The High Price of 'Luxury' Gloves
An editorial in the Tacoma Times calls out Congress for a proposed tariff that would hit poor women's glove purchases harder than the rich.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Dear Madam: Do you wear gloves? If not, you will not be interested in this note. If you do and don't want to pay a third more for your gloves, and have them a third poorer in quality—you will be interested. Nearly nine-tenths of the cheap gloves worn in the United States come from Germany and France. Congress is now trying to pass a tariff act which will prohibit the importation of those gloves. In future—if the Payne bill is passed—these cheaper grades of gloves will be subjected to an increased tax of over 100 per cent. The higher priced gloves are subjected to a lighter tax. Now, do you think it right to tax the poor woman's glove heavily, and the rich woman's gloves lightly? That is what congress is trying to do in this Payne bill. If you have any thoughts on this subject, now is the time to buy a few 2-cent stamps and send them in the form of a red-hot letter to President Taft, to the congressmen from our state, to Speaker Cannon, and to Senators Aldrich, Hale and Lodge.
“Do you think it right to tax the poor woman's glove heavily, and the rich woman's gloves lightly?”
This editorial highlights how 1909 tax legislation sparked debates about economic inequality and the 'glove trust.' It mirrors contemporary arguments about how flat consumption taxes disproportionately burden low-income households.
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