The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-10-18

-
aud how many thousands OF dollars
worth that immense house alone import
ed into this city. Or let him put tht
same question to those genuine specimen:
Of American energy and enterprise, Mes
srs. Crook Il Frost, saw m manufacturers, oil
your own city. Though it be apart from
my subject, permit me to say, in passing,
that if the gentle nan who prepared thai
article be citizen of St Louis, l won
der that be didn't rather trauple under
foot than spread before the people
through the columns of leading news
paper, the official evidence that people
whose land, beginning with New Jersey
at the seabosrd, is underlaid with iron
apd coal. until here 10 Missouri, near your
own ST. Louis, it stands out in mountain
Gus proportions, of the richest and purest
ore the eye of man has ever seen, impor.
ted from foreign lands. in single year,
Sl07,702 worth of old iron and scrap l.
ron. But let ne return to the od vol0rena
system.
! Under the protecting influence of the
. tdilu vi iO-, tuO "OhteIu poltiou vi
New-Jersey, with soil light and sandy,
became the seat of prosperous and remu-
nerating business-glass making. The
poor and hitherto unemployed people
found constant employment glass houses
were erected, and around them clustered
populous villages. The mechanic and ar
tisan ,fnding ploymentthere. .swelled the
population of those towns, and the farmer,
iudiug market at bis door for the fruits
and vegetables bis land would produce,
enjoyed a measure Of prosperity of which
he bad not dreamed. In many departme nts
of trade the foreign article was wholly
excluded, while home competition wrought
it's natural effect. and gave to the consul
mer of glass a cheaper and better arti-
Gle. Under the influence of our present
ad va50rent tariff, the scene is again chan
ged. The fires no longer light the glass
works; the workmen that gathered about
them are scattered With the destruc.
ton of the trade that called them into
existence, the villages are almost DESERT
ed. The farmer again conpetes With
those in Ohio and the Great West, in the
price of his grain in the markets Of the
world, while the baDished Iaborers whose
trade has been destroyed are thrown up
on the West to try their hand at farm
ing; to strive with you, working meD, in
the race for employment, at time when
industry is as PROSTATE here as there
The duty on plate glass is nominally l5
per cent; yet so fraudulently is it invoiced
that it pays to onr Government not 3per
cent duty Is it not clear. working men
OF ST. Louis, that our Government should /,
as l haze said specify what the duties
shall be, aud not submit them to the con-
science or cupdity of our foreign rivalsl
And ight not lawyer, and even a
Member Of Congress, understand this!
Bat let US look at this question histori-
cally. Though tho view be general and
necessarily cursory, i: may throw food
Of light upon the subject. At the break
ing out of the war 1912, and the general
war in Europe, We we're without manu-
factories. But under the influence of
these wars, With their embargo laws or
der in council. the Berlin and Milan de-
croes, we we're forced to be our own pro-
iucers. Factories, forges and furnaces
were built-mines were opened-the
South fouod ber cotton could be u manufac-
tured ia the North--the West found con-
sumers of her produce in the growing
towns of the East Industry, in every
part of the land, found quick demand; i;
With increasing rates of wages, money
became abundant, interest was low, the
people prosperous. But In 1916 the
wars we're closed. The necessities out OF
which this happy state of things grew,
we're not Withdrawn, and GoverDmen Mt
furnishing no defence to our infant in
dustry against the accumulated capital,
machinery, and skill of the world, it was
prostrsted and crushed. Most of you
who hear me were too young to remem-
her the sad change which took place
Ask your fathers, and they can tell you
how foreign products flowed in upon US
how our young factories were closed
the fres in cur .orges ex;iDgCished-the
price of grain reduced-while people
from the deserted factory and forge
focked to the West to further produce
and depreciate the price of the raw ma
terial How, as Imports increased, spe
Gle was exported, money became scarce
interest high, until, finally, our laborins
people were without employment, ouI
banks in a state of suspension, our Gov
erumeut bankrupt This deplOrable
state of things led to the passage OF the
tariff of l824-a law not unlike that
) which the Republicans of the House pas
, sed last session, but which Jour then sit
ting member says be could not under
stand. Under the influence of the tnrif
of 1924, our people slowly rose from thei
|, prostratioD. As the amount of imports
|, decreased, so diminished the Aow of spe
Gle from the country; workshops were a
gain occupied; the spindle and the loon
, began to move; the anvil sent forth it,
cheering ring; the fire again glowed il
, the furnace and the forge; commerce, be
tween the North, theSouth, the East. ant