The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-07-27
Tariff VS.. Free Trade.

From the American Working People, (Pittsbu7gh,.J
A man who can write such nonsense
should be sent either To the lmatic asylum
Or the penitentiars Hear him
q" David A. Wells and his free trade com
patriots love to gaze back into the delightful
days Of IS, - and 20, when the working
classes were, as they tell us, much better of,
provisions 81 much cheaper, the government
50 much better administered, and 50 on.
one Of these free trade orators once ex-
claimed:
Perhaps no part II our countrys history ever pre-
senel beautiful picture the whole world that
prior I" the outbreak u our late civil war when peace
ana harmony prevailed every WHARF. when faA
borne Al the world and everywhere respected for
is enterprise and po~er-I may almost say adored.
Netduring these adorable times it was usual
for members of Congress to sit week after
week armed to tine teeth with pistols and
bowie knives. But let US look at figures
custom duties collected for the four fiscal
years previous to the war
ISIS NATURALIZATION. ..... al 80, $40 DC
1859. 40 5i5, S24 b
lss51 53lS7.51l ~
1861. @,5s2, l23 %
Averaging SAC, O3l, 30 20 per annum, while
our expenses exceeded sixty-slx millions, 80
We kept getting in debt twenty millions each
wear, glorious times and had to 20 out beg
ging enough money to make up governmental
salaries until the opening Of the war. And
at the same time all over the great northwest
the corn crop, which lavish nature gave our
farmers in abundance, lay rotting for want Of
purchasers at ten cents a bushel On the
lines of our railroads it was used fuel IN
preference to wood or coal.
This prosperity! was the result Of the tariff
reduction Of March md, 1857.
Compare the ability Of the people under
free trade, with their ability to purchase for
eign products and pay duties ON them under
protective tariff.
The estimated expenditures Of the govern
ment for the next fiscal wear, a. prepared by
the secretary Of treasury, are S30l, 705, O36 20,
or nearly seven times as much we could
afford to pay in 1859. But 22O, OOO, 900 OF
this are TO pay war expenses, pensions, to 60
to the sinking fund.- interest, pubic works
etc, leaving only SSl, 703, 59l 81 as the real
expenses Of the government, which reduced to
a gold basis is S73, GA, 20O,6 averaging to
each head Of population 81 81, while in 1859
the average expense was g. Al.
But the moral to lie drawn from these fig
ures is that under tariff we can pay seven
times az much revenue as we could under free
trade, and vet have an abundance left
Who ever heard of such an argument
that because the government did not collect
all of the revenues out Of the people on
tariffs, that therefore the country has been
running behind hand to Just that extent.
1t only proves that the government failed
to take its revenues all out Of the labor
consumer is ALL
The exhibit Of 1901, 7O5, 036. 80, estimated
Ar the expenses IF the government for the
, sar 1873, As an evidence Of any thing but
a cross extortiun out Of the labor class is
an absurdity Of which no brave man could
afford to be guilty
That congressman should have been |
over slavery III 1889 is no |
more disgraceful than that they should now
sit there for some land grab or other cor
porate steal out Of the people Of all classes
IF robbers and thieves under cover of law
As the most to be despised.
One word as to the burning Of corn. 1t
was not in 1859, but the latter part Of go,
occasioned by the breaking Of wild cat
banks and war arrangement.
The moral Of these facts therefore is that
under this tariff and bank monopoly the
people are compelled to pay seven if not
twenty times As much as they would under
! just system, and are rapidly using up what
hey saved during war-when their pro-
luets fairly compensated the laborer.