Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1884-05-09

with his dollar TO an American. who said /,
al charge 50 for that article" He must ge
back TO his toll, and another day must 90
out of his life to get the additional dollar.
What was the significance of that transac-
ton?
He had been by the power of law com
PEELED TO work one day against his will for
an American manufacturer. All of his hopes,
all OF his tolls for that day were made the
manufacturers. In other words, for one
day he had become slave. Every dollar of
increase Of the price of goods which the
protective tariff occasioned was an hour or
a day OF slavery He rested his whole case
on the proposition that subject to the needs
of the government, every man had the right
TO sell where he could get the best price for
what he had produced, and buy where he
could buy the most cheaply Tn is was the
approved doctrine of political economy and
the plainest teachings of justice. II indi-
vidualized men; it turned their ewes from
the government 10 themselves; it fixed the
boundary line between government power
and personal rights it limited the authority
of public administration. 1t taught men
that there was no arm SO strong for their
support as their own, and no business so
successful as that which their ability and
skill had built up; it limited the govern
ment within its proper sphere and left indi-
yiduals free TO choose their own careers, de-
velop their own resources and build up their
own fortunes.
THE PRESENT A HIGH PROTECTIVE TARIFF.
The present American tariff was a high
protective one. II increased the price of
articles imported into this country more
than 43 per cent. 1t was perfeokginRanifest
that its influence on our foreign commerce
could only be deleterious. Trade was merely
mutually Of exchange, and foreign trade
was the exchange of products between citi-
zens Of different countries. Every hin.
drance to the importation of foreign goods
was an embarrassment to commerce. for to
the same extent 1t prevented the expectation
of American goods. The country could not
have large expectation without having a
large importation. Every tariff duty was a
burden on foreign commerce, and it was
douby SO because it gave foreign nations
an excuse for keeping out American goods
More injurious still was the system ON the
carrying trade, and it was the question OF
only little time when under this policy
the American flag would entirely disappear
from the high seas. The tariff prohibited
the importation of foreign vessels, and Ame-
rican capital when it desired TO engage in
bhS Jih5 tiauC llluob uO ~ u IOT-
elgn flag On the shipbuilding interest pro-
lection had been most disastrous. Nothing
was clearer to his mind than that the des,
truction of the foreign carrying trade was
the result of the prohibition of an American
registry to foreign built vessels and the high
price OF raw material for shipbulders. The
oceans were free to all; any person might
sail whthersoever he pleased but in this
Tree for all where was America The skill
OF the sailor of every nation was there as
sorting itself except ours; fortunes were
being built up for people OF all nations ex
cept ours, and yet this was an ocean.bound
republic. Every ripple of the waters on
the seashore was an invitation TO enjoy the
wealth Of foreign nations, and every stormy
| wave that beat upon the crags spoke i'm
laundering denunciation of a policy that
would lock America out of the markets of
the world. Loud applause. God speed
the day when the divine thought of man 5
brotherhood 10 man would succeed the de-
grading and humilating one of national
isolation and foreign exclusion.
EFFECT ON THE FARMER.
What was the effect of the ruinous sys-
tenn on the farmer? IL increased the price
of all articles which entered into his daily
tthouihPbiOh1 anu billS lHtTcdSt dIlOuuLcu 10
an annual sum of $450000,O00. For this
there was absolutely no compensation in
the protective system. The system operated
TO increase the price of transportation of
grain from the West TO the seaboard, and
from the seaboard TO Europe. When the
| grain of the american farmer reached Liy-
erpool il came in competition with the grain
OF every other farmer of the world. The
protective tariff of America was unable TO
help him there, and every dollar of increase
OF price which transportation occasions to
him dimnishes the profits of his sales.
But the protective tariff did more injury
to the farmer in the injury it occasioned to
his foreign market. 1t had already robbed
America of one-half of the markets of the
old world. England, because the American
tariff prohibited practically the importation
OF English goods, had sought 10 find food
supplies elsewhere, and, under the impulse
of the necessity, the most amazing fact of
modern times had been developed, India,
old and effete, had become to Great Britain
the country from which her grain might
be obtained. The effect Of this on the markets
OF the United States within the last nine
months had been decline in the exporta-
ton of American cereals of more than AZ,
0OO,OO0 bushels, and wheat had gone down
in Chicago 10 less than 80 cents. And this
development of the wheat production of In
dia was entirely the result of the protective
policy in America. | say, continued he, TO
the farmers of America, the prospect before
you is not encouraging now. With ele-
vators and grainaries and warehouses all
full of the old crop unsold with vast fields
greening TO the coming harvest, with crop
unexceled in India, with splendid promise
among all wheat-growing nations, and with
the price OF wheat at less than so cents, the
result will be inevitable that the price of
wheat before January next will not pay for
the price of production, and the corn raised
on the western prairies again will be burned
Tor iuel. In that day the farmers will be
beggars in the midst of their own plenty,
paupers by the side of their own golden
gathered sheaves. There is absolutely no
relief except ia making foreign markets for
agriculture
The Morrison bill, proceeded Mr.. Hurd
as il stood, proposed small reduction of the
tariff, which must satisfy for the time the
great agricultural interests of tho people
but II the protectionists would not listen
would not accept compromise in less than
year, the farmers would rise from the eth-
argy In which they were slumbering and
would overthrow in an hour the whole pro.
tective system.
lie went on to argue that the effect of the
system was not beneficial to the manufac-
turing interests, but on the contrary was
detrimental TO them in that it prevented
them from securing free raw material. "Oh !
If ! could but burn into the brain of the
manufacturers of America one sentiment"
he burst forth, it would be this: "Turn from
this constant introspection TO the nations of
the world. Down with the walls Out to
the sea There are 20O0,0O0,000 people who
want TO buy what you make Rise up to
the truth of the great thought that these i'm
mense peoples can be supplied by you with
all OF the instruments of husbandry and the