National Republican., 1886-12-09
Secretary Manning VS.. President Cleve-
land.


city.
Secretary Manning VS.. President CieNe-
land.
It is fair to assume that each member OF
President Cleveland's Cabinet was informed
rs to the nature Of the message which the
President intended to send to Congress,
and II is q matter of astonishment to find
in the report of one Of the Cabinet officers
recommendations so vltally at variance
with those made by the President.
We OF course allude to the ideas upon
the tariff advanced by Secretary Manning.
President Cleveland, conforming to aud
enforcing his previous recommendation,
quoted in the REPUBLICAN, on Saturday,
that reduction Of duties should be made
on imported articles Of food, in discussing
the necessary reduction of tariff duties by
which the income Of the government could
he brought more nearly to its needs, said:
Due regard should be also accorded in any
proposcd readlustmeut to the interests Of Ameri'
con labor so far as they are Involved. This re-
card and attention should be awarded them,
rot only because labor Is the capital of our
wofkingmen, Justly entitled to its share of
government favor, but for the further and not
LEES imJortant reason that the laboring man,
surrounded by his family In his humble home.
as q consumer is vitality interested in all that
cheapCns the cost OF living and enables hun to
| ring within his domestic circle additional
comforts and advantages.
This relation Of the workingman to the rev.
cnuc laws of the country, and the manner in
which 1t pnlpably inilucAces the question Of
wages, should not be forgotten in the JuslihL'
BILE Prominence given TO the proper main
tenGnte of the supply and protection of well
Iaid labor. And these considerations suggest
such on arrangement of government revenues
ps shall reduce the expense of living, while II
does not CuTtail the opportunity for work nor
reduce the compensation Of American labor
and injuriously affect its condition and the
dicnGcd place IL hold in the estimation OF our
people.
But our farmers aud agrloultursts-thosc
who fIOm the soil produce the things con-
sumed by all-Gre perhaps more directly aud
plainly concerned than any other OF our cid'
zcns in Just and careful system of federal
taxation. Those actually engaged In and
more remotely connected with this kind OF
of work number nearly one.half Of our popu'
lalitn. None labor harder or more continu-
ously then they. No ennctments limit their
lONrt Ol tOll, ullu no llllC tDaiAlOl vi tuc EpN-
eminent enhances N any great extent the
value Of their products.
recommend that, keeping IN view all
these considerations, the increasing and un-
necessary surplus of national income annuity
accommodating be released to the people By an
amendment to oar revenue laws which shall
cheaper the price Of the necessaries OF life.
These are words of wisdom and patriot.
ism. They reiterate aud add to the former
recommendations of the President. The
farmer and the laborlng man, as the Presl.
dent Justly says, should be enabled to pur-
chase 'the necessarles and comforts of
lifen as cheaply as possible, and 1t is true of
the farmers that "no interposition OF the
government enhances to any great extent
the value Of their products" except as to a
very few articles, and the incidental effect
of protection creating home market fol-
their products by diversified industry.
The two articles which farmers raise that
are most prominently protected are sugar
and wool.
OF the sugar consumed In the United
States more than nine-teuths is imported
and the other tenth is Of home production
OF the wool used in the United States abou
three.fourths is domestic and one-fourth 4
imported.
The duties collected on cane sugar ant
molasses In 1886 amounted to about $52,
OCO.OOO On the unmanufactured WOOL
imported in 1866 the duties amounted to
little over s5,0OO,O00.
These import duties fully protected the
farmers engaged in the production of cant
sugar and wool, and gave a revenue o.
about $5T, ,000,0 600 to the government.
Under the stimulating influence of pro
tectiye tariff the production Of wool ha
advanced in the twenty years since 1SCt
from 13ZCO0,000 pounds to nearly thre
times that quantity and to be three-quarter
Of the amount needed for consumption
while the home production OF sugar, NOR
highly protected than wool, still remains a
It Yves In the beginning Of this period, les
than one.tenth Of the whole.
There are in the United States i, 500 coun
tics, in which there were in 1880 4,0OS,01
farms. OF these counties in that year WOO
was produced In all but one hundred and one
and in every state, while cane sugar wa
produced in but seven states and $50 eoun
lies, and nineteenth OF the whole quantit
was grown in sixteen parishes OF Louisiana
while OF the l7s, 900 hogsheads 10000 wer
grown In Louisiana, making the productIo
Of sugar local industry confined to
small section of one state.
Only fourteen parishes of Louisiana hay
sugar as the principal product, thoug
cotton, corn, cattle, horses, mules
sheep, and hogs are also produced, 4
these parishes there are less than six thou
sand farms, n number of which are not cul
tivated in sugar, Averaging the product q
these farms to the whole production 4
Louisiana, there are $500 farms out OF tn
100000 In the country engaged In tn
production of sugar, while on almost ever
farm in the entir. 100000 more or les
wool is produced.
Six thousand five hundred persons hay
the capital in farms and machinery engage
in sugar raising, constituting a pre-
tected monopoly, and, according to tn
returns Of the census, these farms includ
ing buildings, farming implements, mi