TARIFF PRIMER : A GRAPHIC PRESENTATION OF THE FORDNEY-MCCUMBER TARIFF : WHAT IT IS, HOW IT WORKS, WHOM IT BENEFITS; Illustrations by John H. Coakley
New York: Tariff Publishing Company, 1922. Hardcover. Octavo, 7.9 in. x 5 in., pp. [4], 100. Dark blue cloth boards with gilt title to front and spine. Illustrated with full-page charts, graphs, tables, and cartoon-like drawings. Light rubbing to corners and spine ends; touch of fading to gilt titles. Previous owner's ink stamp, dated 1922, to top of front pastedown. Spine and hinges tight. Very Good. Item #100077
Lee Francis Lybarger (1865 - ?) served as director of the International Lyceum and Chautauqua Association of America, an organization that advocated for making enlightening adult education widely available. He published three other works: "Land, Labor, Wealth: The Coming Civilization" (Public Publ. Co., 1907), "The Tariff: What It Is. How It Works. Whom It Benefits" (self-published, 1909; republished by The Platform/The Lyceum and Chautauqua Magazine, 1914) and "The Big National Gamble" (Meredith Press, 1935).
Between publications, Lybarger wrote the screenplays for two noteworthy films, both directed by and starring William Nigh: "Democracy: The Vision Restored" (1920) and "The Soul of Man" (1921).
Lybarger's assessment of the The Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act of 1922, , an act signed by President Warren Harding. The act levied duties of nearly 40% on imported goods coming into the US in an effort to protect American industries and farms. This book uses graphics, charts and even political cartooning in an effort to simplify an explanation of why such protectionist tarifffs are bad for the country.
The Public published in a review of his Lybarger's first book: “Mr. Lybarger has a happy faculty of thinking aloud so that others can think with him, and interestingly so that they will wish to. It is very taking, and this book is an excellent example. A heart to heart and head to head talk, it makes abstractions concrete and arguments alive. With the sophisms of protection it deals in a way that shows them to be self-destructive… In the course of his intensely interesting book, Mr. Lybarger demolishes the "infant industries" argument, exposes the "foreigner pays the tax" flim-flam, and shows that tariffs for revenue and for protection are destructive each of the other. In this righteous work he gets a grip upon the reader's interest which is comparable only to the convincing effect it must have upon the reader's mind.”.
Price: $200.00