The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-02

sum is now required TO purchase a home; aud
when 1t is obtained, the taxes and repairs on u
ARE nsSTS S SSrSen pVS Of '9s u wapS
the return of better times--of lower prices and
settled values. 1t certainly cannot be regarded
as a symptom of healthy social condition when
the laDore1s of the country are in this manner
prevented from acquiring homes for their famt-
lies and an established interest in the country
and its prosperity.
The claim you make that much larger num-
ber of houses have been built in Philadelphia
and Washington during the year 1858 than in
1860 proves nothing, IL true. in respect to the
general prosperity; inasmuch as the whole ten
deI cy of the present condition of affairs is to
increase and build up the large cities, in most
unhealthy manner, at the expense of the coun-
| tIy; and would reer YOU III contrast, to the
| large manufacturing town of Bridesburg ada
| cent TO Philadelphia, in which, l am informed
! on the highOst authority, there has hardly been
an instance since 1865 in which house has
| been either built or bought by an operative em>
| ployed in the local establishments. There is
| also something OF startling significance in the
| following assertions, which take from letter
| pu ubsbed by General H. X. Oliver, in his recent
| report (ls69) to the Legislature of Massachu-
| setts "On the employment of children in facto-
ries . and which letter the Springfield RepubI-
| can, an influential journal published In the
| heart of New England, indorses las tolerably
good description of what most of US have
"Certain parties are called the great manufac-
turers of New England ana they have been
engaged as such for generations, yet the man or
come out of it with more than enough for q
decent interment, is yet to be found"
| The general system, as managed IN connection
with the factory store, is further characterized
| as producing this result, Wit
| "a helpless crowd of workers, the oppression
of low wages, inevitable poverty, and disguised
mean population. Such is the story of
| manufacturing in New England."-Sendte Docu.
| nent, No. AZ, january 1869.
l have now reviewed, in the main, the "arrav
| of facts' presented by you in RECITATION of the
statements contained in the report of the Special
Commissioner, and am ready to submit TO the
| public the question: whether such attempted
| retutation has been successful.
There is, however, in the harsh criticism
which the report of the Commissioner has
| evoked from yourself and others something
| more than appears upon the surface. The Com
| missioner-as the result of his investig cations,
| which he claims, in behalf OF himself and his
| assistants, were fairly conducted and without
| reference to the support of any theory-pre-
| sented facts and figures which proved that
| while the aggregate wealth of the country was
| increasing as rapidly as at any former period,
| the distribution of such increase was most une-
| quail among the people; that under system of
| Inflated, currency and indiscriminate taXltion,
| the rich were becoming richer and the poor
poorer: that the increase IN the wages OF the
| laborer had not been in proportion to the in.
crease OF his living; that the prices of all
| home products had been so advanced and
| maintained that exchange in kind for foreign
| commodities had become nearly impossible,
thus restricting the employment of ship
|
of gold and obligations of Indebtedness indis-
| pensable; and finally, that, under the plea o
| protection to American industry, special and
| onerous taxes had been levied on certain artl-
Giles which required protection, to the
| resulting profit OF the few, but to the detrimeut
of the many. Soon after the publication of his
| report, 1t became evident from the attention it
| awakened that, if the facts were as represented,
| legislation, looking to lower range of duties
on certain articles-like pig iron, salt, and lum-
| ber, the raw materials for more extensive but
| less favored industries-could not long be
| averted. Such movement, however, threat
ened the profits of many wealthy and powerful
| representatives but two methods of procedure,
viz. either 10 directly disprove the statements
| of the Commissioner in reference to the profit of
certain special interests, or indirectly 10 attack
| and go damage his reputation for truth, fair
| ness, and capacity as to deprive his deductions
hereafter OF all weight and influence with the
public.
| The former method has not been adopted. No
| one has challenged the statements OF the CON-
missioner in respect to the profits and enhanced
cost OF pig iron, or the present relative cost of
producing this article in the United States and
in Europe. No one has disputed the evidence
he submitted showing that the present tariff on
| a monopoly as enables them to dictate prices
and to accumulate profits that are almost
without precedent in the history of legitimate
industry. No one has disproyed his assertion
| that the present tariff on lumber has unneees-
sarily increased the cost OF all constructions
Of wood, from the cottage Of the laborer
| W the ltuCluS Vi tue OlnBu-
larly enough, these are points which are
not considered as worthy of special criticism
yet 1t is in these that the real offense OF the
report consists. On the other hand, attention
| is sought to be diverted from the true issue by
cIiticizing the statements of the Commissioner
in respect to wages, rents, and the price of
commodities although these matters chiefly
concern the question of currency, and in them
the Commissioner may be right or wrong
without affecting the justice of his conclusions
in respect to the influence of an excessive and
indiscrminate tariff.
The attempt is also made to disparage the
mmssioner by designating him as "free.
tTader;" although, in this respect, he most dis.
tinctly stated that investigation had led him to
the conclusion "that policy of moderate and
judicous protection under the tariff is certainly
for the present, the policy best suited to sub
serve the industrial interests of the whole
country;" and again, "that the requirements of
the Government for revenue must certainly, for
the present, necessitate so high an average of
duties as to afford all that can be reasonably
asked for on the ground of protection"
Furthermore, 1t not having been found suffi-
cient 10 resort 10 legitimate evidence, such as
he statistics OF savings banks, and the like, to
disproVe the capacity of the Commissioner for
the discharge of his official duties you have
scruiniZed with almost microscopic care the
twenty-seven pages OF closely printed tables
contained in the report, aud having found one
single paragraph, where, either in copying
OF proof-readln.;, the decimal point has
been, through inadverience, carried one
place further to the right than was proper,
you cite thN (see page 10 of your speech) as
conclusive that no amount OF evidence could
| give to the Commissioners figures "a character
for respectabity or weight OF authority" AS
public statement of the Hon. William D. Kelley
| (see WashinptOn JhTOnicip Fehruarv 22l "Lhat