Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1886-04-08
TIMELY TOPICS.
WHAT PROTECTION DOES.
The Senator from Maine Quotes Facts ana
Figures Against Free Trade.

enough people to fill the large auditorium
of the Brooklyn Academy of Music went
there to hear Senator Frye make a speech
on 'The Tariff" The meeting was held
under the auspices of the Brooklyn Re
publican League. John Winslow, pesi.
dent of the League, presided and intro.
duced Senator Frye Among those on
the platform were General B. +. Tracy.
Franklyn Woodruff, Leslie W. Beasley.
William II. Lyon, Nelson ]. Gates. An.
drew ID. Baird, ], S. T. Suanahan,
Joseph +, Knapp, Judge Calvin +. Pratt,
General W. II. Slocum, William II. War
ing, General |. s. Catlin, Thomas d.
Mosscrop, 7. L. Woodruff, John W
Harmon, c. H. Hart and J. Stuart Gillcn
Senator Frye was received with loud and
prolonged outbursts of applause when he
rose to speak. The following is sum
mary of his address:
There are some who place the Consii.
tuition athwart the path of all progress
for this Republic. have seen rebel
who said when he left the Union that the
Constitution sustained him. Again and
again has il been opposed TO the best in
tcrests Of the Republic. Some say it is
opposed to the Tariff / will not discuss
that. Enough for me that some of the
wiscst patriots the country has ever had
have been firm supporters both of the
Tariff and the Constitution. Many college
theorists sustain Free Trade; good and
cultivated men many of them are, but
they are color-blind as to facts. These
theorists have just one troublc-no com
mon sense. You may kick their theories
| to death with stubborn facts three times
day and they will still retail them.
Many of our importers arc frcc.tradcrs.
1t would seem that the handling of for
cign goods causes them to disseminate
foreign ideas
But the great foe to protection is the
| Democratic party, because the head and
body and shoulders of the Democratic
party for fifty years has been in the
South. Slavery is dead, but the poison
of slavery still works. SO long as the
Democratic party had the courage of its
convictions it put in its platform Il Free
Trade plank But when it began TO grow
timid ii asked for "a tariff for revenue
only in the next platform it wanted n
tariff alone for revenue, and in the next
a tariff for revenue exclusively. The De
mo cratic party has proved itself the Free
Trade party by its course in Congress.
Whenever it has been in power it has dis
turbed business all over the country by
tinkcring the tariff. Morrison is at the
head of the Ways and Means Committee
\ in the House and wants to revise the
tariff again. But he won't We have a
Republican Senate, and four committees
from the Knights of Labor have served
solemn warning upon the Democratic
party to let the tariff alone. They want
q free ship bill Again the Knights OF
Labor warned them in case of wal
what should we do for ships if our shi }.
yards had been destroyed by admitting
English ships free, and we had TO depend
on her for ships?
Protection does not mean protection for
capital. Capital can very well take care
of itself. 1t can hide in the savings
banks, or even the stocking if need be.
But capital is timid. 1t must be cncour.
aged to leave the bank and the stocking
and go into the bowels of the earth, the
factory and the machine shop, TO men
and women, and pay them good wages
that they may properly educate their
children. Bone and sincw and muscle
need protection. 1t cant hide; it can't
starve, it cant shift at will from place to
place. Encourage capital, but protect Ia.
Dor, that's my doctrine. Contrast the
cost of manufacture in England and
America. What makes the difference?
Bone and muscle are cheap in England.
Bone and muscle are dear here; they are
protected. But what would become Of
our bone and muscle If the goods that are
made so much cheaper in England were
allowed to be sold here without tariff.
II would have to be sustained on bread
and potatoes instead of meat and tho
children would have to work in the mills
instead Of going to school. But when the
Englshman steps into our Custom House
he helps us to pay our own wOrkmcn
well and educate our children.
But protection is met with the obec-
ton that with the added cost Of living
here our workmen with their higher
wages are no better Off than the English
man with his lower wages. The facts
have been ascertaiitcd Carroll ID. Wright
has made an investigation and reported.
The New York Tribune, with that energy
which charactcrizcs it, sent Robert Por-
ter, former Tariff Comm issoner to in.
vestigatc, and told him to spare neither
pains nor expense. The Tribune publish.
ed his report. The United State Consuls
have investigate and reported.
Senator Frye then read lot of figures
CLEANED from these reports showing the
great disparity between wages in Eng.
land and America in various branches of
trade, interminglcd with facts exhibiting
the wretched condition of a large pro.
portion OF the working people there
Among other things he said that Free
Trade England, with population Of 3j,
900, 600, had 1000, 900 paupers, while tht
United States, with $4,000, 900, has only
$1,000 paupcrs. lie cited other facts and
figures, showing the still greater disparity
tilHl cAlbltu DclNCcn Wugcs III tHc CON
tnent of Europe and America and the
conditions Of the working classes, lie
showed also that the necessities of life
are cheaper here than in Europe. lie
quoted figures showing that manufactur
c1 materials had grown cheaper under 1
protective tariff instead OF dcarer, thus
proving that the duty was not added Il
the cost And wages were still kept up
Worsted goods were 40 per cent cheaper
than formerly, He read the Tariff ant
Internal Revenue returns, showing tina
the larger portion of the taxes wer,
paid on luxuries, and not necessities, ex
ccpt the S50,000,0O0 for sugar. Thi
tax he said, was sustained by free trad
Democrats. British free trade, he said
+ had starved Ireland.