Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-09-29

of the tariff. On the Sd of March, 1888,
the present Republican tariff was passed
One year afterward this same party which
claims the perfection of wisdom and patri-
otism, is found pleding itself to reform Its
own work. They say tteJ favor
the reduction of taxation without reducing
industrial interests. They propose to re-
lieve whiskey of taxation and leave it on
clothing, to take it of tobacco and leave 1t
on hats, to remove it from beer and leave 1t
on school books. They call me free
trader and an enemy OF working men. l
am not now and never was free trader IN
any proper sense. Large revenues are
needed and / propose to collect them IN
such way as to bring most benefit l
have respect for working men more than
manufacturers who talk tariff and lockout
their employees. The tariff is tax at the
custom house.
The Consumer
paws the tax. The seller must add the tar
id, lust as the distiller adds the ninety cents
of tax to every gallon he manufactures,
which is psid by the man who drinks the
whiskey, The laboring man earns no more
than is sufficient for the comfort OF his fam
lily. Suppose there is tax of 81 per yard
on foreign cloth. The home manufacturer
of cloth adds that 81 to each yard Of his
own manufacture and you pay the
Same Price
for both foreign and domestic goods, the
only difference being that in one case you
pay the dollar extra to the man who
paid the tax, and in the other you pay it to
the man who only made the cloth. Per
haps the whole of the dollar is not added.
In any case you pay the home manufac-
turer whatever addition his competitors
will allow him to put on. Present duties
are about 40 per cent. Suppose the home
manufacturer only adds 25 per cent. In
that event about one-ffth of the income
OF the average consumers goes TO him.
This may be good thing but am too dull
to see it The tax on sugar is about the
same to rich and poor, Each can only con-
sumo so much of the article.
1t is said high protective tariff increases
the wages Of the laborer Does it as much
as it increases the cost of the articles he is
compelled to buy? 1t is "a new argument
that high protective tariff increases
wages. 1t was not made in the time of
Alexander Hamilton,
who was an original protectioniSt. 1t
would not be made now if laboring men
had no votes. In any event the class Of
labor to which it is applied is small trac-
ton of the whole. 1t has no application
TO the general labor of the country. Houses
will not be brought here and sold. Rail
road workers in England are not in com
petition with those in Grafton. 1t does not
apply to washerwomen and the great army
oflaborers, who outnumber those employed
IN protected industries twenty tn one. And
vet it is in these protected industries of
wool glass and iron that reductions are
most frequently made and strikes and lock-
outs occur Did YOU ever hear Of
Farmers Striking?
have no prejudice against manufatur-
ers. 1t is the fault Of the system more
than the proprietors that troubles occur. A
high protective tariff increases the cost OF
their machinery and consequently their
product, and decreases their opportunity Of
competing in foreign markets, and when
home markets fail he must stop production
or cut down wages. He can afford to shut
down. The laborer cannot, for in that
event he must live on credit or consume
his hard-earned savings
The Great Question
now is market for our manufactures.
Their capacity is greater than our home
demand Unless other markets are found
they must stop If other markets can be
found lockouts will stop and annual wages
will be larger Wages here are claimed
10 be higher on account of a protective
tariff, but wages in protected countries
abroad are lower. 1t is not
fair to compare new with old
countries. Wages in England are fifty per
cent higher than in Germany under Bis
marcks system of protection, and are in
creasing. They have already advanced
seventy per cent, with twenty per cent.
shorter hours than formerly
South America
is anxious to buy our products and cannot,
while Great Britain supplies her and grows
rich carrying her products past our doors.
We give her monopoly Of the worlds
rrade. This may be craftsmanship, but it
looks like foolishneSs. We once had rev.
enue tariff here-fom 1850 to lS6O-and
there was no closing up of industry. I'm
der that revenue tariff wages increased
eighteen per cent. in ten years From
1860 to l8S0-twenty years-they increased
only twenty per cent. Blaine'S wealth
doubled in the last ten years, but tariff did
not do it.
The Best Way.
To conclude, there must be reduction
of revenue or we must go into open market
and buy bonds To avoid this the best way
is to reduce the tariff. We are not to es
tablish free trade, but just and equal taxa
ton which will not put the burden Of pro-
tecting the few on the many. This is the
sound Democratic doctrine By which |
stand to the end 1t will bring the reforms
needed and to which the Democratic party
is pledged. The manufacturer will not
hen be compelled to close nor the laborer
TO suffer, and the farmer will not be COM
pelled to pay the burden of using foreign
bottoms for the transportation Of his grain
abroad.
State Affairs.
AS to your own State election in October
let me beg of you to stand shoulder to
shoulder. If you have dissensions, heal
them. LIST me ask united support for my
gallant young friend Wilson who has al
ready made as much reputation as any
Young man in Congress Let there be a
united rally in November for Cleveland
and Hendricks whose election means the
preservation Of the best interests OF the
country.