all issues dividing
democratic and republican parties. It is
fight against the legalized but unjust
centration of the products of the many
the pockets of the few. If it is true
tariff reform caused our defeat, it is
true that organized monopoly has for
t night, without full contradiction, the
doctrine that a high tariff increases
wages of the laborer, while it also blesses
the fanner with a home market. In this
^campaign there was not sufficient time to
meet and answer these unscrupulous state¬
ments. But it will be four years before an¬
other presidential election. Let every dem
ocrat in the meantime study the question.
That victory is only deferred, I am abso¬
lutely certain.
1 desire in the face of defeat to announce
;t growing devotion to the light for a reduc¬
tion of taxation upon the necessaries of
life, and I beg you to listen closely while I
pi* sent my views of the effect of the tariff
tipoh the farmers of Georgia.
NATIONAL TAXATION.
Our government collects taxes
lyuily in two ways—by the internal reve¬
nue anil by the tariff.
THE INTERNAL renknue
jis a tax levied , ... by the T United t j. . States o, a- upon
i he manufacture and sale of liquors and
jrobaeco. realizes 120,000,000 From this source the The government
a year.
fturor and the seller add the tax to
nrice of their liquors and tobaccos, and
.consumer, solid*;pays through the manufacturer
he the tax into the national
reasury. The entire burden, however,
•oiibists of the tax. Tribute is paid to no
me, and, to avoid the tax, all any citizen
of the United States has to do is to let
,i quorsand , tobacco , alone. , It is a therefore .
it voluntary contribution by the
owards the expenses of our national
ierniuent*
THE TARIFF
(is a tax levied by the government upon
ports brought for the use of the people
it-his country from other countries. It is
charged at the custom house, and the
porter adds the tariff to the original cost
’iiis goods to find out what the actual
has been. He theu places his profit upon
ithe actual cost and sells the goods to
Georgia merchants who in turn add
•profits and sell to our people generally,
jSo that, dinally, the consumer pays
tariff on the goods which he uses,
with a percentage of the profit going to
•different customers w*ho handle the goods,
The government realizes from the
'$225,000,000 a year; but the heaviest
iden placed upon the masses by reason
the tariff, as it now exists, is not the amount
(which the government realizes, but is the
ribate paid to certain protected classes
throughout our country. To make this
•plainer, you must know that many
of’cles upon which there is a high pro
! r- ive tariff are produced in this country.
4 tariff,
IN x producer pays no blit he adds to
.the foreign price of the goods a sum almost
equal to tbe ameuut of the tariff duty upon
it tie goods, selliug them just a little under
the foreign price, with tbe duty added, so
as to prevent foreign goods from
into competition with him, and he
from the consumer the foreign value of
goods, and a sum almost equal to the
on the goods. This amount which he
lects from the consumer, almost equal
the tariff, is simply tribute which the la
gives him the power to force from the
et of the consumer into his own.
The theory of a protective tariff, of
present tariff, is based upon the idea
it is wise by legislation to allow one
to compel another to pay a price much
yond the foreign price of goods, the
pose being to help out the profits of
protected party. In other words, it is
system by which a certain class of
sumers is compelled to pay large
to a certain class of producers; and as
tariff averages 47 per cent., the
cost which these favored producers are
lowed to charge, is an average increase
about 47 per cent., for which literally
ing is given in return. In plain
the party benefited by the tariff is
to plunder the party injured
the tariff to the extent of one-third of
entire cost of goods purchased. The
tion therefore naturally arises, do you
long to the plunderers or the
I put it to you practically. Of course
is a higher question even than this;
question as to whether it is right to allow
one class of people to feed upon another
class.
But it is not my purpose to discuss the
justice of making one class of men toil
without compensation for another class, or
making one industry pay tribute to an¬
I wish to see how it affects Georgia
her agricultural interests. Do wegain
lose by the system? To determine this
it is necessary to examine some of
articles which the tariff affects.
things which we buy, or things which
sell? If we buy them we pay tribute
the man who makes them to the
the percentage that they are taxed by
tariff. The following are some of th •
terns, the cost of which the tariff tax
and the per cent, of increased
the customer who must necessarily
article so taxed, is about the jh r
of the tariff:
OF THE ITEMS TIIK COST OF WHICH
TARIFF TAX INCttEASES.
l’er Cent, of
on flannel shirts.......
on woolen shirts.......
plain earthenware, • •
knives and forks... 5
on salt ...............
on pepper.............
Tax on corn starch.......
T x on sugar...............
Tax on woolen dress goods
on common woolen shaw s
\ race chains ............
Tax on bibleg
Tax on common carpets..
blaukets...........
on \>rooms............
X ax on thread...............................
Tax on tin basins............................
Taxon roofing shingles....................
Tax on pine boards-........................
l>lane< *..................
molasses...... bonnets.........*.
Tax on women’s hats and
Taxonstarch................................
Tax on window glass........................
Tax on steel rails............................
Tax on bar iron..............................
^et ea cli one who hears me settle
question for himself, and let him in
own mind decide whether he buys
sels theitems that I ha\o
which the tariff ta* falls. They are but
average, and from them you can judge
the constant drain upon the
interests of Georgia by reason of the
en t sjstem of protective tariff. You can
n °t think over this partial tariff
without seeing clearly that your
being emptied to till those of
and you must naturally desire
k*mw how much money is taken out
Georgia each year in this way.
TARIFF TRIBUTE.
Senator Coke estimated, in an
speech, that if the manufactories were
tected only 25 per cent, they
$1,200,000,000 from the people. By
Georgia’s share of the
wc U !d be *38,000,000.
Copgressman Springer, of Illjpois, ip
elaborate contribution to the North
ican Review, puts the amount received
the favored interests, extorted from
consumers through a protective tariff,
$556,938,637 per annum. Tariff taxes
taxes on the consumption, and, as a
rule, universally, so far as necessaries
concerned, the tax-payer gives not accord¬
ing to his means, but according to the
ber dependent upon him for shelter,
and clothing. So that the
part of this tax which falls upon each
can be approximated by dividing the
of the whole people according to
population. Georgia has about
of the population of 4he
her borders. Tried by these
would pay $17,000,000 per year
to favored industries.
TARIFF TAX.
The government, as I have before
a tax from the tariff of
per year, our proportionate part
is something over $7,000,000,
as before, that we pay
population, and therefore one
of the amount. Add the
together and we have the
TARIFF TRIBUTE AND TAX
Georgians $24,000,000 each year.
STEEL RAILS.
Nothing illustrates better the
we pay than the cost of steel rails.
the past two years, including
there were laid in Georgia
of rails. Estimating the rails as
00 po.wd tails, we would have
tons to the mile and therefore
The duty is S17per ton. Rails
a little less than their foreign price with
tariff added. It therefore
only 77,000 tons were imported
2,200,000 were used, made in this
The United States collected on
tons, seventeen dollars per ton
Mr. Carnegie and others engaged in
business collected almost as
duty on 2,1:23,000 tons. The cost of
Georgia was increased by the
$1,445,000, the government’s
of which was about $45,000, while
monopolies received about
I say fostered monopolies, for Mr.
yearly income is over $1,500,000,
can hardly be claimed that the farmers
are so rich that they should
to contribute further to his
a matter of charity.
any one successfully argue that
of this additional price of
on the railroads. The commission
them to charge a fair price* taking
the cost of their
maintenance. So the man who
the railroads and sends his property
really pays the increased cost of
COTTON BAGGING AND TIES.
The burden which this protective
upon our farmers is also
by its effect upou the cost of
COTTON BAGGING AND TIES.
The cotton crop of Georgia for 1887 is
910,000 bales. Each hale requires
of bagging weighing ten and a
The duty on bagging worth
cents a yard is 2 cents a pound or
a bale, which amounts to $191,000 on
crop of last year. This tariff tax
bagging has amounted to a prohibition
the importation of bagging
India. The manufacturers
country being excluded with
bagging from this country by reason
the tariff they make no preparation
the Lnited States with bagging,
in the season, after the time had
for the manufacturers to prepare
for our cotton market, the
was formed in this country, and
has been advanced from <14 to l^ 1 /2
a yard. That is to say, it has been
6 cents a yard by the trust, mak-
36 cents a bale, and $327,100 on 910,000
tbe same being an estimate that the
crop of this year will be of equal
of the crop of last year.
Each bale of cotton is bound with five or
ties; ' say five and a half ties are an
Ties are worth about SI 50 a
and there are thirty ties to
making each tie worth 4 1-3
cn average of five and a half ties per
23 8-10 cents, and $216,580 for a cotton
of 910.C00 belee. The d.», ou cotton
is .85 per cent., and as in this case the
price^certainly
makes the price $160,000, less the duty.
The difference between the two sums,
$56,580 is the tariff tax on cotton ties
which Georgia farmers pay. Add the bag¬
ging tax, the tie tax, and the extra price of
the bagging charged by the trust, and it is
seen that the Georgia farmers must pay on
the cotton crop alone, by reason of the
present tarif:, the sum of $575,180.00. This
is more than one-third of the entire tax
levied by the state of Georgia for the sup¬
port of our local government. This tax
falls upon the farmers alone. Cotton is
sold in Liverpool net. the tare being fixed
at about 6 per cent.; that is, a bale weigh¬
ing 500 pounds is sold for 470 pounds, 6 per
cent, being taken off on account of the
bagging and ties, for which the Liverpool
cotton factor does not pay. While in the
United States cotton is sold at gross weight
that is, the 500 pound bale is sold for 500
pounds, the tare is taken off of the price,
that being reduced instead of the weight of
t»<e hale. As our farmers get cotton pi i
for the gross weight of cotton, bagging nd
tu s,argu ments have been made to show t nat
they buy bagging and ties at bagging and
tie prices, and sell them at cotton prices,
thus making the more money, the more
bagging and ties they use. The truth is that
New York regulates the prices by
Liverpool market, and takes into
consideration the fact that it pays for gross
weight, while Liverpool pays for net
. , ht and , fl lts . that ... ..
we ’? W* - I . ust 80 as Liverpool * es ,P r does ! ces on net
™ ly ' Th e Liverpool prices regu
at e New York „ , prices, the hew \ or
P r,ces . ™gulates the Georgia prices, and the
deduction on you is made m price while in
Liverpool „ . , lt; . . de , . weight, . , ^
13 ma ln
The capital invested in iron works, foun
dries, etc., in Georgia, according to this
year’s tax returns, is $580,310, which is
on Vy $5,121 more than the tariff and trust
taxes which Georgia farmers pay yearly
before they can market their cotton. Thus
1 is seen that Georgia loses over $20,000,000
a year by reason of the tariff, and an exam
ination of the figures shows clearly that
this burden falls with the greatest severity
u P on tlie agricultural regions of the state,
HOME MARKETS.
But it is urged by those who receive ben
efit by aid of the tribute and tax forced
from you, that a great advantage is derived
by the agricultural interests from the fact
manufactories are built up by a pro¬
tective tariff, and thus a home market is
furnished to the farmers,
manufactories as a class not benefited.
I most earnestly protest against the doc¬
trine that a protective tariff really benefits
the manufacturing industries of the coun¬
try. It is undoubtedly true that a certain
class of manufacturers, whose plants are
a i rea dy built, and who are already thor
opgffiy established, are benefited by check
ing the growth of other manufactories and
by choking off the opposition which they
would meet from the establishment
i n our own land of new enterprises.
They are rich and powerful and monopo
u ZQ home trade. They sell at enormous
prices, and have but little competition
either in what they sell or in the selection
of the men they employ. They can put
down the prices which they pay for labor,
for their skilled laborers can seek employ
ment from them alone. They can put up
the prices of the commodities which they
gell, for the markets of the world are not
open to their customers; they check by
their monopolistic strength the investment
in similar enterprises by men of less capi
to i f w hii e at t he same time they roll in the
wealth which they have forced as tribute
by 4^0 aid of a protective tariff from the
hard earnings of the masses of our people.
j^ or ^ necessary for me to support this
position by argument alone. History has
already demonstrated from experience
which we have had, the truth of my argu
meut. Take for illustration, quinine and
leather.
QUININE.
has been subject to an import duty
d^Ttherewere^y^our * manufactm
o( 1 iuine j th Ul3ited gt Vh t
, . *
„ ^ ~ ^
^hea^r alkifoiS“