The Portland daily press., 1886-06-16
MAINE AND THE MORRISON BILL.

After lodging the question for some years
the Argus appears to have come out fal-foot-
ed against protection, and in favor of free
trade. In long and lugubrious article in
yesterdays issue it paints in vivid colors the
ruin wrought in Maine by the protective tar
iff. Apparentlyit it is of the opinion that had
a western cyclone swept over the State the
result would not have been so disastrous as
that brought about by the tariff of 1860.
As matter of fact, however, this generally
dilapidated condition of things which the
Argus thinks it finds in Maine, exists only
in its own melancholy imagination. If our
contemporary will take the trouble to consult
the statistics of the census it will find that
there is no foundation for its gloom. Maine
is prosperous, and has been for many years
past Whether its prosperity is due to the
protective tariff or to something else, may
furnish ground for difference of opinion,
but the fact of its prosperity cannot be sue
cessfully gainsaid.
Let the Argus turn back to the census OF
1860 and contrast our condition as then exhlb-
tied with our condition shown twenty years
later by the census of $780, In 1860 our pop
ulation was 62s,1 ,179. In 1880 it was 64S,936,
not a large gain, but sufficient to prove the
falsity of the Arguss statement that the
protective tariff has depopulated the State.
In 1860 the capital invested in manufactures
in this State was $22, ,044,O20. Twenty years
later it had risen to $49.9SS, i'll. The number
of persons employed in 1860 was 1869. In
1880 it was 49,20S In 1860 the amount paid
out in wages was IS, 303, ,S91, and the value of
the products was $3S, ,193,254. In 1880 the
cost of labor had risen to $13,623, ,31S, and the
value Of the product to S79, ,S29, 703. In 1860
the total deposits in our savings banks were
$685., ,211.39. On the first of May, 1885, they
were $36, ,293, ,564.95 Certainly these facts do
not sustain the Argus's assertion that the
State has been impoverished by the protec-
tive system. 1t would be easy to multiply
statistics all pointing in the same direction,
and showing that our State has steadily adj
vanced in material wealth and prosperity
since 1860, under the high tariff of that year.
But these are enough to prove the ridiculous
falsity of the Argus's assertion that it has
been 'depopulated and impoverished"
But the Argus says there has been de-
cline in shipbuilding along our coast, that
''old stumps of piles indicate deserted ship
yards;' that the 'wharves, that represent
an old-time commerce, are clogged with ooze
and green with grass" Undoubtedly there
has been a decline in the building of ships
for the foreign carrying trade, but that de-
cline began before the protective tariff of
1860 was enacted, and was largely due to the
invention of the iron ship, and the fact that
England could engage in that kind of naval
architecture to better advantage than any
nation on earth. Congressman Dingley has
shown this to be the case over and over again,
but the free trade papers steadily ignore it,
and attribute it to the protective tariff. But
the shipbuilding industry is by no means so
near extinction in Maine as the Argus would
have us suppose. In 1860, according to the
census, the number of shipbuilding estab-
| lishments in this State was forty-six; the
| capital invested $563.7S0; the cost of materi-
| al $621, 1,7O2; the hands employed 1,021; the
amount paid for labor $399,94S, and the
| value of the product $1,137, S14. In 1880 the
| capital employed was $S11, ,750; the number
| of hands employed 1867; amount paid for
| wages $685. $50; value of materials $685.
| S57 and the value of the product $2,909,S46.
But what is the Argus's remedy for the inn
poverished condition of the people which it
| assumes to exist. 1t is to pass the Morrison
| bill. The Impoverished fishing industry is
to be built up by taking off the tariff on fish, so
| that the American fisherman shall be brought
| into direct competition with the Canadian
fisherman, who can get his vessels and outfit
cheaper and hire his men at lower price.
| How does that method of building up the
| fishing industry strike the men who are en-
| gagged in it? Then the Impoverished ag
| ricultural industry is to be enriched by tax
| ing off the duty on hay and potatoes, so as to
| give the Canadians chance at our markets.
| How does that plan strike the farmer?
| Then the tax on lumber is to be taken off
| so that the product of Canadian forests can
| beat those of our own in our own markets.
| Of course that method of assisting the men
| who toll in our woods in winter and in our
| sawmills in summer strikes them favorably.
| Then what is left of the shipbuilding indus
| try is to be fostered under another bill by
| admitting foreign built ships to American
| registry These are the Democratic pre-
| scriptions for making the wilderness of
| Maine blossom like the rose, for bringing
| back population to our ''depopulated' State,
for enriching our Impoverished" industries.