The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-10-13

whether manufactured or the raw materi-
| al, that this was the poorest country on
| the habitable globe. Men are here before
you to-day interested in iron, clay and
| other metals almost lying under our feet,
with coal beds near, clamoring for pro
| lection against these same metals that are
| 5000, 1000 or 5000 miles distant. They
| say that this great distance. the cost of
| transportation, the length of time that
capital must be invested in these articles
| to get them here, the risk of transporting,
ETC., are not sufficient protection, but that
you must continue the high duties to shut
out such competitors. Manufacturers of
| all classes of goods are here in person or
| by hired attorneys, making elaborate ar
guments showing that the present excess
| i've duties should be retained. Even salt
manufacturers are before you begging you
| to keep foreign salt three thousand miles
away from them-not to allow any of it
to come into competition with what they
| manufact ure.
The high duty on iron makes every ar
| ticle of hardware high, makes implements,
machines, threshers, reapers, mowers,
chains, wagons buggies, in fine, everything
the farmer uses in or about his farm, high.
But it does not stop here. IL largely in
creases the cost of railroads and railroad
cars, locomotives, etc. These increased
prices the farmers are compelled to paw in
increased freight exactions, for all such
burdens eventually fall upon them. But
this duty on iron affects all classes of man
ufacturers of other goods than iron, unfa-
vorably. The cotton mills, the wooden
mills, and mills and machinery of every
description whatever are all taxed by the
high duty on iron for the benefit of the
iron men. And thus manufacturers are
really eating one another up, making their
goods of every description cost more than
they Should. Their own system of pro-
lection prevents them more than anything
else from competing with other nations in
the markets of the world.
You denominate those who appear be-
fore you as witnesses-all of them are
| called witnesses. What sort of witnesses
are they? Are they not directly interested
in keeping up this system of protection?
Are not their profits vastly increased by
high duties, if by them they can keep their
| rivals from abroad out of our markets?
They have direct pecuniary interest in
the result of your labors. especially if in
dorsed by congress. Do you call this COM
petent testimony? What weight would
such testimony have in the courts of JUS
| tice? And not even the sanctity OF an oath
is required, every word uttered, every
statement made, is carefully taken down,
and will be duly considered in making
your verdict or report.
Gentlemen, may not in advance ask
you if our mines are so poor, our raw ma
terials so inferior to those in other parts of
the world, our manufacturing facilities so
worthless, our products for the support of
labor so high our labor so unskillful as to
need the strong hand of the government to
protect our manufacturers from rivals three
or more thousand miles away, when these
same foreign parties are compelled to buy
much of that raw material here, such as
flour, bacon, lard, mutton beef, etc, trans
port the same to their own country, manu-
facture their goods, transport them back
here again, unless prohibited by high
tariff from so doing. Where is our much
valued skill, intelligence, enterprise, sa-
gacity, industry, when with all these OPP
posing factors against our rivals they are
able to undersell us? There must be some
thing wrong somewhere. 1t must be that
they are not satisfied with fair profits. 1t
NAV be the very system they are following
in asking for protection is the trouble.
That system makes everything high, rent
high subsistence high, and all of these
make labor high. The whole system is
artificial hurtful alike to the manufacturer
and the consumer, and while it prevails our
manufactured goods, notwithstanding all
our natural advantages, will never, TO a
large extent, compete with the markets of
the world.
QUESTIONS BY THE COMMISSION.
AT the conclusion of Mr.. Colman's re
marks questions were propounded by the
commission as follows:
Mr. Boteler-Do / understand you to
favor absolute free trade?
Mr.. Colman-What / understand and
mean by free trade is, that commerce with
other nations should be free except so far
as the necessities of the government are
concerned. The business of the tariff was
at the start, and should be now. to raise
revenue for the government, and not to
make special classes rich.
Mr.. Ambler-Would not the reduction
of the tariff bring down the price of labor?
Mr.. Coleman-It might and it might not.
But if / were a laborer, would rather get
$3.50 per day and have it buy double the
amount of the necessaries of life than it
now does, than to get SO day and have
that two buy less than 81. so ought to buy.
1t is the purchasing power of wages rather
than the mere nominal amount that labor
is interested in. Everything is made high
by protection that the laborer has to buy
for himself and family, and high wages are
necessary under protection.
Mr.. Ambler-Then you favor the reduc-
duction in the price of labor.
Mr., Coleman have not said so. If low
WAGES h,lv more than HIGH waOps the Ia.