Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-07-25

bulk and value the whole amount imported
and exported by her between the settlement
Of tho first Dutch colony on the island OF
Manhattan and the outbreak Of the civil war
in 1860.
AaR1cULTURE AND THE TARIFF.
Tho agricultural interest is by far the larg-
est in the nation, and is entitled in every ad
justment of revenue laws to the first consid-
eration. Any policy hostile TO the fullest de-
velopment of agriculture in the United States
must be abandoned. Realizing this fact the
opponents Of the present system Of revenue
have labored very earnestly to persuade the
farmers Of the United States that they are
robbed by protective tariff, and the effort
is thus made TO consolidate their vast inhu-
enoe in favor Of free trede. But happily the
farmers Of America are intelligent and can.
not be misled by sophistry when conclusive
facts are before them. They soe plainly that
| during the past ~ years wealth has not been
acquired in one section or by one interest at
the expense Of another section or another in
terest They see that the agricultural states
have made even more rapid progress than the
manufacturing states.
The farmers see that In 1860 Massachu-
setts aud Illinois haG about the same wealth
| between eight and nine hundred million
| dollars each and that in 1880 Massachusetts
had advanced TO 2GOO million, while Illinois
had advanced to 320G millions. They see
that New Jersey aud Iowa were just equal in
population in 1860, and that in 20 years tho
wealth Of New Jersey was increased by the
sum of $S50,0O0,00O, while the wealth Of
Iowa was increased by tho sum Of 81, ,G00,-
| 900, 600 They see that tho nino leading ag-
ricultural states Of the West have grown so
rapidly in prosperity that the aggregate Rd-
dition to their wealth since 1860 Is almost as
great as the wealth Of the entire country in
that year. They see that the south, which
is almost exclusively agricultural, has shared
in the general prosperity and that having re-
covered from the loss and devastation Of war,
has gained so rapidly that its total wealth is
at least the double OF that which It possessed
in 1860, exclusive Of slaves.
In these extraordinary developments the
farmers see the helpful impulse of a home
Market and they see that the financial aud
revenue system, enacted since the Republi-
can party came into power, has established
and constantly expanded the home market.
They see that even ia tho case Of wheat,
which is our chief cereal export, they have
sold, in the average Of the years since the
close of the war, tbree bushels at home to
one they have sold abroad, and that in the
case Of corn, the only other cereal which We
| export to any extent, 100 bushels have been
used at home TO $50 bushels exported. In
some years the digps.ity has been so great
that for every peck OF corn exported 100
bushels havo been consumed in the home
market. The farmers sec that in the increas-
ing competition from the grain fields of Rus
sia and from the distaut plains Of India, the
growth of the home market becomes daily OF
graver concern TO thelh and that is impair
ment would depreoisss the value Of every acre
of tillablo land in tne Union.
OUR ISrERNAL COMMERCE..
Such facts AZ those touching the growth
and consumption o; cereals at home, give us
some slight conception Of the vAstneBs Of the
internal commercs Of the United States.
They also suggest that in addition 10 the ad-
vantages which the American people enjoy
from protection against foreign competition,
they enjoy the advantages of absolutely free
trade over a larger area and with a greater
population than any other nation. The inter
nal commerce Of our 50 states and nine terri.
tories is carried on without lot or hindrance-
without tax, detention, or governmental in
reference OF any kind whatever. II spreads
freely over an area Of 3 800. 600 square miles
almost equal in extent 10 the whole CONT
nent Of Europe. Its profits are enjoyed to-
day by Sc, 900, 600 of American freomen, and
from this enjoyment no monopoly is created.
According TO Alexander Hamilton, when he
discussed the sdme subject in 1870, "the in
ternal competition which takes place does
away with everything like monopoly, and by
degrees reduces the prices Of articles to the
minimum Of reasonable profit OF the capi-
tai employed" Il is impossible to point to a
single monopoly in tho United States that has
been created or fo'lereI by tho industrial sys-
tlm which Is upheld 10y the Republican party.
Compared with ouf foreign commerce these
domestic exchange 1re ucnnceyably great
in amount requiring merely AS one instrumen-
tally as large a mileage Of railway as exists
to-day in all the other nations Of the world
combined. These internal exchanges are es-
timated by the statistical bureau Of tho treas
ury department to be annually twenty times
as great in amount as our foreign commerce.
1t il into this vast field Of home trade-at
once the creation and the heritage Of the Am
erican people-that foreign nations are striv-
| ing by every device 10 enter. 1t is into this
field that the opponents OF our present reve-
nue. system would freely admit the countries
of Europe-countFies into whose internal
trade we could not rpciprocally enter; coun-
tries to which We should be surrendering ev-
cry advantage of trade, from which we should
be gaining nothing in return.
EFFEoT UPON THE MECHANIC AND THE LABOR
ER.
A policy of this kind would be diS9strous to
| the mechanics and working men or the Unit
ed States. Wages are unjustly reduced when
an industrious man is not able by his earnings
TO live in comfort, educate his children, and
lay by a sufficient amount for the necessities
of age. Tho reduction OF wages inevitably
| consequent upon throwing our home market
open to the world would deprive them Of the
power to do this. II would prove a great
| calamity to our o0UAtry. It would produce a
conflict between tho poor and the rich, and in
the sorrowful degradation OF labor would plant
the seeds of public danger.
The Republicsn party has steadily aimed TO
maintain just relations between labor and
capital-guarding with care the rights of each.
A conflict between the two has always led in
the past and will always lead in the future to
the injury of both. Labor Is indispensable
to the creation and profitable use of capital,
and capital increases the efficiency and value
of labor. Whoever arrays the one against
| the other is an enemy of both. That policy
| is wisest and best which harmonizes the two
| on the basis of absolute justice. The Repub
| lican party has protected the free labor of
America so that its compensation is larger
than is realized in any other country. II has
/ guarded our people against the unfair eOmpe-
tition of contract labor from China, and may
be called upon to prohibit the growth of a
similar evil from Europe 1t is obviously un-
fair to permit capitalists to make contracts for
cheap labor in foreign countries to the hurt
and disparagement Of the labor of American
citizens. Such a policy Qike that which
would leave the time and other conditions OF
home labor exclusively in the control of the
employer is injurious TO all parties-not the
least 80 to the unhappy persons who are made
the subjects of tho contract. The institutions
of the United States rest upon the intelligence
and virtue of all the people. Suffrage is
made universal as just weapon of self pro-
lection TO every citizen. 1t is not the interest
of the republic that any economic system
should be adopted which involves the redue-
tion of wages to the hard standard prevailing
elsewhere. The Republican party aims TO
elevate and dignity labor-not TO degrade il.
As substitute for tho industrial system
which under Republican administrations has
developed such extraordinary prosperity, our
opponents offer policy which ia but series
of experiments upon our system of revenue
"A policy whose Gnd must be harm TO our
manufactures and greater harm 10 our labor.
Experiment in the industrial and financial sys-
tenn is the oountry's greatest dread, as stabili-
ty is its greatest boon Even the uncertainty
resulting from the recent tariff agitation in
Congress has hurtfully affected the business
| of the entire country. Who can measure the
harm to our shops and our homes, TO our
farms and our commerce, il the uneStainty
of perpetual tariff agitation is TO be inflicted
upon the country We are in the midst of