Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-09-21
The Tariff Issuel
SPEECH OF HON. FRANK HURD AT
FREMONT SEPTEMBER %.
rHs rrrxcr ON COMMERCE.

Ana ufet, what n It's eutct upon our foreign COM
merces IL IL perfectly manifest that all It's inhu-
enees upon these interests must be injurious. For
eign trade depends upon the opportunities Of ex-
changing our products for the products OF other
upon foreign goods and dissbles them from coming
here, and 70 the same extent disables produ9ts
/ from selling abroad. 1t ie as though . road had
been constructed and put In perfect repair between
two neighborhoods and after this result had been
accomplished one OF them establishes An obstacle
In the center Of the road before 1t reaches ts ter
minus. This plainly makes II more dificult 70
transport goods from the place to the other II
the other neighborhood should likewise place OBJ
stacle In the way, the difficulties Of transportation
would be doubled. Every duty which our tarn
laws impose ii hindrance 20 foreign commerce
| and embarrasses the exchange OF commodities. 1t
does II douby In many cases. for IL Affords excuses
for other nations 10 put similar restrictions upon
the sale of American goods abroad. Let me Illus
trate. Suppose that ali American takes cargo of
goods to Brazil, and the came time, to the same
port, an Englishman carries cargo Of his goods.
When they reach Rio Janeiro the Englishman seeks
the merchants Of that city TO obtain goods for
hides, and leather and talow, and other Brazilian
products He soon strikes bargain, ls his vessel
with cargo, and returns TO England with foreign
goods which he readily sells at profit In the En-
glish market The American, Initiating the En-
glishman's example, undertakes to do the same
thing. He also fills his vessel with Brazilian pro-
ducts and returns TO New York. When he reaches
that city he is required to pay duty OF 80 per cent
upon WOOL and hides, and leather, and the other
articles Of his cargo. After he has unloaded he
finds that the articles imported have cost him SO
much that he cannot sell them excep. at loss. The
Euglishmau, who had no duty to pay, has made
money. The American. who has paid duty, has
lost money. Is 1t not then plain that tariff restrc-
tlons hinder and embarrass foreign commercei.
The effect upon our carrying trade Is still more
disastrous. IL has almost ceased to exist In 1855
400 vessels were built in the United States for the
foreign trade; in 1879 81. In 1875 20 per cent OF
our imports and exports were carried in American
lnsf In fu II npFa In
Great Britain had $50, 600 tons engaged between II
and the United States. She has now 5000, 900.
Germany then had l66 600 TONS now she has 100000.
| Norway and Sweden twenty years ago had 5000
toms now they have over $4,000. During this Pc
riod the decrease in our tonnage has been FROM T.,
$4,000 tons to 900 tons. SO completely has all
this trade passed under foreign control that last
year our people paid to foreign snip owners $685.
| COO, 900 for carrying our own products abroad and
bringing back foreign products IN return. Out OF
thousands OF ships which passed through the 18TH
mus of Suez in 1880 not one carried the American
| flag. Out of four hundred steamships plying upon
| the high seas, employing 60,0g0 men aud earning
| more than million and half mouth, there are
| only four which carry the stars and stripes, and
saw IL stated the other day that these had been
| withdrawn. distinguished officer in our navy
told me recently that when he made his first voyage
| in 1857 more than half the vessels he saw In South
4 America carried our flag; while on his last voyage
two years ago to the ports, he did not see the
| American flag except upon vessels owned by the
| government. At this rate it is question of only
short time when the American flag will entirely dis
| appear from the high seas.
This condition is directly the result Of the pro.
| tective tariff. That system prohibits foreign built
| Vessels from an American registry. The conse
quence is capitalists desiring to engage in carrying
trade buy a vessel, put it under foreign flag, en-
gage foreign sailors, and the profits of the business
| go largely into foreign pockets. American ship
! builders unable to build ships IN competition
with the builders on the Clyde. Towns in New
England which need to thrive through ship pbuidinl
for foreign trade have fallen into decay The reasor
of this is the high price of material which protection
always makes, In nthelconstruction vi ship labor \
twenty eight p cent. of the total cost. OF course
mean to be understood as speaking Of the labor o
putting the ship together after the materials are al
ready. If the material required is worth 100000 II
will cost S149O0O. the cost being Increased 40 PEI
cent. by the operation of the tariff. In England
where the material is free, the ship-builder Is no
obliged to ay any such increase. 1t is perfectly ap
parent that 1t is Impossible for America to, compete
with England so long as the former Is burdened will
| the forty per cent. increase OF price Of materia
| which the tariff makes. l know that 1t has beer
claimed by some that the reason we cannot compete
| with England in ship building is the high rates o.
wages paid to the lab6rers The falseness of thit
proposition is demonstrated by an incident which
| occurred not long ago ut Wyandotte, Michigan
| where one of the great railway companies was en-
1 gagged in building vessels for the lake traiic. iht
| manager went to the Clyde and brought over Ill
sbip-builders. After they had worked some time
| they found they were not doing az well with the
| wages as they did in England Those who worked
1 by the day made TWO dollars ana u naiI Gay. unt
| those who worked by the piece made four dollars
| and four dollars and half day. They demanded
an increase of wages. which was refused The II!
then held meeting and resolved to return to th'
1 Clyde and within a week afterward every man ha(
packed his kit and his way to Scotland, ant
this when there was work sufficient to occupy then
here for a long time. Their places were soon sup
piled By Pennsyvanans, who were satisfied with th
/ wages which Englishmen had refused. Nothing
therefore, is clearer than that the decadence of
foreign carrying trade IL due to the prohibition of al
/ American registry to foreign built vessels and in
crease OF price In material required in ship building
which protective tariff occasions.
/ There is nothing to the American citizen more hr
initiating than this decay of our foreign commerc
and carrying trade. The oceans are free, They ar
unfettered by American tariff or by the seliisl
legislation Of particular nations. Upon it's bilow
every human being is at liberty to go whithcIsoeve
he pleases and to navigate any craft he may own
/ The lists are open for all, From all peoples the
may come with vessels hoating from their mast
4 heads the flags Of any nation under the sun, Tn
waves invite the adyenturousness Of the brave an
the daring, and to its bosom commerce asks all VIII
would make interchange of the products of variou
climes In this ssfree for alp how pitiful the show
ing our own country makes Scan the ocean at
glance If you can-thcre you Will see the smok
n belching fortb from hundreds q enlmneys, leavin
Il dark track In the air the body OF the vesse
makes one in the water. They tell of products car
ried, of interchanges being made, of fortunes bull
up. The flags of all nations are at their peaks-th
British, German, Danish, Belgian, French--bu
among them all are none which carry the America
flag. The American ira 3ler In foreign port, as h
sees the vessels Of all peoples coming in, waits Il
vain for the banner of his own country to gladdel
his eyes. In the wilderness Of masts In the grea
centers of trade the stars and stripes alone are miss
II ing. All this, too, when we have an ocean boun
republic, over which our government jurisdiction
4 extends with people as brave and daring and reso
lutte as any the world contains. On every side tn
waters persuade us to trade. Every ripple upon ou
shores is an invitation to us to enjoy the wealth
other nations, and every stormy wave utters wrath