The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-08-24
reduced our currency to this pitifal valua.

reduced our currency 70 TINS pltlful valua-
don.
But, again they, while doing this,-while
imposing this hard burden OF taxation upon
articles of necessity, have attempted, BY
the same tariff, to put Hto fhe pockets Of
New England manufacturerSA bodnty 1aeh
IS never was heard Of i Ms county befsre.
WY do they do it7 Why, those Nav Ehg-
land men are their friends, and they always
have paid for their elections, and have always
furnished them money to carry on their con-
tests. They are always in favor of negro
equality, of recognizing the black man las
. man and a brother" the perfect equality
Of the races What pay do they get for all
this ? I will tell you: These New England
men are engaged in the manufacture of cot
ton goods, muslins, calico, hardware, iron,a and
the various things chat are produced in this
country. The raw products, we furnish them
with, and they are engaged in the transuan-
tation of them. There are the wooden nu.
megs, tool had like to have forgotten taat
Laughter. The congress of4the oniteo
States imposed tremendous duties upon these
articles. and it works in this way: You can
GO across into Canada and buy yard of
Coarse muslin. such as we used to buy for
e;obt cents 8 yard, for eight cents vet but
YOU can't buy yard of it from your mer-
chant here for less than twenty, if it is a.
good, heavy article Why? Simply because
congress has imposed duty upon the inn
portation OF this one article of twelve and
half cents yard. And for what purpose,
my fellow-citizens? To raise revenue to
the government? Certainly not 1t would
be more excussble if they derived revenue
to the government from imposing these du-
ties, but they do not For what purpose,
then, is it levied? Why has congress done
it? Why, they levied it as protection to the
New England men who are engaged in the
manufacture. [Cries of "Thats the turn"
"That's just it" 1t makes us pay bounty
equal to twelve and half cents q yard upon
every yard of this manufactured product.
The tariff won't let the foreign manufacturer
lander can sellsup to the point of the cost of
the original production and the tariff duty
that has to be paid upon it on its importa
ton into this country. -.,
The same is true in regard to cahcoes, and
l have paid some attention to this, for have
been doing something in merchandise my.
self, and have been inquiring into this mat.
ter of the cost of cotton goods, prints, &c
You can take the same amount of money
and go into Canada, or across the lines any.
where, into any country, and buy calicoes
just as cheap as you could buy them in good
old democratic days, when the democratic
party administered this government. There
they still cost but eight or nine cents yard
depending upon the quality; but you can't
buy the same thing here for less than from
fifteen to seventeen, and sometimes as high
as twenty cents, recently. Now, why is this?
Because thesesmen engaged in the manufac
ture are obliging US to pay them this bounty
which keeps out the foreign article, and, as
| have before said, enables them TO sell ur
to the highest point.
This is equally true in regard to other
| things. 1T was but the other day that was
talking with man regarding the purchase
| of some of these seamless sacks. He asked
me 90 cents piece. | asked why in
| the name of sense he asked that for those
sacks, for they are made of the very poor
est quality of cotton that can be bought, no
| worth more than % cents in the market, ant
one of these sacks weighs only a pound, ant
there is not very much loss in the manu-
facture, so that the article costs, manufac
ture and al, not over q cents pound
"Oh," he says, "that's true enough!' 'theI
why do YOU I asked, charge me 60 cents.
"Simply because | can sell them for 60 cent.
and you can't buy them any less" was hi
reply. These New England sack-manufac
turers have entered into a combination, an,
| won't sell them at less than so cent. !.
turned to the tariff duty upon that, and wha
did | find? l found that it said $40 cent
| a pound on seamless sacks; so that, ever,
time you buy a pound of sacks to sack grair
in, they make You pay bounty to the New
| England manufacturer of At cents upon CIV
cry sackt gAS So
| a. x..sl
system. They not only outrageously ia,
thus those articles which enter into genera
consumption throughout the country, blu
place tariff which amounts to prohibition
against those things manufactured. in on
| country, so that the manufacturer is 'prOtect
ed" And what sort of protection do the,
give give you in your sphere? None at all!
| The great farming interest of this country
the great laboring interest of the vests
| entirely ignored by this republican congress
When they give those New England manu-
facturers this protection, they give us moth
ing in return, except the privilege of paying
| them Just what they see fit to ask US!
The same thing is true in regard to irol
and steel, and manufactured articles ofhard
ware. Before the advent of this Republican
party to power, You could buy railroad iron
! and get it delivered in this country, at from
$25 to $32a ton. What is it now? Yol
can't get a ton of it laid down any where ii
this country for less than about $780,. Why
Because this republican congress has in
creased the duty upon railroad iron, merel
| for the sake of protecting Pennsylvania man
ufaeturers, until they compel you to pay
bounty of more than $40 for every ton 0
railroad iron you buy of them sr
While this is the fact in regard to railroa
iron, it is also the fact in regard to iron in a
the forms in which it is consumed in thi
country,-entering into your plows, you
axes, your saws and into every sort ofagr
cultural implement. You cannot buy on
of them, or use them, or the other articles c
which ] have spoken, without paying int
the pockets of those who manufacture then
in the iron region of Pennsylvania or i
New England, moro than the amount of tn