Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-12-22

in space two inches square, while that OF
ours makes volume specifying 1000 separate
articles In the schedules, enumerating every
thing you use from the cradle to the grave
Ours average GO per cent. in gold Great
| Britains about per cent. The duty on i'm
| ported articles increases the price of our home
products. He illustrated this by the tariff on
| pig iron and Nova Scotia coal, the latter OF
which draws from consumers here 81 % on
every ton by reason of the tariff. He gave in
| stances of the importation of salt from Liver
pool, where the duty paid was double the cost of
tn" salt il Liverpool it came out of the pock' is
of consumers. The price Of coal. iron salt
and lumber is increased in proportion to tn,
| duty imposed. He then proceeded to test the
| tariff on few Of the leading articles.
Eighteen millions Of dollars annually are paid
by the people on pig iron. How much does
Uncle Sam gttp A little over one million,
while the remainder goes into the pockets of
the iron masters. So of other articles. l.
this Use tax? The treasury is not bene-
flied, and who is? The poor, shivering,
| starving people-widows and orphans of the
| war; who ought to be the wards Of the nation
are suffering from this unjust legislation.
Look at the article of salt. a common neces-
sity, which should certainly be free. Every
man pays $50 to 200 per cent. on salt, not for
revenue, because it is absolutely prshibitory,
but because the chain OF monopolies is kept
| up and remains unbroken. He detailed the
operations of salt companies in New York,
which induced the rise of the article, which
he cited as a specimen of what Mr.. Greeley
calls "Protection to American Industry"
Look at the result of this kind of legislation
Hasn't it been to send prices to the moon?
Right here in Augusta everything has doubled
in price, from tenpenny nail to a trip-ham
mer. When you build a house it costs double
to build It than it did ten years ago, on &C.
count of the Use in allthe materials entering
into its construction. He showed the effects
of the tariff on clothing, blankets, carpets,
and other articles, and said that it operated
against the poor and in favor of the rich.
Now, what is the remedy? We are told that
we have a large debt and cannot get along
without tire tariff. 1t has nothing to do with
it. When we run over the articles that give
us the revenue, we shall find that one half the
revenue comes from ten article - three
fourths from thirteen. Don't you see that
we can sweep out the other articles without
any loss to the revenue? Free Traders are
| ready to collect all the revenue needed. All
| we ask is to levy the tax for revenue. We
can keep up the revenue on tea, coffee and
sugar, as the taxes on these are the cheapest
that we pay, and every item goes into the
treasury, because these products come from
abroad; but not cent should be levied upon
the necessities of life. He would not bring
| about this reform suddenly; was willing to
| accept Mr.. Wells tariff of last year. He
would take the, duty of of coal and salt
| and reduce it on lion, and everything in that
line as rapidly as possible. Would the carpen-
ter and house-buiIder be injured, when cheap
material would be placed within his reach?
Would the blacksmith be injured, if he could
maker be injured? Under the tariff we have
lost the boot and shoe trade of the world
Will the cotton mills be injured? Ask
Mr.. Sprague, and he will tell you
that he pays more for protection than
he gets from it. VIII the wooden mills
| suffer? They lie idle to-day on account
of the tariff. We can raise Merne woods
against the world. But TO make fine class
of goods we must have the Saxony and other
| fine woods to mix, which we don't raise. We
cannot get these on account of the tariff; and
can't make but one class of goods, and thus
! lose the markets Of the world. The effects of
tariff were shown upon commerce. In view
of our deserted shipyards and crippled COM
merce, he thought it strange that any one in
Maine should be protectionist. Strike off
the tariff and the magnificent water-p powers of
Maine will be made available. Don't we trade
to make money? Why shut out the Canadas
and England, if we can trade with them and
make money? But some one says, you are
going to put our labor on par with the pau
per labor of the old world. Labor of equal
grade equalizos itself. The purchasing power
OF the wages Of skilled labor is as equal in
England as it is here.
He closed his address by considering the
relations Of agriculture to Free Trade. Tn
der Free Trade agriculture in other countries
has been fostered and stimulated. By cheap
ening the raw material, YOU cheaper the arti-
Gle, enlarge its consumption, and create en-
ployment for more labor. At the present time
this is the most expensive country in which to
live in all the world, simply on account of the
unjust tariff. The farmer suffers by the bur
dens imposed and really comes in competition
with the products of the world. Under Free
Trade farm laborers could afford to work for
less pay and make more monev. All of Gods
bounties are useless to US under the present
system. This is not a question that belongs
to parties. Tariff is based upon gigantic
wrong, and the people must rise in their
might and overthrow it. He thought sthe
present an important crisis in the affairs OF