Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1884 — EXTRACT FROM THE TARIFF SPEECH OF HON. T. J. WOOD, OF IND. [ARTICLE]

EXTRACT FROM THE TARIFF SPEECH OF HON. T. J. WOOD, OF IND.

[Continuod. from last week.] THE WORLD'S MARKKT FOR FARMERS. The splendid soil of the great West and South will always produce a large surplus. The seasons never fail to bring it from mother earth. What shall we do with it? T answer, sell it in the markets of the world and bring the gold, and products of other countries home. Gold is enduring wealth. It is unlike the exchange of commodities that soon perish. Protection is the great barrier to the world’s markets for our agricultural and manufactured The people of other countries will not trade with us if we make trade expensive to them by payment of high duties The Government cannot enact laws making i ntei national commerce expensive to foreign peoples and then ask them to buy of us what we have to sell but not buy of them unless they first pay high duties for the privilege of selling goods in our markets. The trouble is we treat the rest of the woi l d unfai rb . We want free trade when we sel l our produets to other countries but have high protection against the people of other countries selling to us. Many countries have retaliated and others are doing so.

The French and German exclusion of American pork, a great farm product, was only retaliation. I admonish the farmers to vote for their own interest upon this important question, for the foreign markets in American cereals and meats is threatened by our high protective policy against the commerce of the world.— When the open markets of the world are closed to the American farmer what will he do with the surplus? England, our greatest foreign market, is encouraging wheat-raising in India, vdiere twelve bushels to the acre can be produced by the crudest farming, and in 1881 and 1882 she received from India nearly 40,000,000 bushels of wheat. Do our farmers know how important the foreign markets are to them? Over six hundred millions of dollars’ worth of farm products are sold in foreign markets annually. Break down this great market by continuing your protection policy, and where will this six hundred millions surplus go? As I have said, the commercial traders of other countries will not permit America to build up a great trade with them in Agricultural products when America closes her ports to their trade by high protective duties and neavify taxes our people to do it that a favored class may prosper. The farmer is told that there is a tariff upon farm products, but how does that benefit him? Not any? Why? Will farm products -in any considerable quantities be snipped to the United States when our own farmers produce more than they want and have a large surplus to sell in the world’s markets? When our farmers raise grain and provisions and sell them in the open markets of the world against competition, will the agricultural products of other countries come to America' It is very plain that the tarilf duties levied upon farm products is no benefit to the farmer and may just as well be taken from the list. Without foreign markets wheat will rot in the stack and provisions go to waste. Farmers are advised by protectionists to quit farming; only produce enough for no ir e consumption. Then the laboring people would bear the burdens of dear and meat.—

That policy would lessen production, but what kind of a policy is that? Lessen the business of farmers to increase other industries! Cramp one great industry for the benefit of another is strange advice indeed. . Bros* lerity will not result that way. flew England wants her cot-ton-mills protected but extends no protection to the American flouring-mill. Pennsylvania insists on high protection for iron and steel but cares not for the protection of Western wheat, flour, and meats, and she could not give protection if she would. If it were possible to compel New England and Pennsylvania to pay a duty of 50 to 100 per cent, upon every barrel of flour and every dollar’s worth of Western hams and beef, butter and cheese, it would even up the tariff and be fair; but Congressmen could not sleep until it removed such duties, for all New England would be in Washington before twentyfour hours. Yet New England receives, by a law of Congress, a tribute of 50 to 100 per cent, from the Western farmer upon her manufactured products and holds on with the crip of death. It is not fair, ft is not right. The protective system arrays section against section, for special favoritism granted by this Government to a class of the people at the expense of all lie other classes will not be lorne in silence, and ought not to be. Our protecdive policy has driven our merchant vessels from the high seas, and our ocean trade is carried in foreign-built ships owned by • citizens of foreign countries. The immense cost of ocean transportation is paid to foreign ship-owners, and millions of money is taken away from our channels of trade. The wheat and meat shipped from America to England pays a double charge for the round trip, for the reas? n the ship returns to New York with ballast, and therefore the cost of one voyage is taken out of the farmers’ wheat and beef.— If the returning vessel could ship the products of other countries here which are excluded from our markets by high protection, then half the cost of transportation would be saved to the pockets of the farmer, an item of great importance. Why is England so great in trade and commerce? She was not made so by internal trade with her own people, but by the commerce of the world. America to-day can trade in all the countries where England trades and offers better advantages for the world’s commerce, and it will come if we welcome it. It will not come without reciprocity. America must trade with the world if tha world trades with America. Then the agricultural surplus will go rapidly away and our manufactured products find willing purchasers over the seas; then labor will be employed and amply paid. But our protection policy says to England, to France and Germany, to Mexico and the South American States, that America will not trade with you; we want none of the world’s commerce; we are independent of the rest of the world in this age. This policy says keep away, if you please, from our shores. We are establishing a new world and will trade only with ourselves. We are gomg to cut loose from the rest of the universe and know the nations of the earth no more forever. .We| believe Confucius was right when he built a wall against civilization and rejected the commerce of all peoples and all nations. We are going back a few thousand years in commercial history, for our latter-day commerce is all wrong. The world’s trade is mischievous. No more trade i outside of the United States

a tlie policy. Erect a great ign oil tlie Atlantic shore rom Maine to Florida to tell he denizens of other counries to come here no more, to >rder ocean ships to lower sail nd turn hack with their car-,-oes. " e are going to build tome markets. v ' e want none f your trade, none of your aonev. none of your civilization. * We have a monopoly ot hese, and are... going to keep hem. . This policy means no merchnt marine to whiten tin* sea vitli the sails of commerce; ease all continental navigaion, cast compass and chart ato the sea. Men of the Misissippi Valley, rich in millions of grain, loading down he highways of commerce, hip no more on the waters ot lie great river that rolls maestioally down to the sear—fait at the ocean’s wave. Do lot say we are seeking the vorld’s market for the milions of surplus produced m rrandest valley of the world, hr, we want a Moses to lead he agricultural children tliro he wilderness of protection. They want a Joshua to lead hem out of bondage and over he sea, when protection will >e swallowed up forever. REVENUE TARIFF OF 1848.

Under the revenue tariff of 848, which continued until 861, manufactories rapidly inreased and the country be•ame prosperous, and no one bought of chan in ng this tarff law until the \:ar came upin us. Scheming men took id vantage of national distress .nd procured the amendment >f that law, from time to time nice the war, solely for their >ersonal benelit. What was he result? Many men became aillionaires and m a n.y the »wners of many millions hi a -hort time. Such an aggregaion of wealth in the hands of lie tew was not known before 861. Wliat does it mean?— ■’’hat certain classes were favoured by this Government to make money off of the people, "'his extraordinary wealth wa s aken from the pockets of the lany. It show’s a bad state of conomy. "hy did you, my republican frionds, maugurte this system? v\ by do you laintain it? Statistics are ei ed to show prosperity under > reflection. what are they on his point? Between 1850 an d 860 the wealth of this c )unry increased from seven bilions to sixteen billions. It lore than doubled in ten y’rs aider the revenue tariff. Beween 1860 and 1880, under a protective tariff our wealth inreased nineteen billions. It equired twenty years to doule under a high protective ariff. Protection shows a de- < rease of 50 per cenit when * ompared with the years of a revenue tariff. NEW ENGLAND INDUSTRIES.

I am told that New Eng's imd industries can not exist itliout high protection. That leans they must be supported yrthe rest of the country.— r he$ r can not support .thiemilves. They must live from * ixing the people of the Uaiitl: States. >v ell, all of us wwfld ke ito live that way. If a lan.starts a business in New ngland it is fashionable to . oplyito the Government to ; d him Hie Government in r le hands of the Republican i - arty isi&sed as a machine to * bd the industry that is not ; de to igo alone, and all the ' eople arecoommanded by law * •» step up.and pav taxes indisctly .to build it up and enoh the owners. The indusy itself doe* not Jay its own* ■s, but the people of the conn* . y pay for 1 tithe profits itnev- < • earns. The owner draws a >rt of pension from individj ) al pockets and keeps the in* *. ustry running m a kind of ay thing. The owner tells r erybody, "Mjr machine don’t 1 xy; but the people pay me to . un it, and as long as they i xy me I am going to do it. Oh, what a Government!— *\ his policy must cease. The Government is a good deal hat the party in charge akes it •'he people will not irmlt this great Government ) be used to enrich men, beinse it is so wrong and uniat ' e will never have a . in bads of business under

protection. It is the father of inflated prices and the cruel mother of reverses, ake one instance. ’> he copper industry flourished near Baltimore and in Massachusetts before 1861 Our people then had a good commercial trade with Chili, which took our manufactured goods and gave us-in return copper ores, brought in return cargo in American ships, and smelted by American workmen. During the war everybody demanded a high tariff, and the copper-mine owners of Michigan obtained high duties on copper ore. The American smelt works were crushed and the workmen thrown out of employment. We lost our commercial trade with (Tiili, and England took advantage of our blunder and has our old trade with Chili to-day. vVliy all this Uss? To build up the owners of a copper mine in Michigan. The Michigan copper men sell their copper cheaper in England than they do to our own manufacturers, and we are therefore depressed at home for the advantage of foreign consumers of copper.— This mine needs no protection. It is able- to stand against the world and make reasonable profits.

I am told the woolen and cotton industries can not exist without protection. That doctrine has caused all the reverses in these industries. True, the high tariff stimulated them and they sailed on a high plane of prosperity for a season, but it was only a. strong stimulant that did it. It was not the business itself that brought such enormous and unnatural profits, but tlie influence of the stimulant. Your protection is only a stimulant. It gives no lasting benefits. It is like any other stimulant,only lasting for a time, when a break-down must come. >he difficulty|in these stimulations is that the whole b si ness' of the country naturally adjusts itself to the stimulating forces, and when the break comes all is disastrously a fleet < 1, and in the end more harm 1 ian good falls upon the count, y. ' ihe busiuess of tin country, the great J ndustries, t:: list .get out of the notion'ttha. government stimulus is of any lasting benefit. ‘he protect! ve stimulus made prices of woolen and cotton goods so high that the people were dissatisfied and clamored for cheaper goods. What was th e result? Human genius went to work and produced countless imitations of the genuine article, and the demand was so great for cheaper goods that the country was •«oon flooded with them. Comb ings, flax, rejected wool, shoddy, and all kinds of cheap materials were so skillfully woven and finished as to present the appearance of genuine woolen and cotton goods, and they entirely undersold the ■true articles. A reduction of the tariff will reduce the prices. Why? The imported cottons and woolens can sell for a lower price with the payment of smaller duties, and the home product must come down to the prke of the imported article or i&ot «ell at all. You see how the tariff affects price«u

Our protection friends tell me a lugh tariff does not make high prices, and they argue the point all over the country, but when we talk of low tariff, oh, then prices are wonderfully affected and they will starve They concede lower prices by a lower tariff, but they will not concede high pr-ces by a high tariff. Mien tine time comes that there is not such a wide difference in the cost of the genuine and the spurious article, then the people will buy the good in preference to the bad, and the latter limst quit the market; then these depressed industries will do a regular business on a firm basis. 'this is a law of business. If our great industries can not exist now after so many years of high protection, then it is conclusive proof that the system is a failure and it is no use for Ihe country longer to support them. They bitterly complain when the tariff is even talked about. The agitation of the subject, they say, unsettles business. If all this be true, what unsound foundations they rest upon.- 'J hey aie built upon the sand, to fall, when the tide rises. If their j foundations are so frail that (

they give away when business principles are discussed, then protection is a complete failure to build up home industries. If it builds not better than that we liad better abolish the system. If the business of the country can stand high taxation that produces an annual surplus of one hundred millions, it can certainly stand the agitation that proposes a reduction of over thirty millions, which this bill proposes to do. I never beard before that agitation for a reduction of taxes hurt the business of the co mtry. HOME COMPETITION TO REDUCE PRICES. My protection friends tell me to keep up a high tariff and soon home industries will compete and high prices will come down. The people have relied upon this promise fox near thirty years, for they are patient and kind to our manufacturing industries. I would do nothing to hurt ihem, but they must not hurt all the people indefinitely. lam talking for the benefit of our industries and notagainst them. I am their friend and would do any just and reasonable thing for them, but I sincerely tell them their advantages over the people, given by a law of Congress, is not for their lasting benefit and is a great wi ong upon their patrons, the people, whose cordial support they can not dispense Vitli.

What more competition in iron ami steel, woolen and cotton goods can we nave? These industries have produced a large surplus, and any more of them w mild do no good. They already man* ufaesure more than they can sell in the home markets. They "111 not compete on prices as long as itiie price is fixed by the importer, i'liey know that the importer must gauge the price by tlie duty lie pays and the cost of transportation.— If our high tariff did not increase and maintain nigh prices, why are two huuored and fifty iron and steel mauulaotfaeturerspeiitining Congiess not to lower the tariff on non ami si eel ? Why are the vvooleu and co ton manufacturers doing the same thing? The promise of home competition, like the others made, lias not been fulfilled. Parley Banks Is a heavy cottons aim woolens in Indianapolis, lud.— He gees to Scotland and England and buys one or two huudredlfhousauu dollars id cotton and woolen goods. He pays iis per cent duly to this Government. He goes o the New England mi Co and bum be si'me (juaniity of woolen and cot-on goods, and p iy„ unduly to the Govern ment. He snips tlie imported mid dome He goods to lus wholesale house in Indianapolis. Now, will he sell the pro uuetpi die New England mills cheaper ti an tin- in.pm t b article:? Certainly not. It ne did, the mune moduci would soon .o.pi,i id Ins store white the imp uted ar icle would ieinain mere. You must see tlieie can ne n<> under this system. You do n«t find men dealing wholly i l the uomustic article and otneis dealing wholly in the imported artis cle. If that was the business situation; competition would arise between the domestic and the imported article, but itfen are too smart in this age to permit such conditions in business, and ikere is no remedy to lower prices bin by reducing the tantt. lam credibly informed that over half of the capital invested in our highly protected industries belongs to English capitalists, and the benefits high pris ces are for England more than for America.

PROTECTION NO BENEFIT TO THE PEOPLE. My protection friends point me to the expanded business of the country during the last twenty years and ask me to eon* template the srrand result of the protect* ive.system. Pardon me while I examine this claim, for il it is true then I am a protectionist. What is high protection ? I answer that it is high taxation. Does high taxation benefit the country?? •‘'Does it Help the people? Poes high taxation bringcommercial blessings to the commonwealth? 1 can not recall the truth ot such a claim in any event. The country lias ueveloped in the face of the protective system, lu the last twenty years groat railroads spanned the conn* ueut. The rich lauds ot the great West became homesteads for millions of pro* ducers. The mineral wealth yielded bouutifullj when railroads opened ihe way to American capital and Yar kee cuergy | Science ard inventive genius have encircled the nations with the telegraph and fust-going steamships have brought ail countries together. Our population has iucieased millions upon millions in twenty year's. Emigrutioujlias beeu uu* piecedente# in number. Increasing *labor and increasing wauts ot the miiliuns have expanded the business ot the cuun. try as much ns anything. I seriously object to protection, because it makes the rum richer and keeps down the poor to a common level. I think the poor people and ownersof small estate* number about 40UH).0o0 of our population. An uujust exaction of $5 apiece aggregates two hundred millions. These people have not materially improved tneir financial condition in the last fifteen years. They have lived and raised their families, but have not generally increased their estates. These pay tiie high (/.oteciive duties. The millions oou_e from iiieui. The classes that have pio a - I’eieu Under pi ...ceiion n., ve done so al he expense « f he e ,o .t.i, 0, IKI o pmu.c M ul “ u v.s , iotvct.O'i e>«Bi ~.e jieoole?— rney puy u» « tuoaic over nve hundred millions per annum, r.ot one oeul oi wuich goes into 'the public Treasury.— This laet is fully snowii by a table 1 have marked Exhibit A. il (his enormous Uia.n of haid eurued money was collected as home taxes me tiio indignation ol tne people could not lie controlled. They pay it in percentage upon all they buy at ilie uiy-goods and grocery simes. VVlieu incy buy cotton or wuohn goods ot any ci»s» nr Kind tin-y pay i)5 to 11] per cent. V* hen ilu.y i, U) liwola and , s -oes inev pay ;jo p.,r Cent : ntooins uuu Ui 1101 l Cs, '-il!- [)(.,' 0, 4 ,10. .s, 45 per cent ; carpets', -id per cdon ; clothing f.oiii 4u to i’o per Cent. ; leii m.ods 50 pei edit,; drugs g„ t j che.iiic.ls, 4. pel cent >

flavoring extracts, 60 per cent. ; food pres parations, 20 per cent : furniture, 60 per cent.; glass, 68 percent.; hats and caps, 80 to 50 per cent, house-furnishing goods 25 ;045 percent.; hosiery, 45 to 55 per ce t.; leather 30 per cent.; linen goods, 40 pir cent; millinery goods. 40 to 60 per Cent : rubber goodr-, 25 to 3o per cent.; soap,J2 ( i to 28 per cent.: sugar and molasses, 15 to 35 per cent., tiuware and cops per ware, 46 per cent., yarnish, 40 per cn ; , flannels and|blankets, 55 percent , women and children's dress goo is 64 per cent., and so on through the list of six hundred artici s charged with an average duty of 42 per cent. They are destribed wiik rate of tariff, with cost of labor in each article, and excess of tarill oyer cost or lab r. in a table marked B. Everything the people buy is loaded down with Lids enormous tax. There is uo escape from paying it when >ou buy any kind of groceries or goods. The people do not know when they pay it. It is a silent tlictt ol small amounts on eves rything, great and small, the people buy. li any farmer will keep account of all lie > buys at the store, and take the tariff table “I have n arked B, lie can safely calculate the silent tax lie has paid by reason of high protection. Mr. Speaker, 1 am a conservative man, but I am in doubt whether I would support open petit larceny in preference to this ceaseless, silent theft of the people’s money. It is larceny made lavvtul by an act of Congress, and it succeeds in lak ing from the pockeis ot 50,<J00,b00 oi people over ssoo 000,000 every year it goes to over three hundred kinds of inuuustries REDUCTION OP TAXATION O FOLLOW REDUCTION Otf EXPENDITURES. The people want reduction in taxation He are reducing tlio expenditures! That will not help die people Ah expend - tures might cease and the people would derive no benefit from it wi nout any reduction of the rates of taxation I vvo’d leave the hundred million surplus in the 'treasury in the pockets of the people Let it be used in business and circulaie in the channels of trade we do not want a surplus in the public Treasury (•'ut down the rates ol taxaiion This bill cuts off over thirty millions It tends in the right direction