DOES THE CONSUMER PAY THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF?

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1818, 18 April 1888, Page 3

DOES THE CONSUMER PAY THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF?

The following letter, over the signature "Clincher," appears m an exchange: — Under the treaty of 1871 with Great Britain, Canadian fish were admitted into the United States duty free; This treaty was terminated, pnreu-mt to a reso'ution of Congress, on the fir^t day of July, 1885, acd the regular statutory duties were imposed, and yet the evidence taken by the Senate committee showed, without any contradiction, that th© price of fash for the consumers continued to be substantially the same. The evidence also showed that the Amercan exporters of fish had themselves to bear the Cusoms dnties that were imposed upon that commodity m every foreign country it wss exported to by them. So far, then, as our experience is worth anything, it seems to be dear that It !b not true m a general ■enae that Customs dutieß are as a whole, or m the greater part, a tax or burdeu upon the domestic conaamer. —George Sidmanda In Harper'a Magazine. The average prices of wheat m three European countries from 1851 ro 1880 were, as oompared with the United Kinpdrm, as follows ;— United Kingdom, 51s 4i ; France, 51a 4i ; Germany, 48a 8d ; Austria, 48a. Last April the rate quoted m France wsb 30a lOd, ngainst 303 lid m the eime month m England.— " Mulhall." Here, then, is a case m which the French consumer did not pay the duty, for the shipper of wheat to jDngland and France, getting the same price m both m&rkotß, found his French account Bales debited with a doty of 63 per quarter, and aa tbe prlcei have averaged the same for 30 yean, this one fact 1b of itself decisive of the question.