The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1870-12-01
] A PROTECTION TARIFF, =,

upon the couuify by the Radical rul-
ers. What that is, is answered in the
4 speech of John, Quincy Adams, deliv-
d cred at Fanieul Han, Boston, on the
1 25th of october last from which we
| extract the following: 81 .r,45s
i And next we come to the tariff, the
> kseeond great legacy of Republican
aruIe.saWell, what is that? You are
taxed more than four hundred mil
lions year, about one half of which
j is raised by cusbomduties levied un-
! der tariff of the kind called apro-
. tecfiye. Now what is = protective
tariff? Why, let me tell you. A
i capitalist would like to weave blank
cts -at Lowell, or roll steel rails in
4 Philadelphia, instead of employing
his money in shipping or farming,
for instance, say our natural indus
tries. But the people in England. or
France, or Germany can afford 10
make blankets and steel rails and sell
them 10 US in exchange for our pro-
duce, we will say, at one half the
price it costs US here, for the reason
lthat we, in this vast. fertile, and
tgrowing country can do better with
our capital The. capitalist must
| therefore be protected."; So. he
goes to Congress and gets law pass
led that no one shall bring a steel rail
ora blanket from Europe till it has
paid a duty which is fi-,ed SO high as
| to make it impossible to sell the inn
portation at less price than our cap
italist can make it fol, together with
an enormous pIofit beside, to COM
fpensate him for the great risk he runs.
For protection" being all statute,
and no law of.nature, in " mighty on
sartin, " and liable to be tipped over
as soon as the mass of people find out
its true meaning. Our friend, then,
the lucky capitalist, being. protected
from competition, can put up his
price to any extent, up to the extreme
limit nit of the duty, freights, insurance,
and cost of exchange which the inn
porter has 10 pay. Now, this is very
well for the capitalist, and ] dol4not
care just now to sympathise with the
foreign manufacturer In fact, nv
1sympathy is all enlisted at home-for
you and me, the people who pay this
protection For it is no moral en-
couragement that the protected wants.
1t is eash-hard cash-and LET me tell
YOU that this cash that alleviates the
improbable toll of the protected does
| not ldistil from heaven; it is squeezed
out of your days work, and adds ex-
haustion TO fatigue it takes away the
relaxation or improvements; il cuts
down your vacation it banishes The
infrequent luxury. In order that our
friend who wants to make blankets
may make money, too, you have 10
tpay twice as much, for a pair as you
could buy them for in Liverpool.
This is.a tax upon you just as surely
as your poll tax, and infinitely higher
and the worst of it is that little or
none of it goes into the treasury.
Now. upon this matter 7 do not ask
J you 70 believe me, for I am Demo-
crat and we know that all Democrats
, are bad men, because the men of NOR
!, atildeas tell us SO; but ask you to
listen 10 Mr.. Wells, who. is moral and
, loyal. Well, what does he tell usg
Why, in his last report, after recon-.
mending a reduction of duty on pig.
iron, scrap iron, salt. lumber, lutte,
leather; and a few other less import
ant items I'm among the many hundreds
, of protected articles, he goes on to
say that the change would at most re-
duce the revenue only. twelve mil.
I: lions, while 1" the direct relief expert
enced by the.communiiy, through The
f abatement of prices which would fol.
low, would be. not less, than sixty
millions l1Il of sdollars.Do Why, look al
pig iron alone the thing which en-.
ters into the price of almost every.
: hing You eat or put on. The same
: authority nth tells you that its piice to
American consumers was raised sun.
necessarily "last year, by this system.
: "from eight to ten dollars per ton,
Now, we consume some two million
i tons year, SO that here is tax paid
: TO the1iron furnaces alone of nearly
7 twenty million dollars of which little
Q OF none goes into the Treasury ISL.
o11, ,O0o9. Each one oflyou pays par
of that but how many are projected
: Why the whole business only EN-
a ploys some 10000 hands. and to pam
n pertthem the great industry which
: used to make this region resounG;
e with the manufacture of marine en-
i gines and the clamping together OF
d iron ships has been smothered. NJ
e one complains of paying hisfair shar,
s of'the reasonable expense, Of the gov
!. hernmeent, eent but, the tariff, not contea
i with, that makes you pay for tht
forced prosperity of your favored Eel
low citizens. Mr.. Wells gives an in
= stance Of the practical working of thu
system in the single case of the far
: mer,Ibut precisely the same facts may
= be applied with exactlythe same results
nfto any producer. He says: "If thu
: farmer wishes to invest the proceed
: of his wheat in blankets, he will fine
that 100 bushels of wheat soldin1 Biv
: erpool will buy him over 700 pound
IF of this article but if sold in New
York at the present prices it will no
4 bring him over $50 pounds" not one
half, gentlemenu just so of your coal
You gould get twenty tons from Nov,
Scotia for your $1O0; but the govern