406 TAXATION PROBLEMS 



foreign-born laborers. This competition lowers wages. In no 

 instance is it apparent that tariff on manufactured goods does or 

 can raise wages. A prohibitive tariff on labor (immigration) would 

 do this, but such a form of protection has never been advocated 

 by factory owners. The farmer was likewise told that a tariff of 

 ten cents a bushel on corn (the rate some time in effect) protected 

 him to that extent. Since we were exporting corn, not importing 

 it, it is obvious that such a tariff could have no effect on price. 

 In other words, had the tariff been ten dollars a bushel instead of 

 ten cents a bushel, the price of corn in America would have re- 

 mained the same, uninfluenced, one way or the other, by it. As 

 a matter of fact, while the tariff on corn was ten cents a bushel, 

 many farmers in Kansas and Nebraska, owing to larger production 

 one season, sold their corn at nine cents a bushel. The United 

 States has been an exporter (not an importer) of wheat from 1776 

 to date. Yet a tariff of twenty-five cents a bushel was in effect 

 for many years, not to raise the price of wheat (which was fixed 

 in the world's markets buying the surplus), but to give color to the 

 idea that the farmer also, like the manufacturer, was enjoying 

 " protection." So the protective tariff on the farmers' crops has 

 served its real purpose, namely, to keep the farmer satisfied with 

 the protective system while contributing cheerfully to its costs, 

 and reaping none of its benefits. 



QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 



1. Define Single Tax. Illustrate its meaning. 



2. Under the single tax, what change would there be in the incidence of 



taxation? Refer particularly to question of city and farm lands. 



3. State the arguments for the single tax referring to privilege; to Henry 



George's "Progress and Poverty." 



4. Does the "iron law of rent" establish the claims of the single taxers? 



Reasons for and against. . 



5. What is the future outlook for a continued rise in rent? 



6. If the single tax were applied, how would it affect the farmer? 



7. State also conclusions of Minnesota Tax Commission. 



8. Define Protective Tariff. Illustrate its meaning. 



9. What has been the tariff policy of the United States during the past 



100 years? 



10. In what sense does New England illustrate the workings of our protec- 



tive system? 



11. What was the economic condition of the country in 1789? Illustrate. 



12. Quote Hamilton as to the prosperity of manufacturing. 



13. Discuss Hamilton's Report on Manufactures; need of protection; women 



and child labor; immigrant labor. 



14. Show the accuracy of Hamilton's forecast of the future. 



15. Compare New England agriculture and manufacturing. Cite article in 



Rural New-Yorker. 



16 Describe the need, purpose and method of the Eastern States Agricultural 

 and Industrial League. 



