In a pamphlet published not long ago by Professor J.Thyrén, entitled Swedish Politics (1911), which is a summary of the author’s campaign speeches last autumn, there is a statement (on page 10) that should not go unchallenged by the economics community. It reads as follows:

In passing, I should like to point out that the constant emphasis on the incontrovertible fact whereby in addition to direct taxes, workers pay quite considerable amounts in indirect taxes, particularly through price increases due to tariffs, is all too seldom supplemented by asserting the equally incontrovertible fact that workers’ wage standard could no more be envisioned as having come anywhere near what it is, were it not for tariffs, than it could be expected to be maintained, if they were abolished.