Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-04-27

clared that ifit passed farmer would
have to plow with a crooked stick, that
a great part of the wealth of New York
would soon be transferred to Montreal
and Quebec, and that whatever bill was
passed "Phildelphia could never become
a great manufacturing town" But the
bill passed, and the nation was not pal
sled. Our cities grew as never before.
The total of the manufacturing pro-
ducts of that "town," were for 1880,
S42U, 406, ,456. No class confined itself
strictly to -cOld water" hut all classes
prospered, and the measure, SO fully
1ealized lis benefits that it was super
seeded by one still more protective in
lS2S. The revenues of the country in
creased from S54.6S7, ,254 for the four
years preceding 1924 to $50, ,S57, $50 for
the four years after that date, though
tie free.trade Jereiniahs hal prG phesied
thatlo would diminish the revenue from
imports and force a'resort to direct tax
MoRE FEcFRoTIoN AND GREATER GOOD.
The passage of the tariff act OF 1928
being still more protective, was a di-
rect resultof the favor with which the
mass Of the people received the opera
ton and effects of the previous one. La
Dor was in demand at higher wages.
Manufactures were springing into exis-
tence, bringing TO farmers ready and
eager market for productions which
f.Woald not bear transportation to dis
tapce. itNas passed without any claim
OF inadequate revenue, for its object was
ayowedly protection, for protection had
covered the country with proofs of its
benefits and advantages. So the bill was
voted for by Van Buren,, Silas Wright,
Thomas Benton, Richard III. johnson.
and John ii. Eaton, and by the Repre-
sentatives from Pennsylvania, Ohio, In
diana, and Kentucky, each State about
to vote for jackson for President. The
public journals of that day say that
when tue news of the passage of the bill
reached Charleston, S. C, the British
vessels in the port displayed their flags
al, hait-mast in token of what is still
common British hatred of American
prosperity. Though this was an indie
cent interference with the legislation of
an independent nation, it was not so ag-
gressive an insult as the British circu-
latior of this British pamphlet which
hold IN my hand, scattered over the
country in the midst of a national cleo
tioh, and telling American citizens how
they should vote. But our country had
outgrown British dietation, and though
the tariff was emily "a local question"
once, In that campaign of 1880, it be-
came great national issues and the peo-
pie knowing its benefits and surrounded
by the prosperity it had brought, car
ried its banner to victory. Applause
"THE GOLDEN ERA"
Let us pause moment to glance at
what the gentleman from Kentucky |
Mr.. Carlislel calls the golden era. He
says:
There never has been such period of gen.
eral prosperity and growth in this or any other |
country as that extending from 1850 to 1860, |
when we had not free trade, but a tariff for rev
'enae win sach Incidental protection as neces-
sarily resulted from the imposition of moderate |
duties upon imported goods; tariff under which
the rates during the whole period on all dutiable
articles were less than % per cent, and on free
and dutiable only l9 per cent. 1t was the
golden era in our history notwithstanding the
financial disturbance in 1857, from which the
country recovered in single year.
Adjectives and rhetoric may be mis-
leading. Let US look at some of these |
statements in the cold daylight of his
tory. Take sample year of that de-
cade. Take the year 1855 in the very
middle of that golden era. We received,
in round numbers in 1855, $4,000, 900
revenue from custom duties against
S19s,0OO,OO0 in 1881. We exported in
that year Sss,OOO,0oO worth raw cotton
against S247,0OO,0O0 worth in 1881; of
cotton manufactures, $5,0O0,0O0 worth |
exported against $13,OO0.00O in 1881 |; |
iron and steel manufactures, $4,000, 900 |
worth in 1855 against $14,0OO,00O in |
1881; of wheat, $1,00OO00 worth against |
$167,OO0,000 worth in 1881; of corn, |
$6,000,000 worth against 100000 900 |
worth exported in 1881; of bacon and |
hams. S3,O00,000 worth against SCI ,OOO,- |
900 worth in 1881; of lard, 100000 |
exported against S35,0O0,OO0 worth in |
1881; of cheese, S513,034 worth against |
S16,000,000 worth in 1881; of manufac- |
lures of wood, $9,O00,O0O worth against |
$1s,000,0O0 exported in 1881; of petrole-
um and coal oil, none in 1855 against |
$4O,OOO,OOO exported in 1881.
By a table Showing the value of mer-
chandise imported into and exported
from the United States for the years |
given, also annual excess Of imports or
exports) furnished me by the Bureau of |
Statistics, it appears that in the period |
of ten years from 1851 to 1860 inclusive |
the value of our exports were less than |
our imports by 1856, ,779 ,205; whereas in |
the period of the last ten years, from |
1872 to 1881 inclusive, the value of our
exports was greater than our imports |
hr 0CO7 k1ko
1881 were more than four times our to-
tai exports fur 1855, and our total i'm
ports for 1881 being largely more than
double our imports for 1855.
In 1856 there were in operation 1884
miles of railroad: in 1881 almost exactly |
100000 miles; which during the last de
cade have become the highways of a |
vast internal commerce, compared with
which our exports are but trifie. Ton
mage on the New York Central railroad |
increased from S10,041 tons in 1855 to
10,576, ,754 tons in 1880; on the New Yerk,
Lake Erie and Western railroad in
creased from S42,054 tons in 1855 to |
9,455,392 tons in 1880; and on the Penn
sylyania railroad from 365,0l6 tons in
1855 to 1884, ,56S tons in 1880. Mr.. Poor
states the freight earnings of railroads
in the United States in 1851 at 500, ,l92,-
104; and in 1881 these freight earnings |
amounted to S467,74S,92S.
But there is other evidence of the diff |
ference between our present condition |
and that of "the golden era" President |
Buchanan, in his message of December
s, 1857, says:
The earth has yielded her fruits abundantly, |
and has bountifully rewarded the toil of the |
husbandman. We have possessed all
the elements Of material wealth in rich abun-
dance and yet, notwithstanding all these ad |
vantages, our country, in its monetary interests,
is at the present time in most deplorable con- |
dition. In the midst of unsurpassed plenty in |
all the productions Of agriculture, and in all the
elements of national wealth we find our MANN |