The Aberdeen examiner. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1866-current, 1883-03-01

q
the intelligence Of this country that
the tariff of 1916 was not q protect-
i've tariff he would performa service
for John @. Calhoun in vindicating
his name and fame from q charge OF
having once supported protective
tariff which Mr.. Calhoun when living
confessed upon the floor of the Ameri
can Senate that he could not perform
for himself. In one notable debate
between himself and Mr.. Webster,
upon the subject Of protection, Mr..
Webster, after summarizing rapidly
his own reasons for supporting pro-
lection, many of which we're the rep>
etitions of those which Mr.. Calhoun
had given in 1916, he turned to that
Senator and said: "Mr. President, in
all this I may be wrong and in error
but il so,there sits my seducer.' At
ter Mr.. Clay and Mr. Clayton twitted
him with being the author Of the pro
tective system in this country he
rose and with that candcr which
marked all his utterances declared
that the state OF the country imme-
diately after the war Of 1912, and his
desire to make our nation secure and
independent and complete in every
resource Of power, misled him into a
policy whose practical effects had
convinced him Of it's unjust, oppres>
sive, and pernicious character.
There is no question, sir, about the
distress and disaster and universal
depression which occurred during
this period last referred to. Here,
sir, is what Mr.. Henry G. Carey says
OF that period:
Protection afforded by the war caused
considerable increase In iron manufac-
lures. but there exists no reliable Stats
tics in regard thereto. Peace in 1916 was
followed by the so-called revenue tariff
of 1877, and that in turn, as Is SO well
known. by. the closing Of factories and
furnaces by the ruin Of manufacturers
and merchants; by the discharge of work
men everywhere; by the suspension OF
banks; by the bankruptcy of States; by
the transfer of the real estate of the
Union; and by an impoverishment of our
people generally beyond all former pre-
cedent."
Mr.. Mathew Carey, speaking in hi.
New Olive Branch, thus describes the
condition of Pittsburgh in 1919:
This city in 1916 contained about 5000
inhabitants: it exhibited as exhilarating
a scene of industry and prosperity as any
place in the world its immense local ad-
vantages seated at the confluence of two
noble rivers forming the majestic Ohio
its boundless supplies Of coal and the
very laudable enterprise of its inhabit-
ants had for long time rendered il the
emporium of the western world; but
alas, the immediate influx Of foreign
manufactures poured in there shortly
after the peace produced most oalami-
tOus reverse"
pause in this quotation moment
sir, to remark that the influx OF fore
ign manufactures at that time was
less than it was in 1907 "a period Of
great manufacturing prosperity, as
have already shown), and could no.
therefore have produced the calami.
'ous reverse. But to proceed with
the quotation:
"The operations Of the hammer, the
Ratchet, the shuttle, the spindle, the loom
ceased i'll great degree. Noble establish
ments which reflected honor on the ma.
ton were closed; the proprietors ruined:
the wOrkmen discharged II blight and n
blast ovsrspread the face of the city; ant!
tho cirGumjacent country which had
shared in Its prosperity now equally par
took of its decline"
Now, sir, if these terrible scenes
80 wildly described by the two Ca
reys were due to the tariff of 1916
then, sir, it must be conceded tina
they were the results of Ia tariff whicl
Mr.. Web ter declared twas passed
for the benefit Of manufac, urers,'
aid Mr.. Greedy declared was undeni
IDLY and strictly protective III it's du
ties. They certainly cannot be as
cfibed to the influence Of "a tariff foi
revenue only"
l do not say, for I do not think
hat this state of things wa7 caused
by that tariff In the recent discus
sons on financial question both sides
agreed that the great revulsion OF
that period was caused by disor-
ier-d currency. .....
Upon the return Of peace aud the
renewal of trade our manufacturers.
habituated to the absolute command
of the home market and inflated
price,, had to meet foreign 'mpetit,
ION with prices down to their natural
level. The currency was suddenly
contracted from S145,0O0,OCO to
$45 100000. A revulsion followed
fearful in its extent and terrible in
its ravages; but it embraced in its
desolating sweep all the industries.
agriculture, manufactures, and trade
alike. It's effects upon agriculture
was more enduring than upon man
ufaotures.
The farming people at such time,
Mr.. President, live very closely and
try to bear the hard times with
greater self, deuial and patient toll,
but the manufacturers clamer for
legislative relief and high sand.
sir, not without effect The tariff OF
1918 was passed, but the duties,
though much higher than those of
1916, were not high enough to salts.
fy the manufacturers; another still
higher tariff was passed in 1919; but
protection begets protection, and
this was followed by the tariff Of 1924
which Mr.. Greedy styled "the tariff
of unqualified protection
But, sir, injurious as was that f.
nancial crisis upon agriculture and
commerce and manufactures, upon
investments Of capital and profits OF
business and rewards of labor, the
facts chronicled in the history from
which I have so often quoted prove
that manufacturing as an industry
was not overthrow nor its power of
growth vitality impaired.
A brief account of the increase of
manufacturing establishments during
this period shows chat while protec-
ton could not avert the disaster which
caused general overturn of all in
dustries, there was in American man
ufacturs the same recupsrative pow
er, the same native genius, skill, and
capacity to adapt means to ends and