Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1847-08-31
THE ENQUIRER:
d, Va.
.uoust 90. 18d7.
Saturday Morning., August ~o' TOT
Tue TARIFF OF 1915.

saturday Morning, August %, loa..
THE TARIFF OF 1915.
We have recently referred 10 The p'opneeie'"
r,in made by The Wing party when The pTese ha
p.uer,e PHI was passed BY Congress Al ~
oorrss of our remarks VIC referred 10 Inc Increase
~ ~, ,ovenue since that law went INTO oleia,
,;o, .rd The high prices which our asi'eu'
'io'' h.re s;nee borne. The increase Of
Tho ,evsnue is not a mailer oil specu'a'iou'
, ,.c, ascerlained BY The actual returns iiom ~
Treasury Department, and must he acml'eu y
~ Tins far the Tariff has had a bcnehcial e.
t.o, The Wing prophets have been ialsil'e''
and the Democratic prophets sustained w =.
result II is confessed, 100, that The farm u
,s42 was laid with a view 10 afford Pfo'ee"o."
domestic manufactures, and mol WIN 'he oo!'.'
ot raising The greatest amount oil revenue iio'i
imnor,s. This being the case, il mus. nave e1-
clnded from our norris a portion OF these articles
which would have come into The country Oh"
could moi ha ave answered he purpose n.cnded py
lie trainers. The imports being thus rciuceo,
the reduction of The duties and Inc ie'ehue
,bere(rom. below the amount which migh' nave
beer obtained by different Legislation, was ma
,ural consequence. When the Democratic
par,y obtained the power, ii was determined 70
adon, This different legislation, and the Iarih Oh
1916 levied upon revenue principles, was
Of that determination, producing as lis Iesuh d
LARGE increase in The revenues OF The Govern
men,. This result was ioreseen by the friends Of
that measure, Tor they reasoned on mai saojec'
from established data. and had hrinr" th"'r ''as
The practical effect of similar legislation III
Enolsnd. We may then assume that as ia as
revenue is commemorative great purpose Tor levy
inedu,ies-,hc beneficial fleets eI perienced since
The passage Of the Tariff of 1876, did not depend
on temporary and accidental circumstances, but
may be regarded as founded on permanent Prin-
cinles. connected with The laws OF commercial IN
teIcouTse.
The next point In which The subjec, may be
viewed, is the effect it has e1erted on Inc Interests
of the country. Here we will call attention 10
the prophecies OF The Wings, that the people may
see how completely they have been falsided. 10
1874 the Hon. John M. Clayton said al Lancas-
ter: "Should the struggle for national indePen'
dence, which is nov raging throughout The lengtn
and breadth OF The land, be decided against US oy
the vote Of Pennsylvania, she will come out Of
tina, contest, with her gorgeous banner trailing IN
the dust, herself bleeding at every pore. The
shouts of party triumph will be speedily succeed
ed by the vail of her ruined ploughmen and her
be.gared mechanics. The fires OF her FORCES and
the sound of The axe and hammer in her work.
sbors will die away amidst the acclamallons oil
her fatal victory; ard, there may be many among
the thousands before me, who with sorrow-s'rick-
en-, if no, with broken hearts, may live 10 mourn
The loss OF that without which public iioeliy
would cease TO be q blessing"
This lamentab!e resul, was 10 be produced by
no destruction of The Tariff oil 1872, and The
adopriop OF The revenue ideas Of the Democratic
nar,v. The Philadelphia North American in
July, 1916, pursued The same course in the fol-
lowing strain addressed TO the people OF Pennsyl-
vania
"Behold your handiworK! You affected 10 Id
vor the taritf-a policy
sWherr either you must live or boar no nie-
YEN whose hills and valleys rung with Inc songs
ri protected labor, and whose vast hopes OF al
fusnce and prosperity knew no existence oul 10
the tariff-your hand 1t IS mat mas sliichen II
doun You have ruined yourself and the coun-
,ry 10 win a squared word from a party thatspuTns
vop Now lake the desolation that you have
wooed. see your mines deserted your forge fires sex
t;non;shed YOUR shutles siilled, your labor with
onf bope. your capital without profit. Pay your
STATE debt. If YOU can, in drafts upon THE PARTY
or sink INTO bankruptcy, dishonor and misery,
and be The scott Of The world, as a Stale lnai sol'
a glorious birthright for a wrctched mess Oh po-
litical potlage."
The National Inlelligencer, a little more than
twelve month, ago, said of the Tariff OF 1876
nThe fatal measure which strikes at the root oil
all Inc industry of the country, and at The living
n every man in il who earns his bread by the
sweat of his brow-this misshapen and mon
s,rous scheme" and so on, Tin TWO days more
will become a law CT the land" "Biacrts frnft
nor tn be rccrc1 bu these rao wcuLD?M TIER trust
in demagogges."
The Hon. Reverdy Johnson, not 10 be behind
any who raised the shout Of ruin, said in the de-
bate in The Seuate-"If this bill should becomes
law. il will ruin not only the hundreds Of thou
sand. engaged in the labor of The land, but the
value OF The land itself; il will bring ruin to
The manufacturer; ruin to the agricnlturisi; ruin
to the planter; ruin to public credit ruin 10 the
peace, comfort and virtues OF The people"
Such were the forebodings ofIhe Wing presses
and the Wing leaders; and when we look abroad
for their ful6lment, our eyes search in vain
| throughout The limits Of the country. War has
failed to shake the credit Of the nation, sustained
as il is by the increased receipts from our Gus
tom houses. We hear OF no distress among
The manufacturers-of no deserted FORCES nor
ruined workshops-and no bitter fruit has been
reaped by them. On the contrary, all is joy, life
and activity. Manufacture are sprinsing up
and villages are growing and aouTishiDg even in
the State OF Pennsylvania, whose people were
told 10 take the desola,ion they had wooed-sce
their mines deserted, their forge-6res extinguish-
ed. their shutlles sliiled, their labor without hope,
their capital without profit. No one-no, not
even The Wing prophets themselves, can point
TO the fulflment of their confidentd declarations. -
The country has been prosperous in every rami-
6ca,ion Of lis industry. Every branch OF in
dus.ry has felt the benefit of prosperity. But yet
the Wings cling 10 their hatred Of the Tariff Of
1886. They ~repudiale The doctrine that MIR.
Clay himself so confidently sanctioned at one Pc
iiod Of his life. He declared in Congress that a
nations imports were measured by her exports,
and that in a series Of years the quantity export
cd from a country must balance that imported
into it. The logical deduction from these prin-
ciples was, that a system that imposed The light
es, possible restrictions On foreign imports into
our country, would enable foreign countries 10
buy from US the largest amount Of our agricultu.
raj productions. This deduction has been abun-
dainty verified by the history OF English com.
meicc-yea, by the history Of our own trade
The Wings deny This, bat without reason. They
contend ,hst,he prosperity OF lhe country, since the
Tariff Of 1919 went into operation. was produced