The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1870-04-07
SPEECH OF
HON! JOHN ID. WILSON,
.fr NiTHE TARIFF,

3
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAR. 2l, 1870.
Mr.. CHAIRMAN, Few bills, l appre-
hend, have ever been examined witt,
greater care by the AneHcan people
than the one now under consideration;
and while many will take exceptions to
some of its provisions, none will ques-
ton the ability or patriotic motives by
which the committee hayebeen guided.
In this, as in otherSsimiIar cases, con
flicting interests have come IN contact,
and OF coure the representatives of
some of them must be dissatisfied but
the country, l think, will unite in ac-
oording TO the Committee Of Ways and
Means the high merit of having adhered
to such revenue provisions as will pro-
tect the honor and credit OF the nation,
The very large number of articles add
ed to the free list. entitle the bill to ia
vor; spdItFust itmay. be amended in
a few important particulars and then
passed into law.
Few questions in this country have
given rise to 50 much earnest discuss
sion OF SO great a division of sentiment
as that of'a protective tariff one party
proclaiming that protection was not
only the life-blood of manufacturers,
but of all other American industries,
while the other, with equal zeal, has
proclaimed that a tariff for any purpos-
es other than those OF revenue was de-
structive of the interests of the masses
and subversive of their rights. And so
nearly balanced have the two parties
been on this question that the views of
neither have been nodded into policy
which has assumed the forms of law for
a greater period than few consecutive
years at any one time. Nor is there,
in my judgement, any other question of
national poiticsiin which the prosper
ity and happiness of the American peo-
pie are SO largely involved.
Before entering upon the examina-
ton Of the historical facts connected
with this subject in our own country, it
may not be improper to take cursory
view ofthe history Of some other ma
tions, and learn, five can, whether they
have been more prosperous, and wheth-
erthey have advanced more rapidly in
the elements of wealth and greatness
unde eraprotective or free trade laws.
In additiomto agriculture, nature has
given other resources to every country
which, if not developed, must and will
tend to poverty, ignorance, and demor.
alization. Husbandry cannot stand
alone and add wealth to the nation, but
must have those other indispensable
concomitants, manufactures and com
merce. No nation ever has or ever can
become independent, great, and power
full which fails to diversity her indus
tries and at the same time protect them
by,legislative enactments, thereby af-
fordipg constant employment to every
workingman at remunerative prices,
that he may be able not only to live
comfortably, but also to educate and
prepare his children for entering upon
the great tbeater Of life.
iI'...h PORTUGAL.
Few countries 10 the world have en-
loved greater natural advantages and
gifts than Portugal. With her genial
climate and productive soil, she was at
the close of the seventeenth. century a
prosperous and happy nation, having
learned the art of combining manufac-
lures. particularly those of woel lTwith
her agriculture, her looms furnishing
cloth, not only sufficient. for the wants
of heroWnf people, but Q considerable
amount for export; thus increasing her
commerce, and lessening dependence
upon the chances of trade abroad. But
her fatal retrogade movement was made
in 1903, when her administration en-
tered into treaty engagements by which
in return for favors accorded to heI
wines, she allowed importations of thC
only goods she0was able to manufacture
successfully at merely nominal rates o
duty, thereby ignoring the policy o
creating a home market for her toot
and wool by which her commerce woult
have been stimulated and her nationali
ty strengthened. The effect was thatheI
market was supplied with the manufac
lures of other nations, and her preciou
metals disappeared. Hence, the Brit
ish Merchant, volume three, page Is
says:
i'But after taking off the prohibition
we brought away SO much OF their sll
YER as to leave them very little for thei
necessary occasions, and then We begal
to bring away their gold"
Thus by the introduction of fire
trade the foundation of her ruin wa
laid; her home market for breadstuf
was exchanged for foreign market 70
her wine; but now that has PARTIAL
failed, because of the constant with
drawal from. the soil of the element
of which grapes are composed Thu
her unwise and fatal policy has event
uated in national poverty and imbeci
;ty, her population constantly declil
ing in numbers, but increasing in dt
moralizatiou and ignorance.
.vtl4YON TgRKEY@ gg aar-T
No country in Europe is possessed
natural advantages equal to those Of Il
Turkish empire. All the leading al
ricultural productions of the wor
were successfully cultivated there du
ing the past century. Her cottc
q lands alone,a under proper cultivation
are canahle of Welding an amount