Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-05-16
,HiET A h FF
81 SPEECH OF Fe
NON. LORENZO DARF0RD,
In the House of Representatives
Thursday, May 2, 1873.

HON. :. LORENZO DARF0RD.
In the House Of Representatives.
Thursday, May 2, ISIS
The House being in session for general debate
MIR. DASFoRD said: . fiiis = esat
MIR. SPEAKEk: The bill under con-
tsideraiion for the revision of our Gus
tom laws Is an attack upon the indus
tries of our Country that are now most
Frustrated. As has been heretofore said,
since this bill has. been under discus
sion, the people have nut asked Tor such
u measure; the agricultural interests OF
/ the country thai the Chairman of the
COMMITTEES and other gentlenen claim
to be largely interested in the passage
of the measure, have not asked OF the
committee Of Congress any such bill;
and the farmers Of the North, as they
look out over the prostrated manulac-
turing, mining, and meehanieal indus
tries, have no desire and are not ciau1-
oring for the passage Of measure that
will still further prOstrate them.
The chairman of the committee in
his address upon the Introduction oil his
bill does not base this measure OF rev
enue reform" upon the ground usually
assumed by tho-6-wh no advocate "a
tariff for revenue 'Oniy.'s Ii Is not
claimed by him that his bill will raise
"a greater amUunt of revenue than the
Iexisting custom laws. In his speech he
| informs the committee and the country
"that we are raising $40, ,000, 600 Of rev.
enue in excess of the actual needs OF
the Government" and that by strict
economy and by the Suspension OF the
operations OF the sinking fund law Nc
could dispense with this large amount
OF revenue. shall not discuss the
policy of suspending the law requiring
The purchase of 81 per centum Of the
entire debt of the United States to be
made Sith each fiscal year, and which
is to be set aside as SINGING fund, but
content myself with saying am oppo
sed to such legislation.
1 The chairman of the committee as an
excuse for his bill, among other things,
says that" lit will lead to larger inter
change of commodities between other
nations and ourselves in which we will
be the gainers."iC ai -a.S
I Now, sir, as to this proposition of the
| honorable chairman of the committee,
do not concede that by d larger inter-
change of commodities between the
people of the United States and the
people OF other nations we are to be
necessarily the gamers. On the ether
hand. I think il has been demOnstra-
ted in the past that in such exchange
we are naturally and necessarily the
losers. Great Britain imports annually,
| forthe purposes of manufacturing, raw
material to the amount in round tg-
ures of 500, 900, 900 annually, while the
United States imports less than S70,-
0O0, 900 annually of raw material for the
use of her manufactures. Great Brit
ain imports annually $500, 600 900 OF
breadstuffs to feed the operatives en-
gagged in her various Industries. She
manufactures and exports of rDanufdcA
tared good more than twelve hundred
million dollars worth annually The
British as well as other European man
ufacturers have cheaper labor than We
can possibly expect TO obtain in this
country for many years to come, and
cheaper labor than any one interested
in the welfare of our people ever desire
to see. European countries in long
series Of years have gathered together
into few haudS vast amounts Of capital
to be used in manufacturing Industries;
people Of these. countries work for low
er wages than ours can be induced to
work for, and this cheap labor Is the
capital upon which the foreign manu-
facturer is enabled to import raw ma
,terial, work it up at a profit, export it,
aud sell il in other countries. Capital
in European countries is cheaper than
in the United States and labor much
cheaper. -
do not see the advantage we are to
gain in this country by taking our ra W
material from the interior of the coun.
try to the seaboard, shipping it abroad,
there having it niaDufdctured 10y the
cheap labor of other countries, and re-
turned to US in the various forms of
the manufactured article. Take, for
instance, iron, manufactured largely in
Great Britain and in ~ this coun-
try, and u ten of bar iron in the
warehouse at Pittsburgh is worth
$40; S35 of this goes to pay the labor
required in producing it. Beginning
with the miner in the ore beds around
Lake Superior, with those who handle
the iron from time to time till it reach
es the coal fields in the Ohio Falley;the
coal miner, the men who quarry the
limestone and bring the material to-
getber at the furnaces, those who ham
die the pig Iron, the skilled labor re-
Quired in the manufacture of the iron,
snd they receive seven.eighths of the
cost of the iron when ready for market.
The labor of the same class of men In
Great Britain is 50 per ct. cheaper than
it is in the United States. Any one can
see that with this great disparity in the
price of labor we cannot manufacture
in the United States unless those who
engage init are protected against the
cheap labor and cheaper capital OF the
European countries.i But 1 do not de.
sire at any length to discuss this ques.
tion oi the labor that enters into the
production of our various manufactured
articles; this phase OF the protective
system has. been discussed in this
Feountry for half century, every one
thoroughly understands it, and will
understand that a reduction Of the tar
Hf means reduction of wages and u
transfer of the business of imanufaetu.
ring to European countries.GQ{ ~ i
It may be said here, aud will be
claimed that there is in this bill no such
reduction a., viii j, i,,terfere,t to any great
extent With these Industries, The
tEOuOio VIII stuo uiil ~, liai HIS d
threat made directly against the very
industries OF the country that are at
this time most Frustrated, q threat
fagsinst the industries over which has
been hanging for the last five years a
cloud Of despondency.e '-
The chairman in discussing his bill
admits frankly that il he. had the. pow.
er to comtneHce de, aaoto ..'I should re-
duce the'duties 30 per cent. Instead OF
I5 per cent. ,0h the average ,is now
proposed" The honorable gentleman
from Mississippi, Mr.. Muldrow, whose
remarks appear in the Record N April
25, says: -f,,..., -.
The tariff bill now beftfe Con gross, in my
Judgment, white in many reapecls Z ~ better
~ its es a. ~ n mnt
Vhaf 1t should sne. and i.efore IL reaciies ANY
degree Of excellence SmuIt be shorn Of fi'nany.