The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1882-05-04

The inequalities of high pro
tective tariff are sufficient to con-
denim it without more. If it protects
all in the same degree it is as if there
were no protection to any. All will
admit that if you take by protection
$40 from A and give it to B, and then
$40 from B by the same process and
give it to A, you leave them exactly as
you find them. If this be so, why in
terfere at all? But if you do not pro-
tect all alike you do Injustice to the
one not protected, and the injustice of
your system condemns it.
Now, sir, what protection is given
wheat growers of California, Minneso-
ia, or the Middle States? He has to
sell his surplus wheat in Europe, where
he comes in competition with wheat
raised by recently freed serfs of Rus
and the price of his product is fixed
by. the price there. qe~sr ss-gInf safoF
What protection is given the corn
grower of the West? His price, too,
is in great measure regulated by the
foreign price of corn and the products
of corn. ,s.s. g..., ...-.
What protection is given the cotton
planter of the South? Not a particle.
Half, or more than half of his crop has
to be sold in foreign markets i'll COM
petition with the cotton crop of East
India and Egypt, produced exclusively
by pauper labor. A rise of One-siX
teenth Of one cent a pound in Europe
gives corresponding rise here, and 50
with fall.
What do you do for all agriculturists?
You force them to pay Il high tax on
every scrap of iron or pound of steel
that enters into their plows, hoes gears,
rakes, reapers, mowers, threshers-ev-
erything.
What benefit is your protection to
the tobacco raiser? Tobacco, as the
other commodities mentioned, is regu
lated by the price abroad, where it
completes with that which is produced
by pauper labor.
How do you protect the blacksmith?
By forcing him to pay from 80 to 60 per
cent. on the tools, iron and steel he
uses, and the clothes he wears. When.
the gentleman from Kansas was giving
his glowing description of the beauties.
and benefits of high protection, my
friend from Illinois Mr.. Springerl
asked him how it protected black
smiths. He declined to show. Being
urged again, he said he was not talk
ing about blacksmiths. / predict he
never will.
What protection is given the pub
fishers and readers of newspapers, Pc
riodicals and books? They, too, are
placed under your tax gatherer, or du-
ty collector, for the paper on which
everything is printed, from the primer
Of childhood to the philosophic peri
odical of mature age, is taxed 25 per
cent.
How is the carpenter affected by
your grinding system? A heavy i'm
port duty is placed upon every tool
with which he works, and money
which would otherwise go to the sup
port and education of his children, is
taken to swell the crammed Golfers of
some rich manufacturer.
We might find some crumb Of COM
fort in this if the contribution thus re-
quired went to the Treasury, but it
does not. Many of the duties are SO
high that they prohibit imports and
enable the manufacturer to increase
his price without benefitting the Gov
ernment dollar.
By legislation we have created twen
ty-one hundred national banks and
paid them millions Of dollars to issue
money to their creators. What have
we done for the farmer? Two words,
eight letters, answer the question
taxed him. Yes, everything he wears
has been taxed, from his socks to his
hat; everything he eats, from his su
gar to his SALT almost everything he
uses, from the swaddling linen and
flannel which wraps him in infancy, to
the shroud aud the spade which are
required to cover him WheE "life's
fitful fever is ended" and he is gath
cred to his fathers to be taxed no more.
| Why, you even tax the minister on
his Bible, and put 20 per cent. EN- :.
barge on the Word of God, and won't
permit the plan of salvation to go free
| to the people. DID ever human cupid
ity reach such a climax? O.. aaT : !
How is it with our American manu-
| faeturer? The most fiourishing mills
i'll the country are in the South. Last
year they paid more than twenty per
cent. There the cotton may be picked,
carried to the factory where it is gin
ned, made into thread and woven into
cloth, without being baled. From the
seed, formerly supposed to be useless,
is made All oil that is supplauting lard
| for culinary purposes, and is taking
the place of olive oil for the table.
That portion of the seed left after the
| refining process is made into stock
| feed as nutritious as corn meal or bran.
| The very hull is made into fertilizer,
and goes back to enrich the soil SO
! wonderful are the resources of the
country, and so nearly has all that is
essential TO prosperity been brought
| together, that within the last year cot
ton has been picked after sunrise in
the morning, ginned, spun, dyed, and
| woven into cloth, cut, made into suit
and w0rn by an enterprising Ameri-
can citizen before sunset of the same
day. Who will assert that a country
thus favored requires the enormous
protective tariff that we now have in
order to defy foreign competition
But to show still further, Mr.. Chair
man, that we do not need that amount
Of protection which is. given by the
present tariff, let me refer to another
source Of wealth there-iron. In my
own State there are iron works so stu
ated that their owners can stand in the
heat Of their furnaces and see with the
naked eye the points from which the
coal, iron ore, and limestone used in
making iron are all obtained. Who
will aver in face of these facts that we
need $2S ton protection on Bessemer
steel rails in order to enable us to COM
pete with the English, especially when
5000 miles Of ocean separate us? Dis
tance not only "lends enchantment to
the view," but gives protection to the
manufacturer of iron. l might recite
other Industries equally favored, but
think these sufficient to illustrate my
point.
Democratic Births and Deaths.