Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow CHAPTER V: ASSESSMENT OF THE TARIFF - The Comedy of Protection

Return to Title Page for The Comedy of Protection

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Economics
Topic: Free Trade

CHAPTER V: ASSESSMENT OF THE TARIFF - Yves Guyot, The Comedy of Protection [1906]

Edition used:

The Comedy of Protection, trans. M.A. Hamilton (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1906).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


CHAPTER V

ASSESSMENT OF THE TARIFF

Wool—Foodstuffs—Agricultural produce exposed to competition—Number of people affected and benefited by the duties.

Some raw materials were specially heavily taxed—for example, wool, of which the two highest qualities paid 51/2d. and 6d. per lb. What is the bearing of a tax on wool to the farming interest? According to the census, the produce of 5,500,000 farms was 5,000 million dollars’ worth—wool representing 6 million dollars’ worth, or less than a quarter per cent. Estimating the return to each farm at 700 to 800 dollars, wool represents the income of 70,000 or 80,000 farmers out of a total of 51/2 millions. As a matter of fact, the keeping of sheep was a mere by-product to the farmers; a few capitalists owned large flocks, and for them the duty was established which did so much harm to the cloth trade.

There was a tax of 1s. 1d. (25 cents) per bushel of potatoes; in 1902 7 million bushels had to be imported, with a duty which amounted to nearly 1,500,000 dollars. Nine million dollars came from the duties on eggs, cabbages, oats, and other foodstuffs.

According to the census, agricultural produce was worth 4,739,000 million dollars, an estimate that probably fell below the truth. Mr. Edward Atkinson, in his “Facts and Figures,”1 made an inquiry into the proportion of produce affected by foreign competition. Taking all together—rice, linseed, tobacco, hops, sugar (241/2 millions), wool (45 millions)—the total is some 169 millions; adding skins, fruits and nuts, there is a total of 200 million dollars’ worth exposed to foreign competition—about 4 per cent.—which must, however, be reduced to allow for the fact that about half these products would not be affected by the repeal of the duties.

Of the 10 million persons engaged in agriculture only some 200,000 are exposed to foreign competition.

Class I.

Free from Foreign Competition in Agriculture, and listed under that title.
Farmers, Planters, and Overseers5,674,800
Agricultural Labourers4,410,800
Gardeners, Florists, and Nurserymen61,700
Dairy Men and Women10,800
Other Agricultural Pursuits5,500
10,163,600
Lumbermen and Raftsmen72,000
Stock Raisers, Herders, and Drovers85,000
Turpentine Farmers and Labourers24,700
Wood Choppers36,000
10,381,300
Less the number subject to competition removed to Class III.200,000
Total10,181,000
Also Free from Foreign Competition.
All Persons in Professional Service1,258,700
All Persons in Domestic and Personal Service5,580,000
All Persons in Trade and Transportation4,766,900
21,800,000
Free from Foreign Competition in Manufactures and the Mechanical Arts.
Building Trades1,212,000
Oil24,000
Brick and Tile Makers (with a few exceptions)49,900
Miners and Quarrymen (with a few exceptions)563,800
Bakers79,100
Butchers113,900
Confectioners (with a few exceptions)31,200
Millers40,500
Blacksmiths226,400
Iron and Steel Workers (with few exceptions)290,600
Steam Boilermakers33,000
Stove, Furnace, and Grate Manufacturers12,400
Wheelwrights13,500
Boot and Shoe Makers (with few exceptions)208,900
Leather Curriers and Tanners (with few exceptions)42,600
Cabinet-makers (with few exceptions)35,600
Saw and Planing Mill Operatives161,600
Printers and Engravers (with few exceptions)155,000
Miscellaneous Industries696,000
Fishermen and Oystermen (except the small number in deep-sea fisheries, transferred to No. III.)60,100
Engineers and Firemen (except some 23,000 under II. and III. in part or fully subject to foreign competition)200,000
Total4,300,000

Class II.

Persons occupied for Gain who would be practically Free from Foreign Competition if Materials of Foreign Origin used in their Processes were Free of Duty.
Machinists283,100
Textile Industries (except those occupied in the finer and fancy fabrics, 67,000)500,000
Tailors, Seamstresses, Milliners, Shirtmakers, and makers of other clothing (except those employed on fancy and fashionable goods, 7,400)900,000
Tobacco and Cigar Makers (with few exceptions)131,400
Manufacturers and Officials (except 3,000 in Class III.)240,000
Minor Industries653,000
2,707,500
Minus luxuries, to go to Class III.312,000
Total2,395,500

Class III.

Subject to Foreign Competition.
Agriculture200,000
Deep-sea Fisheries8,000
Textile Operatives67,000
Clothing7,400
Glovemakers2,200
Manufacturers and Officials3,000
From Classes I. and II.312,000
Total600,000

According to the census the total population engaged in industrial enterprise is 29,074,000. Deducting 600,000, there remain 28,474,000 persons with nothing to gain from Protection, who are engaged in trades which are dependent on the protected industries, which form 2 per cent. of the whole.

Thus in an intelligent and educated democracy, conscious of its rights, the majority, voting by manhood suffrage, elects representatives to lay upon them private taxes for the benefit of a negligible minority; the same blindness afflicts them that leads the French democracy to assure the profits and guarantee the rents of a minority of less than 5 per cent.

[1]“Facts and Figures. The Basis of Economic Science,” 1904.