Crawfordsville Daily Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 15 October 1892 — Page 6

loritv The inventive i^cniiK of oui people enables them 'omake things ot t. i- class tli.it beat the world in •Si iip rcity and ctTectiveness. Hero is a IU of exports of that kind for the last fiscal xear:

Agricultural implem'ts Clocks and watches Meant and street ears Locomotive,engine*...... -.. 1,717.71^ S(Ws aiu! tools -v irjoo.^j Sew ingMiiachme* 3.133,90Other tivu iiinerV, 10,^29.21^

$.\v.'70^7S

... 3. H\ reciprocity. We can say to C'thi: "We will admit xour -it gar tree ii you will admit our product** on the same or other tavorable terms." Since the passage of the McKinlev hill \vc have made such treaties with lira/il, Luha. Porto Rico. San Domingo, Sal-, xador, Hiitish We-t Indie*, Ilriush tiuiana. Guatemala and Austria-Hun-gary. Most of them have been in effect only a short time, hut under them our exports to the countries south of us have increased -fS. 1 32.3:9 or 23.7S per cent, over the corresponding preceding period.

RUSTS.

It is a fair, hut a very teehle ar^uinciu against protection that manufacturers intake advantage of it to form trusts and': combines. The trouble with the remedv is, lir.-t, that it is a thousand times worse than the di-ea-e second, that it isn't a remedy. Thev flourish on the general prosperity. whether that arisefrom protection or free trade. Kngland has them as well as America. To llv to tree trade to get rid of them would be like burning one's house to kill the cockroaches in it. The way to deal with them is through the law and the lourt*. We have begun that process and knocked out some, of, the. ..worst already. ..

I S

Strikes came with the organization of labor, ami are its inevitable accompaniment. So long as large bodies ot men work tor one employer, and there are cause- of disagreement between them, strike-, will continue, un-

they are obviated bv some practicable scheme of compulsory arbitration. In un prosperous limes capital and labor disagree as to how they shall divide the looses which those conditions bring in prospetous times thev disagree as to how to divide the profits. These disagreements can not be prevented bv either free trade or protection thev are one ot the incidents of industrial development under either svstem.

I was never more astonished than to read Mr. Clevelands's reference to the Homestead episode in his speech to the committee of notification from which I have already quoted. Does he believe that free trade would prevent such-, trouble.* W ould we not have great factories under that system, as under the present ould nut the men resist reductions in dull times, and fight,

for advances in busy times, ju-t as thev do now I And if he does not reallv believe that protection promotes strikes, or that free trade would prevent them—well, is it quite honest argument to throw out an innuendo which a-i unthinking hearer will naturally take to mean something which the spjjakei ..would not dare to say himself?

I! 11. J, IT DO

The present industrial and commercial system of the United States is a complete and symmetrical structure. ::I pr oxides tor the support of the

Government and the protection of American labor upon a consistent plan. Th'-re may be a better plan hut this is undeniably a complete and practicable tine, lor we have tried it. Now what xvill the Democratic party put in the place of it? It declares that protection is •unconstitutional, and that its first act will he to repeal the McKinlev bill. What will it do then On this point we have •not a word from platform, candidate party organs or anywhere else. The

Democratic party asks the people to put it in power upon its pledge to tear down the existing system without anv information as to what it will give us instead of it. Dare we trust it so far? Is it the part of prudence to trust any partv so far Ought it not to give the people in advance some clear outline of it* affirmative policy—xvhnt it will do. as •..well as what it will undo, so that thev ran consider and oiscu and nidge of its programme for themselves

It xvill have to provide for the expense of .running .the .Government in

some way. That requires about a million dollars a day. I take it for granted that it will not resort to the general taxation of lands and property, or to a stamp tax. and probably not to an I income tax. The only alternative is a I combination of excise taxes and revenue duties 011 the English model, which, tor a country maintaining a policy of free trade is a very perfect sxsteni. 15ut let us ,-ee how it would work with us.

TIM I.Mil.tSM KKVKSUK.

1 he hnglish government imposes duty on no articles produced xvithin the kingdom except spirituous liquors and upon these it levies an excise tax equal to the duty tax, so that the home product and the imported article stand on the same footing in the market. The only imports on -which duties are levied are chicory, cocoa, coffee, dried fruits, plate, spirits, .tea, tobacco and wine. Everything else comes in free. Tor the vear end-, •ing March }i, 1891. the English'revenue was as follows:

Customs Excise taxes Stamps Land tax I louse duty Income tax Miscellaneous

Total. :.

*7 ,-400,000 123,940,000 67.^00,000 5,150.000 7,850.000 .. 6^,250,000 v* 79*s5. oo

In constructing a revenue svstem upon that model.we could begin with the internal revenue tax on xvhiskev and tobacco, which yielded .$146,035,416 in •iNji. The remainder would have to be raised by revenue tariff on non-com-peting imports. And of these it would not do to include anv that enter into the manufacture of goods, like Indiarubber, for that would interfere with the freedom 'of trade. We could include only those which enter into the manufacture of the human bodv, which is a thing of less importance than goods, according to free-trade philosophy.

This would restrict us substantially to coffee, tea. sugar, tropical fruits,cocoa, spices, tobacco and spirituous liquors which, at ten cents a pound on coffee, twenty-five cents on tea, three cents 011 sugar, txventv-five per cent, on fruits, cocoa and spices, and a hundred pu* cent, on tobacco and spirits, would give us, on the basis of last year's importations the following:

Coffee at to cents .*6^.29^,291 Tea at 25 cents 22,^19,7^9 Sugar at 3 cents. ...12^,6^0.^4^ Fruits at 25 per ct.\v. 2.412.394 Cocoa at 25 per ct. 805,260 Spices at 25 per ct. 685,021 Tobacco at 100 per ct. 13,260,025 Malt liquors at 100 $ per ct. 1,709,960 Brandy at 100 per ct. $89,983 in a 1 0 0 8 9 4 4 2 5 4

Total duties Internal revenue

171.390

»."3.v4

-Total revenue ... .*^4.106,806

In the sugar item 1 have included Our domestic product of 5S0.000.000 pounds, because to preserve the principle of free trade it must carrv a tax equal to the duty on the foreign article.

This is, of course, only a rough outline, but 1 am candid in saying that it is in a genera! way the only scheme for raising revenue which the Democratic party can adopt consistently with its pledge to abolish protection. With the prolits of jobbers and retailers added, these duties will double the present price of sugar and nearly double that of tea and coffee. Our present annual consumption of sugar is about sixtynine pounds per capita of cutTee. ten pounds of tea,one and one-half pounds. At that rate of consumption, these duties would add $3-45, net, per capita to the food expense of the people, and, including the profits of middlemen, it may be put at $5.00. Under our present system, the total annual expenditure of the (iovernment for five years ending June 30, i&ji averaged $4/kj per capita. Hut the poor man would have the consolation of knowing that, although his ..coffee was expensive, his coffee-pot was made of free tin.

There is one weakness in this scheme which ought not to be concealed in case the committee of ways and means should be inclined to adopt it. These _estimates are based on the statistics of iA)i-'i)S. when importation was free, ..prices low and consumption large.

With the prices of tea, coffee, sugar doubled by a revenue tariff, our thrifty American housewives might determine to use only half as much, which would make a yawning deficit in the income.

To meet this wo would be compelled either to increase the duties, which would be killing the goose that laid the golden egg, or to resort to a stamp or income tax. In lart. if we are going to have free trade we will find it hard to do better than to adopt the Knglish system without substantial change.

WACKS.

I have no quarrel with thos..* who tie-, fend protection solelv 011 the ground ot" its effect 011 wages. It is in the maintenance of higher wages here than are .paid elsewhere that its good effect is expressed in most specific and tangible manner. Hut after all, that does not seem to me to be the strongest form of the argument. High wages are the result of high conditions of prosperity and an abundance of varied and profitable employments. Protection contributes to the production of these conditions in the United States, and so produces high wages. Rut wages are higher in freetrade England than in protected Germany. This is because England offers a greater variety of prosperous and profitable employments than Germany. I believe, for reasons already stated, that free trade contributes to the number, activity and success of those employments in England on the same principles on which it would diminish •them in the United States. 1 believe protection is the better policy for Germany, hut its good effect there is diminished by depressing conditions which produce, upon the whole, a state of industrial prosperity, inferior, as vet, to that found in England. Its good effect will be made clearly manifest later.

The free-trade argument that wages are no higher in the protected industries than in others, is a shallow and foolish one. There cannot be one standard for one class of industries and another for the others. What affe'ets one affects all. Wages and prices depend on broad, underlying, far-reaching conditions and causes. It is through its effect on these that free trade and protection each works out its results.

TilF. PATH (IT I'KOCRKSS.

To desire all things possible, achieve all things possible and be all things possible, is the aspiration of progressive 'humanity. The doctrine that the highest good is to satisfy the present want with the least exertion, is the philosophy of an Indian in his wigwam. The path of advancing civilization, increasing wealth and higher happiness is to be found in fresh conquests over nature, more inventions, better machinery, new subdivisions of labor, wider diversity of employment and more perfect organization. In all these things the people of the United States lead the world to-day. And they have such advantages ot soil, climate, country, government, brains, muscle and pluck that they ought to hold that leadership as far into the future as human foresight can reach. To insure this result, one condition only is requisite. It is, that they shall continue to pursue, develop and perfect all useful industries that can he made to flourish within their borders. Not one can be spared.

Every one of .hem is some man's opportunity, some man's inspiration, some man's success.

So shall we advance to greater and greater mastery over the forces of nature, and cheapen production more and more by making the elements work for us in more and more ways. So shall we enlarge the basis of wages by making labor more effective, awaken new desires by gratifying present ones, and create new markets by creating new wants. To these advancing conditions wages and prices will adjust themselves. As expressed in money they may rise, 'or they may fall. The world-round tendency is to decline. Hut real wages will rise, and real prices will fall, and between the two the standards of living will advance, and the comforts of life be multiplied. Where all this will end we know not, but we have followed the path long enough to know that it leads upward, and that in that direction lies the goal ot the highest human destiny.

Paragraphs from President Harrison's Letter of Acceptance.

"Our money is all national money I might almost say international for these bills are not only equally and indiscriminately accepted at par in all the States, but in some foreign countries. The Democratic party, if intrusted with the control of the Government, is now pledged to repeal the tax on State

bank issues, with a view to putting into circulation again, under such diverse legislation as the States may adopt, a liood of local bank issues. Only those who, in the years before the war experienced the incon\enience and losses attendant upon the use of such inonev can appreciate what a return to that system involves. The denomination a bill was then often 110 indication of it value. The bank detector ot \csterdav was not a sate guide to-dav as to credit or values. Merchants deposited several times during the day, lest the hour of bank closing should show a depreciation of the money taken in the morning. The traveler couUl not use in a journev to the East the issues of the most solvent banks of the West, and inconsequence a money-changer's otlice was the familiar neighbor of the ticket office and the lunch counter. The fanner and the laborer found the money received for liieii products or their labor depreciated when they came to make their purchases, and the whole business of the country was hindered and burdened. Changes may become necessary, but a national system ot currency, safe and acceptable throughout the whole country, is the fruit of bitter experiences, anil I am sure our people will not consent to the reactionary proposal made by the Democratic patty.

A It N 1 1 IN

The Fifty-lirst Congress enacted such a law for the encouragement of American shipping,., and under its beneficent influence sixteen American steamships of an aggregate tonnage of 57,100 tons and costing $7,-100,000 have been built, or contracted to be built in American shipyards. In addition to this it is now practically o-riin that we shall soon have, under the American flag, one of the finest steamship lines sailing out of New York for any European port. This contract will result in the construction in American yards of four new passenger steamships of 10,000 tons each, costing about $8,000,000, and will add to our naval reserve six steamships, the fastest upon the seas.

RPi tl'liiK I TV.

The removal of the duty on sugar and the continuance of coffee and tea upon the tree list, while giving great relief to our own people bv cheapening articles used increasingly in every household, were also ot such enormous advantage to the countries exporting these articles as to suggest that in consideration thereof reciprocal favors should be shown in their tariffs to articles exported by us to their markets. Great credit is due to Mr. Blaine for the vigor with which he pressed this view upon the countrv. We have only begun to realize the benefit of these trade arrangements. The work of creating new agencies and of adapting our goods to new markets has necessarily taken time, but the results already attained are such, 1 am sure, as to establish in popular favor the policy of reciprocal trade based upon the tree importation ot such articles as do not injuriously compete with the products ot our own farms, mines, or factories, in exchange for the free or favored introduction of our products into other countries. The obvious efficacy of this policy in increasing the foreign trade ol the United States at once attracted the alarmed ijttention of European trade journals and boards of trade. The British Hoard of Trade has presented to that government a memorial asking for the appointment of a commission to consider the best means ol counteracting what is called the commercial crusade of the United Stales"

The Democratic platform promises a repeal of the tariff law containing this provision and especially denounces as a sham reciprocity that section of the law under which these trade arrangements have been made. If no other issue were involved in the campaign, this alone would give it momentous importance. Are the farmers of the great grain growing States willing to surrender these new, large and increasing markets for their surplus? Arc we to have nothing in exchange for the free importation ol sugar ami coffee and at the same time to destroy the sugar planters of the South, and the best sugar industry of the Northwest, and of hPacific coast or are we to have h" taxed sugar and coffee, which a tariff for revenue only necessarily involves ivith the added loss of the new markets which have been opened As I have shown, our commercial rivals in Europe do not regard this reciprocity policv as a sham." but as a serious threat to a trade supremacy they have long enjoyed. 1 hey would rejoice—and if prudence did not restrain, would illuminate theii depressed manufacturing cities—over the news that the United States had abandoned its svstem of protection and reciprocity. They see very clearly that restriction of American products and trade and a corresponding increase of European production and trade would follow*, and I will not believe that what is so plain to

them can be bidder.. iY/,u people.

TIIK KIt KK 1'H vi£''ci I's^n,

This mad c: u-ade

1!14l

shops, the hitler cpithe&^J^ Anierican manufacturesii'je disheMef ol eve, -p..r ,7

Ul,!

of a tinplate mill ,,t -m our foreign trade by rc,

|)rocit

surprising as they are di,

1 here is not a thoughtful bui. man in ihe country who" ,d

0t no{

t.,

that the enactment into

-liuvVKe

laration of the Chic'a»o"^Corneiitw' the subject of the tariil*

plunge the country into

J.':

convulsion uch as it ha*-never'#*, and there is not a ihonahMul workman who does not know thut it m0un" once enormously reduce-the amouxvork to be done in this onnitrv bvth crease of importations that would and necessitate a redin tioi) ofhi«, to the Ktirtpean standard-

IN I A

nut, in spile of the doubts ji*: the elections of iSo. .i-ii! millions of foreign pr- duccjs

!Rr

tain their nonopolv. the- rln r.j industry has beentoUnited States, and the alliance Stv the Welsh producers'and-tjie netr.oc ic party for its destruction.wiif not i=cced. The official returns Tr-i ury Department of the projiu and terne plates in the'I'niUii Sir during the last fiscal vt-arho\va-• 1 4 0 comparison of the nrst ijuaiti-r pounds, with the last", S,ooo,ooo poV: shoxvs the rapid development^of iruiust rv. Over 5,000,000:' mur: I during the last epiarter wereina

American black plates', the rtmaif from foreign plates. Mr. AVer. Treasury agent in charge, the result ot careful inquiry.,- that1 production of the current -vear »ii. 100,000,000 pounds, and thal bv-the*r of the year our productiorvwH! i*at rate ot 100,000 000 pouiU»: annum.

v^'7 W'-Ut KINtiJl lv\.

The new Democratic-•fe.ac.er«hipra at the employer and to ci municate its rage to the tn I greatly regret that all .emplortjv labor are not just and contiJmtfi that capital sometimes tnki'Moouri a share of the profits. Rut Itio r.u that these'evils would be anu'::f-ra'fJ" a tariff policy thetirMiiu -rrrftc of which is a severe xvaije'ru? asrf-fh second a large diminution ojjfcfag gregate amount of work to ntdoui thi countrv.

If the injustice of his emnlovcrUn: the workman to strike hack lif ihou'r very sure that his blow does not iallon his own head or upon lus children. The workmen tn our jr? industries are as a hodv.'.re:r«ar£r intelligent and are lovers ,hnrtlj' country. Thev ma\ be rou-e* \r' justice or what seems .to them such, or he led for

others into acts ot passion uui will settle the tariff contest theh'. light of their November l:re«!ivs. with sole reference to trie proven! the country of which thev arcniu and of the homes thev haxe.tostndttf' their wives and children.-

MARKKTS OF MIR WOPIM

'One of the favorite aruMtf against a protective tarill t- mat it us out from a participation called, with swelling markets of the world. Itth.sue" not a false one, hoxv does it-l«app»-n our commercial competitor?, .ire' able to bear with more M-rc..i'^ supposed surrender to them of" markets of the world, and imw happen that the partial los* ola or a plush factories that tnl h*nr il'f markets Our natural advance-* protective tariff, ami the ..ttitpn1 policy make it possjble ior large participation in the the world*' xvithout opening nnro«" a competition that xvould destroy comfort and independence,

people.

TIIK. UNION !•'Tl:K

The Union soldier* and.s.iiiO^ now veterans of time as xu-!l.= ot The parallels of age haxt.-tpp^

close to the citadels of lit*- a ad for each of a brave an honp struggle is not remote.

Truna-tn}.

firmity and years give tin

inor

of sadness and pathos to t' peal of service and nflt .'? that does not listen with the heart that does !.ot. generosity, are the ear and -hcArJ.1^ aiien and not of an .nn iU'UK

1 IK HKMOCRAl IC PKM»K AMM!

a a

gramme of demolition. 'I h« policv—to which all bii'-ini of the importer, is now ad!ti ciprocity policy, the

ncNV

marine/are fll'to be denmlw^Jgradually, not taken down, btf- ,l up. To this programme ot do.-tru has added one constructive ^•j

tur

^•establishment of State lunkv^ sue. The policy of the is, on the other hand, di*tin« icv of safe progression and doi. —of new factories, new new ships. It xvill subject hiwr.c^ periloi'- changes, but oilers oppon. ities ior exparifion liar lines.