The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1883-02-24

would nc the duty needed simply
to cover the difference between
the wages here and in England for
the manufacture of woOlen goods,
that gentleman says:
Unfortunately protection be-
gets protection; the cloth is pro.
tected because the wool is protec.
ted; again it is protected because
the dye-stuffs are protected; once
more it is protected because oil
and chemicals are protected; then
there is a cry that machinery is
protected; in short, all and every
thing used to manufacture wooden
goods is protected
And he expresses the opinion
that if put upon an equal footing
with English manufactures as to
free raw materials and free ma
chinery the higher wages in the
United States would not be a for
midable drawback.
Mr.. President, there is one com
petition which our manufacturing
industry has to encounter that is
more powerful in limiting its
growth than perhaps any other
cause. II is found in the inviting
and bomteous fields of American
agriculture. This was the case in
our Colonial times; it is so now;
and it will continue as long as we
have fresh, virgin soil and large
areas of territory for our people.
1t requires high wages, the very
highest, and not even they are suf.
ficient to keep men in the work
shop, in mills, in coal.pits and glass
foundries, when within his reach is
n homo of his own on his own land
where in his double capacity Of
proprietor and laborer he and his
family can enjoy the entire fruits
of his own labor. 1t is not that
tho profits of farming are greater
than other avocations; they are
proverbially smaller at this time I;
but there is an instructive tenden-
cy in the Anglo-Saxon blood to
land.owning. This instinct gives
to agriculture a social dignity and
personal independence which com
pcnsatc for its mcagrc profits, and
very often the cares and disap.
pointmcnts to which it is subject.
The magic Of the freehold is more
potent than that of wages of hire.
The thrilling associations of the
homestead, where wife and child.
rem live in security and peace and
love, can not be measured by n
scale of dollars and cents.
II is therefore the cheapness OF
lands and the superior attractions
Of agriculture which has made II
the more powerful industrial com.
petit0r of manufactures.
Now, sir, the avowed object OF
the protective system is to count.
eract this superior attractivencss
of agricultural industry and to di.
vert capital and labor from it into
manufactures. tits not protection
against the competition Of foreign
pauper labor that the duties are
levied, but against the competition
of our own home agricultural in.
dustry. II is the competition OF
the industry which produces our
exports, and which brings back
imports in exchange, against which
this tariff system is designed to
operate, and hence its effects have
never failed to arrest the increase
of the production of wealth by
means of agriculture, and to cause
the profits earned in the field to be
paid out to the forge and the mill,
This point has been elaborated by
other Senators.
Mr.. President, If in the course
Of my remarks | have said any.
thing which has left the impression
that ] am in the slightest degree
indifferent to the progress of man.
ufactures in this country, / have
expressed myself unfortunately. II
/ have not impressed those who
have heard me with my deep sense
of the Importance of them as di
versifying our industries, as q
source of national wealth, rs q
means of elevating and advancing
the human race and ennobling ouI
civilization through those great
appliances of science and art by
which the mighty powers of ma
ture are made subservient to the
wants of man, and if have not ex
pressed sympathy for them when
ever have been compelled to cast
a vote that seemed not tending tC
foster by taxation their industries
it was because professions are sc
cheap that but little faith is at
tached to them.
If they would listen to me