Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-03-04

cOS. ~ VOS.s \'plS W sS1os tho s4oSeSA wa
good beaver cloth, with silk velvet
collar"
All OF these beng about half the cost
of like articles here. Hon. Fernando
Wood, chairman Of tho committee Of
ways and means of the house of repre-
sentativcs. made a speech in support oi
bill reported by his committee to reduce
tariff taxes, April 8, 1878, in which he
said, and as far as know no one denied
tho correctness OF the facts:
1.-The influence of the tariff on the
commonest kind of mixed woolen dress
goods, such as are worn by tho poorest
classes in the country. is OF a nature that
requires the most serious consideration.
Fancy alpaca, costing in England 1.S
cents per yard. is subject to a duty OF 5
cents per yard. and sold in this market
III 20 cents per yard. Now. as it takes
twenty yards OF this staf to make a
dress. the poorest wonan OF our working
classes pays direct tux of 81 tor dress.
Black alpaca costing in England 5 8 4
pence or IL 1-2 cents OF our money. is
subject to a duty OF 8 1-2 cents per yard.
This article is sold Tor u 12 cents per
yard and worn by millions of our
population. Surely an article costing
in England 5 B pence cannot be con-
sidered luxury; yet we find that the
pernicious working of our tariff Is of
that kind which oppresses the poorer
classes in all their necessaries OF life.
Black cashmere is worn AS Sunday
dress by millions of our industrial class
es. The cost of these goods in Europe
is 26 cents, the duty thereon amounts
to IL 1-2 cents per yard, and is conse :
quently sold at 55 cents yard whole
sale in tho United States.
CHOW do QUE people generally ander-
stand what such duty really means A
workingman in Europe buying dress OF
this kind for his wife and sing only ten
yards OF it would get it at 50 60. where
as his brother working man in the Uni
ted States if he wishes to treat his vile
with a dress of this class would have to
pay So so for the Same dress, or more
than double.
" The question therefore arises
whether it is absolutely necessary to
charge a tax of 81 IS on dress Of
this kind, coming as it docs out of
the pocket of the hard working man
for the benefit of sustaining the gov
ernment and the industries of this
country. Surely it must be admitted
that there is no country in the world
were an equal taxation is laid upon
the labor and industry Of the hardest
working man of the population"
What is true of clothing is equally
true of blankets and most of the ne
cessaries of life which housekeep-
er, however humble his home, is COM
PEELED to have. One dollar will buy
13 pounds of sugar III England; it
will buy 10 pounds here. Each per-
son there consumes. 64 pounds Of
sugar; here each consumes 80 pounds.
In provisions only, such as bread and
meat, the purchasing power of the
wages. of the American 'laborer OK
ceeds that of the Englisbman, and
that only to the extent of the coat of
the ocean freight from New York to
Liverpool, which is q very small
item. Mr.. Nimmo, the present chief
of the bureau of statistics, i'll his re-
port on the internal commerce Of the
United States, page 7.-says:
"That the freight charges for the
movement from Chicago to Boston: Il
distance of one thousand miles, OF
*
meat for an adult Workingmail
amounts to but 81 25, which sum is
only one days wages Of a common
laborer and half the daily wages of q
good carpenter or masOn."
The charges from Boston or New
York to Liverpool On the same freight
are not as much as from Chicago to
Boston, SO that the difference in the
cost of food between Liverpool and
Boston is u very small item. The
questions of pauperism and starva.
,ion in England as the basis of cheap
production being disposed of, ask
why do not our cotton manufactur.
ers compete with England for the
trade of tho world III cotton goods
L have selected that class merely be.
cause we have later aud more au.
thentic: official information III regard
to 1t than any other, and time Wonld
fail me i'll attempted to take up each
class i'll detail. Ono illustrates all. Ii
l am asked, ''Can they export their
products and compete successfully
my answer is they can,. but they will
not, because congress has interfered
by the Morrill, tariff, and has imposed
sheet, napkin, and spool of threaC
which every man in the United States
wears or uses as a subsidy to the cot
ton manufacturers, after having taxed
the people to buy them tho best ma
| chinery in the world to do what hu
! man labor once had to perform, ant
they know that Senator Morrill, ant
his allies will prove that any maj
who dares to say word against thi
rebbery of the people is bought will
British gold and is secret emissary
of the Golden Club. Why shoulC
they seek to sell to foreign paupers
The right to subsidize 50,0OO,00 o
people at home is good enough 70
them-what little they can smuggl
into Canada and Mexico is that mucl
stolen from that old tyrant, England
Every other class of men have I,
work and spend money to secure sale
and to open markets. working for lh
smallest margin of profit, against tn
sharpest and most active and intelli
gent competition.
The merchants of the city of New
Y ork alone have, as we all know
many thousands of the brightest mel
i'll the country drumming for busines
in every town and village in the land
The annual cost must be enormous
Every business man Ill every city an,
village has TO atruggle for trade
Look at our own consular reports
and see the struggle England is max
ing to secure aud maintain her trade
There is hardly a town or village i
the most remote corner of tho mos
obscure country where she has no
her well trained anh well pai
consuls and commercial agents
whose duty it is to drum
don't know II more expressive woru
for trade. Her manufacturers al
merchants make such goods as sui
tho markets, the tastes, the absurdi
ties, if you like, of the people the
trade with. and they are prepared t
swap what they offer for what othe
people have; they swap ten time
where they sell once they know tha
all trade to be long continued mus
be barter, and they act on common
sense principles. We have 10 forcig
trade in manufactures, because on
manufacturers are not required t
con,iescend TO such drudgcry. The
look to congress; they spend thel
money and exhaust their energies I
i IL. ~.