Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1889 — VOORHEES’ SPEECH AT THECARIFF REFORM MEETING, [ARTICLE]

VOORHEES’ SPEECH AT THE—CARIFF REFORM MEETING,

Scottsburg, Ind, Sept. 21"1889. The Mills bill less than a year ago proposed to make a reduction in tariff taxation on woolen fabrics to the amount of $12,330,000 per annum. This w<*s defeated by the solid vote of the republican leads ers in congress, and the American people still continue the annual payment of this immense sum, while it is claimed that they can buy home manufactured goods in their own markets cheaper than the same kind of goods can be bought anywhere else in the world! Why then refuse to take the tariff off woolens if nobody can comt /here and undersell the American manufacturer? Will it be answer-

ed next that these duties on foreign made woolen goods are required for revenue? On the contrary, it was admitted on all sides that there was a surplus of nearly a hundr j d million in the treasury a year ago, and a large portion of it is still there, notwithstanding the advent of the republican party into power and its peculiar ability to dispose of the public money. Where then, according to the hired organs of monopoly, do the twelve millions and three hundred and thirty thousand go? The broke show that th *y are paid, and paid by the American people who wear woolen clothes, sleep under woolen blankets, and put woolen carpets on their cold floors in the winter time. The democratic party tried hard to repeal them and thus cheapen one of the great staple* necessities of civilized life. The republican party kept it from being done, and now. again JL ask where do these millions paid by ; ou as tax go after they have left your hands ? I will tell you. They are sim; ly a bonus to the manufacturer, something for nothing, neither needed for protection nor but taken by the favored few with the same lawless greed with which a pirate seizes and appropriates a rich cargo on the ocean. The protective tariff as enacted, understood and administered by the republican party was designed and upheld and defended for the very purpose of transferring from your hands to the hands of the robber barons not only the twelve millions on woolens, but mere than twelve times twelye millions a year on everything else. It is only a few weeks since that the tariff beneficiaries extorted from the treasury department an interpretation of the laws wheieby the duties on worsted woolens were raised from 68 to 87 per cent., thus adding 19 per cent to their already enormous profits derived from the sale of worsted goods to vou and such as you. Yet these same extortioners tell you, and have their organs tell you, that they can make and sell cheaper goods of this kind than c r n be

made and sold in any other country in the wor*.d, and consequently can defy competition from abroad. But again: if woolen fabrics are cheap in our markets, why is it that during last year fabrics of tHs kind were imported into this country amounting to $52,564,942, paying over $35,000,000 as tariff duties for the privilege of com ng in, and then selling at such profits as to make them cost the consumers perhaps not less than $ 20,000,000? Could this have been done in markets wjiere the American manufacturer was placing his commodities at lower rates than the imported articles could be placed in their own countries, and before paying transportation, or the enormous duties, all of which were added to the American selling price, to say nothing of the profits that were realized? Such questions answer themselves in all intelligent minds by simply being

If you suppose, however, that the protected cormorants are content with th hug' millions they are already swollowing from day to day and from year to year, and that they*desire no more, you are vastly mistaken. I hear it sometimes suggested, and even by re* publicans who are onest but misled, that the repub 1 ican party will not only cease marauding the homes and fields of the people, but will turn around, take the back track toward honesty, and of itself seek to atone for its enormous sins by a revision of the tariff and a general reduction of tariff taxes. It is impossible to conceive a suggestion or a hope with less fom. option. My republican

fellowncitizens of Indiana, a word with you in all kindness. The people are not the governing power in the councils of your party. The republiean party has a far different master, and one it cannot disobey. The popular will is powerless before the dictates of the amassed, consolidated and concentrated millions in the hands of *he organized, remorseless money power. Organized monopolies, organized trusts have seized upon the leaders of your party as their natural agencies for evil, and you have no more power to escape the widespread anil universal larceny of the present tariff by voting the republican ticket than you would have to escape the devilfish if he had you in his elutenes in the depths of the sea.

The buccaneers of the money power, of the plutocracy which seeks to govern by the naked force of money, and is now successfully doing so, replenish their coffers, or rather their pirate caws, with hundreds and With thousands of millions stolen from the labor of men, women and children, and then from corrupt fountain-heads they pour back upon the ballotbox, and into all the precincts of the elections, polluting and corrupting streams composed of your own money. Thus the ascendancy of. the republican party depends primarily on amassing monev and the power of money, in the hands of the unscrupulous, unprincipled but privileged few who in turn furnish the means and dictate the policy of political debauchery and crime. There is here a condition of mutual dependency. The leaders of the republican party depend on the manufacturing monopolists for corruption with which *to carry elections, and the manufacture g monopolists on their part depend on the leaders of the republican party for the flagitious legislation wherewith they obtain such funds, and aggrandize themselves besides. The whole system is filled with wickedness, and is putrid with politi al immoralit . It will never be cleansed or reformed within the party which created if. The appetite of avarice increases by indulgence. Like the hunger of the

glutton, or the thirst of the drunkard, it can never be appeased, but incessantly cries for more, and more, and more. Look for a moment at the history of attempted tariff legislation within the last year. The maw of deat was never more voracious than the demands of the monopolists within that time. When the Mills bill came over last fall from the demo* l eratic hens-* of representatives to a republican senate, with the n operate and conservative tariff reduction of $53,720,000, to say nothing of the further reduction of $24,455,000 in the internal revenue, the finance eommittee of the senate met it with a motion to strike out all after the enacting clause and insert as a substitute a bill which was truthfully described by the democratic minority of that committee in these words: “Practically, the substitute of*» fers the people free whisky and free tobacco, leaving all the expensive machinery for the collection of the revenue and enforcement of the law in full force, while it increases taxation upon the act. ualand indispensable necessar;e 8 of life, this, too, when there

a large surplus in ihe treasury, and under existing laws that surplus is being increased at the rate of $10,000,000 per month, thus withdrawing and withholding from the channels of trado, commerce and business of the coun ry money absolutely necessary to their successful operations.” When this measure was under discussion in the senate, it was found that in eleven of its schedules out of the fourteen it contained, the aggregate amount of tariff taxation was increosed, and especially so on the prime necessities of life, and the cheaper commodities among the laboring masses. The schedule on wool and woolens was a striking illus,tration of this fact. Therj was not a single article in [it which escaped an increased rate of duty.

Wherein He Bears a Wholly Unjust Portion of the Burden. But let us at this point consider a little more closely the different classes of people who are affected by a protective tariff, and the false and delusive arguments made to them by its supporters. The farmer is the most important factor in the civilization of the world, and any policy of government which ninders his prosperity is necessarily false and vicious. His toil feeds the human race, and no burden should oe laid upon him to tramel his energies or obstruct his success. The wisest thoughts and best efforts of statesmanship have been to secure to the agriculturalist the most remunerative markets ( in which to sell his products, and the cheapest markets in which to buy the necessaries and comforts of life Restrictions on trade have never in anj period of the world’s history been advantageous to him, although he has often been compelled to submit to them, sometimes, it is trie, in the interest of government revenue, but far more frequently for the support of royal families, titled nobilities, and moneyed and privileged aristocracies. Every dollar taken by the tariff from the American farmer over and above what is due for government expense is simply the same kind of extorted tribute which enslaved labor has paid to paste, to crowned heads, and to their pampered retinues during all the ages of the past. This fact is becomin ; transparent, and will very so >n be accepted on all sides. 4?he one great aim of the plutocracy is to hide and obscure it py a carefully prepared system of falsehood, without a parallel for its skill, fecundity, an 1 brazen persistence.

To convince rhe farmer that he is protected and in anyway I bj t ;; dgh protective tariff is a ta*k it would seem to baffle the boldest juggler, and imposters, but in some instances it 1-ns been done. I recall one at this time. During he <a hi paign of last year, in one of our beautiful Indiana towns, and in a very fertile belt of country, I witnessed a repu bl ice; i procession. It had in it many industrial exhibits claiming to show the power and the glory of a tariff laid for protection. ’ As I scanned the long line of moving venicles I caught sight of one that riveted my gaze and gave me much food for reflection on the power to mislead and deceive which was abroad in the land. It was a wagon driven by a farmer and loaded with productions of his fields. There were specimens of his corn, wheat, rye, hay and oats, of his potatoes, pumpkins, watermelons and cantaloupes, of his cabbages, beans, onions, pieplants and tomatoes, of his apples, peaches, pears, grapesand cultivated blackberries, and on each side of th? wagon in big staring letters I read the words. “These are the fruits of protection.” My first tho’t was that such a man would certainly become the victim ot a bunco steerer or a confidence swindler before he got out of town, butm a moment I reflected that he had been listening to the eloquent advocates of the monopolists, and had been persuaded that tariff protection had done more for him than the sun, the dews, the rains and a rich and bountiful soil, with all his labor thrown in. The stupendous extent of this unfortunate man’s delusion can only be estimated when you turn away from a political parade and look at him while at work on his farm, You there behold the poor blind dupe breaking up his grounds, preparing them for crops, ana then planting and drilling in his com, his wheat, his oats, and his rye with plows, harrows, planters and drills on which he has paid

out of his own pocket from 75 to 100 per cent., nearly double their real value, as a tariff tax laid for the protection and enrichment of the manufacturer us such implements in this country. You behold this enslaved and deluded victim of the money power cutting his small grain and his hay with a reaper ; and a mower for which he has paid twice what they would cost him but for a protective tariff. He uses a double -priced hoe in his cabbage patch, and a double-pric-ed pitchfork at his hay mow and wheat stack in order to avoid foreign competition and thus get rich. He then puts a set of harness on his horses taxed from the bridle bits to the breech bands, and on every buckle, link, and chain, hitches them to a wagon taxed 85 per cent., at least, oil every bolt, spike and tire that holds it together, and then with a suit of clothe s on his back taxed at about the same rate, and with his wife by his side, also covered with raiment at two-fold protected prices, he starts to town shouting for Harrison, and the sideboards of his wagon proclaiming the vaunted lie that the productions of his farm were the fruits of protection. The fruits of protection! They were plant ed, nurtured and gathered in spite of protection, and at a double expense because of such a curse in the statute books of the government. It is a .notorious and self-evident truth that the tariff, as it now stands, increases the farmer’s expense account from 35 to over 100 per cent, on every implement of husbandry with which he toils from one year’s end to another. The Mills bill attempted to place all fibers, such as hemp, jute flax goods, and manilla used in the manufacture of twine, on the free list That just and moderate bill was defeateaby the monopolists, and now, with a tariff of S2O a ton and 40 per cent, ad valorem on twine, and also on twine trust, creating a close monopoly in its manufacture, thousands of farmers during this summer’s harvest have not been able to pay the in creased price of twine-binders. They 1 ave been forced back to tile machinery of their naked hands, and with bloody fingers and tiiumbs have reflected upon the price of binding twine, enhanced to 18 cents a pound by tariff and by trust.

It is true that party prejudices are stubborn and hard to re move, but surely it is not too much to suppose that between these same sore .fingers and thumbs a republican ticket will not be found next year. The very house in which th fanner lives is a monument to unnecessary, unjust, vicious, wicked and criminal taxation. His barn is the same. There is not an inch of lumber or a single nail or a pane ot glass in either of them which has not cost the farmer an average tax of more than 50 per cent, paid, not to the government, but as a naked subsidy to the manufacturers of lumber, iron and glass. His table,. spread with dishes with his daily food, is an alter reared to taxation, on which he sacrifices three times a day to the unholy god of Mammon, now controlling the councils of the nation and devouring the enforced offer ings of unpaid labor. His bed is not a place of untroubled rest. It is lined and stitched and quilted with dishonest taxes, which he is compelled to pay before he can draw his blanket over his weary frame and sink down to sleep. Noth ing so exasperates the monopolists, the usurers, the taxeaters, the tariff spoilsmen, or so inflames their rage, as the re cital of facts such as these. They are fully conscious that their system of spoliation and plunder is blackened at the bar of public opinion when ever its hideous and oppressive details are brought to view.

, Like beasts of prey, they desire to feast upon their quarry without molestation, and they often persuade themselves that their depredation and banquests on the stolen pro ceeds of labor are not seen. They invoke the veil of mystery for the whole scheme of

a high protective tariff. Mystery and obscurity are necessary to their purposes. They love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. The less you know about tariff legislation the better they are pleased. Ignorance on your part enables them not only to plunder you, but to keep on doing so. The laws are therefore complicated and made to cheat. They are intentionlly intricate and difficult to understand, in order to afford opportunities for fraud and fraudulent interpretations in all their sections and branches Eloquence engaged in defence of the present system of tariff legislation, is forced to adopt the practice of a Tombs lawyer whose client he knows to be guill y. The truth is to b? suppressed, the law confuse! and perverted, facts as plain as the sun denied; ana an air of mystery and doubt infused every where. The farmer’s attention is also to be called away from the real facts of the case, and he is asked to spend his time looking for benefits and advantages which never come. I once knew a boy at school who, during the noon spell, was made the victim of a robbery very similar to the one practiced from year to year on you and vour wives and children. The ooy’s mother had filled his pockets with cakes and apples, and the young robbers around him hungered for them and took their plans accordingly. Two of the predatory gang were made the orators of the occasion, while the other three were the practical thieves. The orators, in ex'ited tones and manner, called the attention of this big eyed, honest-hearted boy to a running rabbit, a climbing squirrel, and a flying biid, and while he was following their directions and trying to see things that were not there at all, the thieves went through his pockets, took all the cakes and fruit, and the confedei ated villains soon after banquetted on the spoils together. I am glad to remomber that none of the cakes and apples were for me, and there have been none since.

The State Superintendent decides that the law providing pay for attendance at township institutes applies to teachers of district schools,and that teachers vs town schools are not entitled to pay for attending such meetings unless it is so stipulated iu the contract that they shall take part. In nuch cases they are entitled to pay. , The Monon Route (L., N. A & C. R. R.) is putting its Indianapolis division in good condition ft r fast running. The next few weeks, it is said, will see the entire line between Indianapolis and Monon bal. lasted with gravel to a depth of fourteen inches. Gravel is being distributed at the rate cf eighty car-loads a day, two construction trains working from the steam shovel.

S«rid a prominent druggist the other day. “The government ought to regulate the sale of morphine the same as the sale ol liquor . In fact the law should be even more strict. No person has any business with xaorphine unless obtained through the perscription of a good doctor. The morphine habit is i fearful thing and coftick on one gradually. An.eighth of a grain is a dose I have seen it stated by a medical journal that the largest dose known to. have been taken is 111 grains.” lhe printer’s dollars, where are they ? A dollar here and a dollar there, scattered over numerous small towns all over the country, miles and. miles apart—how shed! they be gathered together ? Come in single file that the printe- mav send you forth to battle for him and vindicate his credit. Reader, are you sure you haven’t two or more printer’s dollars sticking to ycur clothes?

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