The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-08-19

put of nearly all American markets;
Hence, our Straitsville or Ferrara friend
has his home market to himself, and
sxacts from consumers say % per ton
more than formerly for his iron, except
where he meets American competition
rhuS the general government gets only
about q million dollars duties on pig
IRON, while the whole American product
is enhanced to consumers about niteen
millions. Each manufacturer OF inc
best grade Of iron from pig metal mas
TO pay the extra price of probably 70
per ton, and is borne down also by high
taxes and high interest Therefore ne
must get protection also, or quit man.
And so it goes, through
the ten thousand American manufactur-
ers, composed in whole or In part OF
iron or steel, from the
pig to the cambria needle, nearly every
article is absolutely cut OF from foreign
markets by taxes, high interest, and
high tariff on its raw material Md can
only live ct home if Itself supported by
the tariff.
What is true of iron is true of cotton,
wool, leather, and nearly all manufac-
lures. The New York Evening Post, .
high Republican authority, alleges as
the result of careful computation, that
all the tariff duties on articles which
are made in the United States yield q
revenue Of less than seventy.6ve mil
lions while adding to the prices paid
by consumers in this country three hun
dred millions. That is, rather than re-
duce the debt burden, and interest, so
that all industries may thrive, the Re
publican party gives two hundred and
twenty-five millions each year of the
peoples money to O few favored pro-
ducers and manufacturers-sOme OF
them needing help and others not
This is q great injustice to the masses
Of the people already over burdened,
and il combines with high interest to
destroy other industries quite a. numer'
Gus and important, as those it helps.
BY these causes, for example. ship build
ing has ben destroyed, and our com
merce driven from the seas.
Why not lessen the tax and interest
burden which Expresses all of our in
dustries? Why should some suffer OF
die that others 70 greater than they
may flourish more 4? Indeed, why should
not all industries, little and big, like al
men, be equal before the law p?
The Republican party has thus, BY
high interest leading to high tariff, laid
heavy burdens on the whole people and
by the same act cut off the products o.
our shops from foreign markets-de
stroying shipbuilding and commerce
saved half of our manufactures only By
destroying theother half, aud degrading
the industry of the nation by making u
success depend on party and lobby
schemes instead of on the laws Of nature
and the movements Of trade. Mr.. Sher.
man, the finance leader OF the Repub
Iican party, claims credit for this tariff
policy in his Columbus speech. He
promises no reform his party promises
none in their state platform. 1t has
stood, substantially as it now is, since
the close OF the war; and it will 40
stand substantially until the Republican
party is cast from power.
On the other hand, the Democracy Of
Ohio propose to abolish all duties on the
necessaries of life. as tea, coffee and
sugar-to lay all the duties for revenue
only and not protection, putting as
much of the burden as possible on the
Injuries of the rich, and as little as pos
sible on industries-and then, with re-
dnced government expense, Hight 1tft
( bnrden, and above All light in-aruss. err
I PROSTATE in3psuuea All ~sivr and
Golrish Ia competition WltL The -1fI-
merce anu manufactures OF the world.
LAND GRANTS.
A few words now on the land grant
question and l am done.
Among the greatest errors committed
in national politics in the past ten years
has been the bestOwal of public lands
on private corporations. The frst grant
was to the Pacific Railway in 1852.
Before that year, there had been but
two land grants ever made by the gen.
eral government for works of internal
Improvement, and both these were
made to States, not to private corpora
tons. The need of Pacific Railroad
was manifest at the outbreak Of the war.
The grandeur of the idea, and the abb
sence of all reliable estimates OF its
cost, msgni6ed the supposed difficulties
Of the undertaking. Both parties uni
ted to give it muni6cent land grant.
But the hole made for the cat was big
enough for all the kittens-and hundreds
of smaller grants followed, until over
two hundred millions Of acres were
given away up to the end of last session
AN area of eight times IS large as
Ohio. In all this century, the general
government has sold and given away
about six hundred and fifty millions OF
acres and it has left, excluding Alaska,
but nine hundred millions. Leave out
the worthless lands of the mountains
and plains and it would be an extrsvs-
CANT estima to put the rest at six hun
dred and fifty millions of acres, or Is
much as the government has already
disposed of This remainder is but SIX
teen acres to each inhabitant Of the
United States. 1t should be kept as a
sacred trust for the people to be dis
posed of only by gift in moderate guam
titles and values to those who need and
will occupy it. Then, while any of il 10
left. the robbery Of the masses by usury
now going on, can not reduce any large
number Of them outside Of the cities to
absolute pauperism.
Though both parties united in the
first Pacific grant. the latter subsidies
have been opposed by the Democracy
and carried through by the Republicans.
Thus, the last Northern Pacific grant
received but II Democratic votes in the
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