The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-04-14

petition with New England, read like
1.-The irony Of fate" But the tendency
of the South to embark in the manufac-
ture of cotton is nothing new. MIR.
Robert j. Walker, whose daughter Is
now the wife OF Attorney General Brew
ster, clearly fOrsaw all that In 1916
when, as Secretary of the United States
Treasury, cOntempOraneously with Mr..
Golden aAd Sir Robert Peel IN England,
he achieved that tremendous victory OF
peace the benehcent influences Of which
on both nations continued till they
were interrupted by our unhappy civil
war in 1S61-5. The bill for the repeal
Of the Corn laws was read for a thirG
time in the House of Commons on May
10, 1916. June 20, 1916, when the Dlll
was adopted by the House of Lords, was
a memorable day in The Parliamentary
annals Of England. Not less memoir
able In the annals of the American Con-
gress was July 20, 1S46 - one month
lateT-When President Polk approved
Secretary Walkers liberal tariff. How
the manufacturers Of the South forth
with began TO grow under that tariff Is
shown by the census.
When AR. Walkers free trade tariff"
as 1t was called, went into effect III 1916,
Mississippi, Mr.. Walkers state, had NO
place In the column OF manufacturing
States. Within three years from thai
time the capital invested In manufac-
lures in Mississippi amounted to ST.
S15, ,S20, the value OF materials employed
TO $1,275,771 and the value OF products
TO $2,912,O6S. When the clouds OF civil
war came over the land in 1850, Missls
sippi was moving rapidly up III the de-
YelOpment OF her manufacturing indus
tries. The capital invested then
amounted to "a, ,3S4 1892, the value of ma
Lerlals employed 10 $3, l46, ,636 and the
value OF products to $b,09O,6o7. la
Georgia the capital invested i'll nanufac-
lures amounted III 1850 to 50, ,40b, ,463 anu
in 1850 tO SIC, 0,89O.875, the VAIue OF ma
terlalS used amounted iii 1850 To SO, ,4U4,-
917 aud In 1850 TO $9,9S6, ,532, while the
value OF the products amounted to ST.
D82, ,075 in 1850 and to $40, ,925 ,564 i'll 1850.
Let Southern men consider these facts
and see what revenue reform means for
theml ....
Does not common sense tell us there
must be something wrong i'll America
when an Englishman can buy cotton III
Galveston, carry 1T TO England, manu-
facture 1t, bring the fabric back TO Gal
Weston, pay our enormous custom duties
and undersen a rival American fabric
In TexasI What makes this pOssibler
Our excessive taXatiOnl As between
the South and New England, the South
can and will successfully and immedi-
ately compete with New England i'll
making coarse eOttOns. The climate ID
more prOpitiOus and native labor is
cheaper. We're it not for the Federal
Constitution, New England would be
likely soon TO demand a protective tax
barrier against the reconstructed South.
Superficial American politicians who
fell asleep In 1851 over enOnOmlc Ques-
lions, ana are only just now waking up,
Imagine that the south will in 1884 ad-
VOcate protective taxes, as New Englan
did in 1924 or 1928 after cOndemning
such taxes In 1916. Those pslitictans
forget the new forces in production
which have begun to operate since
1928. They take no account of the fact
that the people in 1883 understood the
Incidence and effect OF taxation upon
manufactures better than they did in
1928. b The battle of 1S46 in favor OF
buyers and consumers has since then
BEEN fought. The South will not rely
for its prosperity on all aceidentalfuture
majority in Congress. Thoughtful busi-
ness men are coming to see that one
step in protection eOmpelS another in
the same direction, because each product
pf industry ID an instrument to be puT.
chased and used in Its turn as raw ma.
terial. Paper is the raw material of, d
book; iron ore is the raw material OF
pig-irOn; pig-irOn is the raw material
Of bar iron, and bar-iTOn is the raw ma
tertal of tools, and so on. The South sees
that protective taxes will drive Southern
manufacturers into a vicious circle in
which everybody will plunder and every
body be plundered; everything be made
dear to consumers, and all producers be-
thereby handicapped. And the South will
not again allow herself to be smOthered
under protective taxesl ... ..