Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1882-09-23
articles:
THE TARIFF swINDLE.
fFrem the N, Y, World.l

The plate glass makers OF New Alba
ny, Ind, recently appeared before the
:ar;f commission l., maintain that the
duty on their product did not amount 10
1l2 per cent. but only in the average to
49, and that If this were reduced 10 25
they would be forced out ot business.
The pla' e-giass makers OF Iudiaua are
OF peculiar interes: rs instructors OF Mr..
Nv. Voorhees, In political economy.
When tho plate glass people voted tho
republican ticket in October. 1880. 5nn-
atOr Voorhees, was convinced that the
interests of the country would tie sub
served by d high protective tariff. The
arxumsnts OF Mr.. Voorhees, teachers
ought to be more interesting than the
argument OF their pupil. tor It is not ex-
pressing an inordinate respect for the
intellect OF the senator from Indiana to
say that II could not possibly have been
imposed upon by the imltatiOn-reason
ing which he offers 10 his constituents.
He seems TO be confident that they are
already with him and that any reasons
or no leas ,nsare good enough 10 per
srsnaya man Of that of which he is thor
oughly convinced.
Unfortunately the facts given by the
plate-glass makers, at least AS reported.
are not sufficient to enable US to judge
whether ,he country could better afford
to pension them and their workmen not
to make plate glass than 10 prot ect'
them in making 1t. AS is the case with
the manufacturers OF morocco, on their
own showing. But the p.a,e-glass
makers ought to be excited TO reflection
by their owu statements. They admit
that their natural advantages tor making
plate-glass are unsurpassed. il they are
even lqualled, and that their raw ma.
terial Is as cheap rs it can he anywhere.
And yet they Ilsist upon 40 per cent
because their labor costs them twice as
much as English labor and four times
as much as Belgian. Admitting this
| " hich Is by no means 10 he admitted,
how do the Indiana makers suppo Sc
that the English manufacturers manage
to exist and to make plate glass and to
make money in tue lace oil competition
with the pAuper labor OF Belgium. from
which they are not protected by any
duty whatsoever, and from which they
are separated only by the " idth of the
channel. instead o! by the width of the
Atlantic ocean and a thousand miles ol
railway transportation whic', protec! s
the labor Of New Albany from the un
derpaid labor Of England9 After The
plate-glass makers have answered thi.
question others will no donDt arise.
| A Mr.. O'Doherty, who seems to be a
very foolish person, assured the com
mission of bis per.onal knowledge thai
the difference between the condition o.
the American laborer and the condition
oi the Irish labOrer is all due to th,
difference bet wecn free trade in lrelant
and high protective tariff in America
The fnci that America is as yet thlnl,
populated country in which labor is il
great demand and land drug. aud tha
ireland is crowded island in which
land is in great demand and labor ,
drug, does not seem even 10 have oc
CURED to the intellect Of O'Doherty q
an explanation why wages may b,
higher in America than in ireland with
out reference 10 protective tari Il
Neither does 1t occur to Doherty I,
explain why when the United State!
lean labOrer was ut least as far supelit
TO tho Engli.h LAHORE er as II is now. no
why when Great Britain had a protect
i've tariff the lot OF the Eng ieh lahore
was no better than it is now. Mo-
likely he IL not aware either that tn,
United Stats evel had q revenue tai il
or that Great Brian ever had prutec
Tive tariff. and when those facts ar,
brought 10 his knowledge will be- pre-
pared to maintain that the American
laborer was Il trampled seri before 1860
aud that the British agricultural lahore
was the envy Of surrounding nations
before the repeal of the corn laws
IO'Dohertys who seiz. with Lotl
hands every OCCASION Tor exhibitin.
their own Ignorance are commo.
enough. We should not wonder a
lODoher,y, but rather at tie commission
which encouraged O'Dohertv t" go on
and never intima' ed, by an intert uptio,
or q question. that it had any more no
ton what O'Doherty was talking nbou
than O'Dsherty himself had. Per
haps it hadn't At all events the auto
malc exposure OF the tariff commission
is going on rs fast as the friends OF rev
enue reform can rrasonsbly expect.