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

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war upon the free labor of the country
Avniling himself of the pretext of the sur
plus in the Treasury. he sought not to re-
wise or improve the Tariff, or to adapt it
to the revenues or industry of the coun
try. by enlarging the free list, BY adding
to it those articles which enter into our
manufactures, or those which. under the
influence of its protection, We had acquir-
ed the skill and the machinery to manu-
faeture SO quickly and cheaply that they
no longer needed defense against the as
saults of foreign competition. No; bis
aim was to overthrow the system, and
then, as now, bis followers threatened
disunion and secession if their demands
we're not complied With. Gen. Jackson
settled that question. [Ap2lause.] But
the North, yielding as she has always
done, accepted what was termed con-
premise-tbe ad valoren system was the
principle of the Tariff of 1888.
Now, mark the condition of the coun-
try when that bill became law. The
National Treasury was overlooking; mon-
ey was plenty and interest low-for the
annual import of specie exceeded its ex-
ports. Wages we're high; labor diversifi-
ed-for many new departments had been
added to the business of the country
The farmer and planter found good pri-
ses for their products, for the consumers
we're we'll paid and constantly employed.
Our commerce was then thriving, and We
had lace of American merchants. But,
10! the change wrought by the ad valorema
system. | now appeal to your memories,
for there are many here who remember
1887. Under this new experiment of the
ad valorene system, there was a rapid in
crease in the Importation of foreign goods,
accompanied by rapid shipment of our
specie; money began to grow scarce; the
demand for it, and consequently the rate
of interest, to increase. Under this in
fox of foreign goods. and this high rate
of interest, one branch of industry after
another succumbed, until the workshop,
the mine, the factory, the forge aud the
furnace, were tenantless, the loom and
the spindle stood still. Unemployed Ia
borers and broken business men hocked
to the West. and q system Of land specu-
lation, such as our country had never
seen, was thus inaguFnted. The price of
grain, already low, was still more de-
pressed; while laborers gathered in thou
sands in our cities, the warehouses Of the
East we're gorged With Western -four, for
which there vas no dem and until the
workinguen Of New York, ascri6ing their
sufferings to speculatons in land and
food, broke into and sacked the -four
store of the city. There vas not SOL
vent corporation in the country. Our
banks suspended specie payments; stay
laws, to prevent the collection of debts,
we're passed in the Ststes, and the Gene
raj Government. Treasury of which bad
so recently contained so large surplus,
was DOW bankrupt. Have | overdrawn
the picture of our country from 1887 to
le4ll [Cries of "No; no " 0, if there
be, under, the broad heavens, sadder
sight than all others, it is that Of Draw
ny man, willing and eager to work, proud
of spirit aud loving in heart, begging,
from day to day, the poor privilege Of la
boring, that, By his skill and Industry. he
may provide shelter, raiment, and food
for the wife he has sworn to protect, and
the dear children in whom he lives again.
TSensation. And yet, then, as in 1857 t,
the mondays sun and the midnig BIT stars
looked down upon millions of suoh in this
land of ours, teeming as it does with ev-
cry element of wealth and prosperity
In 1857, was not the country started by
the daily reports of the doings of the
thousands of unemployed laborers who
assembled in New York and other Eastern
cities, from day to day, to devise the
means By which, without open pauperism,
their wives and little ones might be fed I
10 Philadelphia, they did not ask for aims;
but they did implore the capitalists to ad
vance the means by which the machine
shop and the forge might give employ.
ment, forgetting that capital could not
long continue to q anufacture goods for
which there was DO demand; and that the
American market had been given over by
our Government to the foreign adversa-
ries of our industry and prosperity
But let US return to ls41. The terri
BILE depression OF the country could no
longer be borne. But how was it to be
remediedi Was not this suffering the
act of God Could man have aVerted or
remedy calamities SO widespread and
dire I Let us see; there was one thing
our Government could do; it could modi-
fy the tariff by abandoning the ad OaIore"'
system, and establishing specific duties,
with free trade list of raw materials
This is it did, and gave the country the
tariff of 1912. Now, mark the change
In 1910, we produced 100000 tuns OF
iron, and under the influence of that tar
iff. which went into effect about the first
of January, IS43, We produced, in ls47
76O. .OuO tuns of iron. Under the infu
epce of the Free Trade 0d Ualorem tsrif
of 1893. from 1894 to 1912. our iron pro
duct incre ased but 20, 600 tuns, while, a
/ have already said, under the specific
duties of the tariff of 1912, between tina
1 = IL RI r m