Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-12

while some have actually obtained 1t, that
these ''infant" productions may make
more milllOnaiTes. As for example; the
only manufacturer of large plate glass
such as we see in shop windows, demands
a protection Of one hundred and twenty
one per cent. and he lives in Indiana, be-
yond the Allegheny Mountains. Ihls duty
prohibits those who use ii from getting
supplies from abroad. where II is much
cheaper. You were willing 70 sustain the
burden OF war, in whatever shape II came,
but does not the peace Of seventeen years
standing call for relaxation, Wnen at
the present rates OF revenue, there VIII De
no public debt IN twenty wears. and moth
ing on which to base the security OF the
national banking system, by when you
have a sound paper currency " nat
country has a better credit than ours, and
can il be made better by unreasonable
and grinding taxation, enrichlng the lew
at the expense of the many!
See, too, the temptations, with the over
flowing treasury to corrupt schemes, use
less expenditures and eXtravagant con-
structiOns, if not to fraud and stealing!
And what protection does the farmer get:
You and | know very well that so long as
we raise more than can be consumed at
home. and have to seek a foreign market
for our surplus, no farm productions can
be imported to compete with us; hence,
even with the low rates of duty on cereals
and the like mot over twenty per cent. },
none can ever come in. except from an en-
tire failure of crops with US, and fam
inc were threatened. And II torelgn mar
kets must be had to take our hundreds Of
millions worth of produce, and II we must
take such prices as they can afford 10 give
US. ought we not to have the privilege OF
buying, with the proceeds OF what we
ship, the cheap goods which they have TO
sell, rather than be forced by
almost. or quite. prOhibitOry duties, TO
buy of our protected manufacturers at
nearly double prices? If we could take
more of their goods in return, and get
them home with moderate revenue duty,
would not foreign nations be able to buy
more largely of us, aud at better prices:
Would they not be better customers TO us
if we did not exclude their products, and
if they could sell us more, not having to
pay us in hard cash for what they are
obliged to take from us: In 1881, they
had to pay us in gold a balance Of nine
ty-One millions of dollars, seriously dis
turbing the finances of Europe.
And now, to make some specific points
upon protection, let us look at the arti-
Gle of salt, on which a duty of
about eight cents n bushel, or forty
six Eper cent. is levied, and for
what? To protect those who own the
gan and Virginia. Do you ever buy their
salt? No! You must use the foreign
article, because the Western is too dear,
and must pay also heavy transportation
charges. Theirs is a monopoly, and they
combine to produce as much, and only as
much as they can sell at protected prices,
and should they have surplus, send 1t to
Canada and take what they can get for it
rather than make a concession to US or to
I MI a OBLIGED
have it for packing purposes. 1t is the
principle on which the Dutch used to act
in burning the surplus nutmegs to keep
up prices. There are other things
worked in the same way, and
notably among them are the cop
per products of Lake Superior. The
mining companies sell all the copper they
can at about IS cents pound to the con-
sumerS in the country, and the surplus
that cannot be used here is sold to 90
abroad, or sent there to market where it
is worth, at the outside, 15% cents for the
best. Last year the exports Of copper,
out Of product of 1920 tons, or 54,500,
I 600 pounds, worth nearly ten millions of
I dollars, were 3.340. 531 pounds, at home
value Of IN cents pound, amounting to
$3.50 295; and the imports were 1856
pounds, costing abroad l. 40 cents
pound, and amounting in value to $780,
94j, which paid duty of cents pound.
This is about the loss that the copper
miner makes on his surplus after selling
you all he can at Is cents a pound, and it
shows plainly that a protective tariff
gives him a monopoly and forces the peo-
pie of this country TO pay several cents
pound more for all the copper they use
than any other people in the world.
Where is the sense Of it, except to fill the
pockets of a few owners of copper mines;
These do not need it as protection, for
they can produce it as cheaply as it can
be produced anywhere else. One mine
alone the Calumet and Hecla has paid
to its owners, in about twenty years, divi-
dends to the amount OF over tWenty-One
and One-half millions dollars, with sew
eral millions surplus on hand, on an ori-
ginal investment Of 100000. Can any
such profits as this be shown in agricul-
ture? Suppose, for a moment, that one
of our neighbors should discover the
most valuable copper mine in the world
on his farm, should we not think
it hard, if. in addition, Con-
gress shonld pass law making the
rest of us (wh0 get no bounty for raising
corn or pork pay him a bonus Of five
cents pound on his product? And yet,
this is practically done for the copper
miners. The price of five cents pound
is added to the fifty millions of pounds
mined and used in this country, and we
farmers pay our full share of it, And as
though this were not enough, that they
should have fuU monopoly, an almost
prohibitOry duty was laid upon copper
ore, and the business of smelling it not
only was actually destroyed, but also the
foreign commerce based up it. Formerly
ships loaded with American goods sailed
from Boston to Chilli, and in return
brought back copper ore, which was
smelted at Point Shirley, East Boston,
with American coal and by American Ia
Dor. Now, the whole is a thing of the
past-taXed out of existence, The decay
of American shipping is not a matter of
wonder when such one-sided legislation
can prevail and pass without protest or
complaint.
But to recur to the salt tax. When it
was first imposed it was partly with
view to revenue, as salt, necessity of
life, has always been favorite subject
for monopoly and impOst, and partly to
protect the salt makers on our coast.
These, before the Western salt springs
were worked, covered our seashOres with
thousands of acres of salt pans, making
salt by solar evaporation. Now there is
not acre of them, and what good to US, or
to anybody, is a protective tax on salt?
We will now look at wool as a protec-
ted article, as that is one of our farm pro-
duets. Did you ever hear of a pound
of the Rocky Mountains, that was sold at
twelve cents pound or under, or even at
sixteen cents or less? Yet wool Of this
character, long and coarse, coming from
Asia Africa, South America and Mexico,
at cost of twelve cents or less pound,
paws duty of three cents pound, and if
only one mill over that, up to twenty
cents, duty of six cents pound. Now
the American wool grower needs no pro-
wool :
class paws sometimes $500, 600 a year
into our OVERLOOKING public treasury. 1t
is used for carpets, blankets, tlannels and
other coarse goods, that our labOring
classes need to use. and enhances to that
extent the cost of them. And then what
is the result to our ''infant manufactures ?"
They must be protected against the for
eign goods made in England and Ger
many out of this same coarse wool, rem
dered more costly to our own manufactu-
rers by the duty | have named, and 50 the
cheap carpet, blankets and clothing
which come from abroad, must pay a still
heavier proportionate duty. The impost
on lOw-priced blankets is eighty-fiye per
cent. (almost or quite prohibitOry)
and the American working man
must pay one dollar and eighty
five cents for what the English
laborer pays but dollar. The duties on
the finer qualities OfWoOl are much higher,
and IN spite of them, large quantities are
imported, because we do not raise enough
to supply the demand for our wooden
mills which are heavily protected on the
goods they make. You can buy nothing
made of wool for your personal or domestic
use that does not pay duty of at least 90
per cent.
How can we make money and become
millionaires, or how can our farm hands