Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-04-06

Abultus hiauulhCluftu. was SSof.NlusVAti
Of silk manufactures. $34. 600. 900: Of shoe
AMI leather industry, $50. goo. 900; the
/ products OF iron and steel work, 1000, 900
tons. Remember, also. that..in the same
year the product Of cotton was more than
5000. 900 bales; of Indian corn. more than
: /. .154, 600, COG bushels; of wheat. $50, ,000.'
600 bushels: Of oats, 400. .0O0, 600 bushels
OF tobacco, 'ore than 262. .0O0. 900 pounds.
The cattle xp0rt was Sl4. 600, 900; corn
export. $4,000. 600: wheat export, $780,
0OO.C0G; u ar export. 81. 200, 600; cotton,
S245. .0OO, 900; lard. $50, ,000, 600; beef, Sl2,-
600, 600; pork. SS.00O,OO0. The aggregate
annual product Of agricultural. manufac-
turing and mechanical industry reaches
seven thousand millions dollars. lmagi-
nation falters under such vast amounts.
| have them from the Commissioner Of
Agriculture. The report from the Bureau
of Statistics for the year 1881, shows that
the valne Of articles imported for con-
sumption reached $3.50. 000, 900, and that
the duties reached $l93, ,0OO, 600. The
merchandise entering the city of New
York alone comes from all quarters of
the globe, and Is Of indescribable variety,
quality and value. 1t averages more
than 500. 600, 600 a year. more than a
million and quarter a day. There are
thirteen schedules of rates, enumerating
duties on more than |, 800 different arti
Giles, to which about 200 other miscel
laneon5 articles are to be added, making
in all about $500 seperate articles oil
which duties are TO be assessed and col
lected and beyond these scheduled duties,
there are 1923 articles which pay dd rdlO-
rem duties, jil which pay specific rates,
and 144 which are subject to compound
rates.
These statistics convey some idea of
the vastneSs of the interests with which
our tariff laws deal. They must be so
adjusted that while no injustice shall be
done to these various and immense inter
ests in their relation to each other at
home, hostile and retaliatory legislation
shall not be provoked In the countries
whose products we tax. The mind can
scarcely grasp the enormous production
of our country, when 100000, 900 of ac-
tive enterprising people shall employ
their brain and their industry in the de-
vel0pment of its agricultural. mineral
and mechanical resources. 1t will far
exceed the demands of home market.
Our tariff law must not destroy the for
SiSh Llul hCls vi CNNl SlCdliN lIIpill ''
If we shut our markets to the products
of other nations, they will certainly shut
their markets to u.s. and generally in the
same proportion. ''As ye sow, SO shall
We reap again. 1t is often and loudly
asserted that we can repress or even for
bid the importation of foreign products,
and retain unimpaired entrance for oul
products into other countries. The claim
is unfounded. Reason and experience
alike refute it. Human nature rebels
against it. The necessity of the sale OF
the fruits of labor makes it impossible.
know of nothing which more jealousy
insists on the enforcement of the golden
rule: LAS ye would that men should do
unto you, do you even so to them"
The friends of extreme protection as
sert that their system produces at once,
high wages to workmen and cheap prices
for commodities. This is a paradox
The result cannot be cheap, if the ele-
ments are all dear. Labor enters largely
into the cost of all manufactures If the
wages of labor are high. the products of
such labor cannot be cheap If the pro-
ducts are cheap, the labor must be cheap
also. | despise the words "cheap labor"
They mean wages low, luxuries none,
comforts none; home, houes, food, cloth
ing, education, scant, and failing, the
heart, courage, high hope of the labor
er faint and failing, and his family suf-
terlng. They mean penury, misery, fail |
ing health failing strength, feebleness.
and finally vice, disregard of social and |
moral obligation. But labor is cheap, |
not only by reason of what it receives,
but by what it must pay for all that the
laborer ought to have. II the necessaries
and comforts of his life are costly beyond |
their due proportion to his wages. then
his labor is cheap, and its rewards are
scant. [ never knew ardent advocates
for protection, who worried themselves
to protect labor. They go on the prin-
ciple that the Government should take
care of the rich, and the rich will take
care of the poor. They protect the pock
at of the manufacturer. | never heard
nat they require the manufacturer to d.
vide the contents of his pocket book with
his employees. Every addition to the
price of home products or necessaries of
life. falls first and most heavily on labor,
and the very essence of protection is an
increase of price on the article protected.
We have lately heard that capital is very
helpless and timid. suppose we shall
soon be told that labor is very bold and
aggressive.
The American Consul at Bremen. in
his report dated October 2S, 1881, gives
the following comparative statement of
the prices of the necessaries of life in
Germany, showing that the prices of al
most every article for family use have in
creased since the adoption of the new
ierman tariff laws. The prices are given
N Marks and Pfennigs per KiIorram: