The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-04-28

generally favored the bill, Webster
and other New England senators op.
posed it.
During all these years the list OF
dutiable goods grew longer and longer
We may note what great cOncentra'
ton of force was afterwards needed
to trample these carelessly sown
dragons teeth in the dust. Looking
at the immediate result of these pro
tective tariffs we find it to be the
direct opposite of what we should
expect. In English history we have
a parallel in the results which bounties
on the export of grain brought about.
Speculation ran riot and converted
boys and quarries into fields, not
however, of waving grain,-thanks
to the impartiality of nature. In
consequence, instead Of high gains,
capitalists experienced heavy losses
and violently clamored for an increase
of bounties. Just so it worked in
America as soon as protective
tariff had been established or when
ever the scale of duties was raised,
capitalists, often perhaps actuated by
patriotic motives, would invest for.
tunes in the favored branches and
that under circumstances where there
was but little margin. Then came
severe competition and the deluded
capitalists were on the brink of ruin.
AS a next step many attempted to
gain a profit at all hazards. They
adulterated and cOunterfeited. Never
theless an increase of protection was
regularly maintained.
In 1924 another heavy increase of
the tariff for the sake of more
perfect protection was effected. The
manufacturing states and those in
which manufacturing formed an i'm.
portant feature favored this tariff.
Those devoted to fishing and ship.
building and sailing opposed it on the
ground that it would be injurious to
comm rec. The South was opposed
to it because there was a brisk demand
for their products, and these products
could be disposed of to best advan-
tage by an unhampered exchange.
A few years and Congress again
battled with the same question, now
constituting a great part of the matter
of the professional debater. The
debates centred OH the wO0lens bill of
1928, involving in substance so i'm
portant an article as wool, but the
principle contended for was absolute
protection for every American indus
try. Manufacturers found that the
protective duty on foreign woolens
did not exclude competition and
therefore went to Congress for relief.
It was granted in full. From the
standpoint of the present we may
we'll doubt whether America at that
time was fitted for cheap wOOl-grOw.
ing or for manufacturing goods re.
quiring such skilled and expensive
manual labor. The passage of the
bill meant simply absolute protection,
more and more of it. The South
opposed this bitterly. Directly after
the passage of the woolens bill the
people of the South became Infatuated
and exhibited their displeasure in the
widest language. Their dissatisfac.
ton took q threatening stand. They
interpreted the constitution to suit
themselves. In Congress impassioned
language was heard. The East was
accused of being the worst enemy of
the South of having always sought
to enrich itself at the expense of the
latter. In defense, Webster, not
without truth, stated that in 1915 the
South had striyen with all its might
for protection, while the East had
been reluctant; and even in 1924
Virginia had given more notes in
favor of protection than Massachu'
sets. The strife eliminated in the
notorious notification of South Caro-
lima. This state refused to exact
within its ports the obnoxious reven-
ne laws. Matters threatened to
become serions. Then Clay came to
the rescue with his compromise tariff.
Many supported this bill solely for
the sake of establishing peace and
for this reason it was passed. BY
this bill the tariff OH goods exceeding
20 per cent. was to be gradually re-
duced to that standard by 1912. After
that time Congress might levy tariff
not exceeding 20 per cent. or abolish
the tariff laws The desired effect
was obtained.
We now look forward to the year
1912, hoping that the temporary slim.
illus may bring about the hoped for
prosperity and health in manufactur.
ing interests. But through all the
years we hear the lamentations of
the manufacturer praying for relief.
A bit of the compromise law was
changed to suit now this, now that,
interest. But, taking all things into
account, we may say that Clay's CON-
promise was not altogether forsaken.
BY 1912 a reaction had come. The
decade of l830-40 was an unhappy
one. The insane speculation of this
period has left its record in history in
the "panic" of 81. Accordingly in
l847 the tariff was for the first time
nominally reduced to the revenue
standard. The revenue standard is a
rate of duties 80 arranged that it will
simply, in the easiest way, supply the
national government with funds and
nothing more. At this time the
average rate was rs high as % per
cent. ad ualorem. Another offspring
of more enlightened views, now diff
fusing themselves, was the warehouse
system. BY this system, imports
could be stored in any ware house
along the coast, to be re-shipped
without charge, or sold in our domains
on defrayment of the regular duties.
The discussions, both in Congress
and in the periodicals, became now
of a more liberal and international
character. The principles of political
economists were more literally dis
cussed in their relation to practice.
But a still grander, more significant
change marked the situation in this
country. The theory Of the econo.
mists that in exchange of products
all nations are really one nation was,
by the course of events and triumps
of the inventive genius, brought
nearer to perfection. There was no
longer so much talk of fluctuations
of supply and demand, and, as a fact,
gradually a warmer and more intimate
Intercourse with foreign nations
sprang up. Steamships brought
America near to Europe and relieved
trade from the uncertainties incident
to commerce by sail.vessels. Distant
districts of our own country were
gradually, by means of railroads
brought near the centers of trade.
The panic of 1887 and the subsequent
stream of immigration crushed the
power Of the mOnOpolies and trade
fell into safe and natural channels
Capital was no longer tied up in the
honda ,f Tho nx,oa..lofi.r 40 fout aud a