The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-11-18
FURTHER TARIFF ELUC1DATIos,


duties levied upon 1850 articles and the
receipts from customs on these, according TO
last years report, amounted to $130,0OO,OOO,
the average duty being fraction in excess of
40 per cent. This constituted about three
ahhs Of the revenue for tho government, and
OF that $130,OOO0OO, nearly $90OOO,0OO was
derived from commodities in universal use,
such as cotton and wooden goods, iron, linen,
earthenware, leather, sugar and
molasses, etc, while the other $4,000 600
came from luxuries such as diamonds, silks,
embroideries, spirits, tobacco, etc. The mere
statement of this schedule ought TO speak in
trumpet tones ofcensure against the Unequal
lily of the system that rsbs 100000 families,
averaging 5 individuals each, in order to
p divide work for 5000, 90 people And yet
we are told that il is all done for the purpose
of building up and sustaining home Indus
tries. Great Britain does thugs in the very
opposite manncr She leyies duties on eRly
20 articles, the chief Of ihese being to-
bacco, spirits, tea, wine, beer, coffee. And yet
Great Britain is to-day the most prosperous
manufacturing nation on the fac Of the
globe. But ii Is answered by tho Protection
lists that this is the very reason of her labor
being paupor labor. Assuming the correct
ness Of the assertion, are not these very Pro-
toctonists clamoring in the same breath for
laws that will make the United States 10 ex-
coed her in that department Of industries,
which must bring about The Same result
pauper labOrg And yet We find the very
people that are drifting to that condition
voting to sustain an admins
tration that promises to produce
just such results. Strange inconsistency II
the people of the north can tolerate this
course, why, Of course We ofthe south should
seek to flourish as far as possible under the
sane regime. But we are pleading for n
correct principle in the interest OF the great
body of the people, principlein tho Interest
ofjust and fair and equitable government, a
principle which the democracy for years
have sought to have recognized and
inaugurated, and in which they were
overwhelmingly defeated this month by
nd captandum arguments before an
uniformed people. And yet we
slS on Yesterday morning that the manufac.
turer received no greater interest on the iG-
yestment than the banker or the merchant,
or any other person in tho whole catalogue
of business. We also saw that the labortrs
received comparatively no higher wages than
any other of the same capacity with them
selvos. The truth il, tho faulty is on u
parallel with the greeuback craze that
government can make money by the fiat Of
It's stamp. The following humble bat
very illustrative case may be put. la
Mobile, Alabama, some years ago, just prior
to the war, we personally saw coal sell at
$40 per tom whereas, in Shelby county
of the same state, the coal could be had for
almsst the price of the labor to take it from
the place Of deposit; perhaps $3.50 per
ton. After while the railroads came along
and the denizens of that elegant city found
that they could be supplied with tho "back
diamonds" at SIS per ton. In the meanwhile
in Mobile sugar could be purchased at 10
cents per pound, but the inhabitants of Shell
by county had to pay 20 cents per pound for
the saccharine; the railroads also lessened the
price! of this for them in like proportion.
Now, such facility of exchange was of equal
benefit to both peoples. The difficulty
WAS in tho impediments TO free
unimpeded commerce between them. True,
nature in that case was the cause, but if
Shelby county and Mobile, whom the rail
roads connected them, had interposed bar
rier 10 such free trade, barrier different in
kind, but identical in effect, viz: a species of
impcst then both Shelby county and Mobile
would have remained sufferers and no one
would have been benefited. Indeed =
mass of the population would have been in
jured, and those who might, in the one case,
have found work iu the mines, and in the
other in the city, would have been dam
aged by the restriction. Extend
lac the view and proceeding
upon the same principle, let us conceive Of
interstate restraints, and where would now
the great internal commerce of this country
beP Are the people worse off for this un-
limited freedom of trader Is there more
sufering because of it? Are the mining or
the manufacturing, the mercantile, or even
the professional departments injured by it?
Indeed, is not the reverse the case? Does
not each wise state invest its capital and
employ its labor in that which pays best
within their limits? Does Maine seek to
grow sugar and cotton, and does
Texas strive to false cranberry crops
Recognizing the correctness ofthis principle,
is not the world to-day laughing at some of
the unwise ones for not pursuing this policy
and for doing such absurd things as sending
cotton 5000 miles fr m IL home and in the
raw and in bulk, to be converted into manu-
featured material to be bought by us thus
after a 6, 600 mile transportation Extending
the view, are we not, as a nation, under the
protective tariff committing to day the