Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-09-05

the duties of imports, protective of our OWL
|, manufacturers, are paid by the foreign
merchant or manufacturer But JOhr
|, Quincy Adams knew better, and he was
|, too honest q man to make such false pre-.
tense.
PRESIDENT ARTHUR AS AUTHORITY.
s'Well, what said President Arthur? He
was good republican. In his annual meg
sage to Congress in 16S9-93 President Ar
thur said: Il recommend an enlargement
of the free list-that is, of goods that pay
no duty-so as to include within it the
numerous articles which yield an incon-
siderable revenue; simplifcation of the
complex and inconsistent schedule of duties
upon certain manufactures, particularly
those of cotton, iron and steel, and SUBJ
stantial reduction of the duties upon those
articles, and upon sugar, molasses, wool
and cotton goods
| TERRIBLY ALARMED.
| "Well, that is precisely what the demo-
Gratis are striving to do. That is precisely
what the Mills bill, as it is called, attempts
| to do; and yet these gentlemen who are
bowling around about the benefits of pro.
lection and the ruin that the democrats are
bringing on this country tell you that this
thing which President Arthur recommend
ed only 80 lately is nothing in the world
but free trade. They are more afraid of
free trade than they are of rattlesnakes.-
Laughter and applause They are terri
bly, alarmed lest they should be bitten by
free trade. Renewed laughter.
THE MILLS ELL NOT FREE TRADE.
ssWelI, now, so far from this being free
trade, the most striking thing about the
Mills bill is that it is the most moderate
reduction of tariff duties that has ever been
attempted in this country. The average
duty levied under the present tariff was Al
per cent, and under the Mills bill the aver
age would be only about 40 per cent, re-
duetion of only seven per cent. upon all
commodities taken together. Of course
there are some things upon which the duty
was reduced more. For instance, the duty
is taken off of number of articles called
raw material which are used by manufact-
urers in their work in the fabrication Of
their products. And as they receive this
great benefit of having their raw materials
free or with comparatively small duty,
the bill wisely provides that the articles
manufactured by them when brought into
the country shall pay lower rate of duty
than they did before. But that is nothing
more than compensation for taking off
the duty from the raw material.
| PRESIDENT GARFIELD QUOTED.
| president Garfield said in the House of
Representatives on March 10, 1871: 4 was
surprised at remark of the distinguished
gentleman from Michigan. do not know
who that distinguished gentleman was, but
he was a Michigander. He asserted that
there is no item in the whole tariff that can
stand alone on its merits, but all must be
taken in lump in order to stand. That
coal must take salt by the hand and they,
too, must take something else by the hand,
and thus all interests unite with all forces
before they can make stand before the
country. If this remark be true, it strikes
a blow at the whole tariff system-a blow
/ am not willing to strike. l am unwilling
to admit that bad taxes must be tied to
1 good ones and thus be kept afloat. l think
it is unwise to continue this duty on coal,
and am, therefore, in favor of its repeal.
This Michigander came from a lumber
tcountry suspect, and he was in favor of
llog-rolling, (aughter;) log-rolling on the
largest kind of scale. That the man who
wanted protection on one article should
log-roll with man who wanted protection
on another, and thus by all combining
together and making one grand syndicate
or pool, force their measure through the
Congress of the United States. But James
A. Garfield said: If this remark be true, ii
strikes blow at the whole tariff system,
and blow am not willing to strike.
am unwilling to admit that bad taxes must
be tied to good ones, and thus be kept
afloat.'
THE woRKINGMAN's FALSE FRIEND.
'sNow, my friends, there is another thing
to which wish to call your attention. They
say all at once-I say all at once, for it is a
very late doctrine-these advocates of pro
lection are all at once seized with wonder.
full solicitude for the laboring man of the
country, and they want a high protective
tariff-not to benefit the capitalist, not to
benefit the monopolist, not to benefit the
manufacturer, according to their statement
!, but to benefit the laboring man. He is tht
man they seek to protect. And how are
they going to protect him? Why, they sa,
, that high protective tariff will better hi
,, condition, give him more wages-highel
wages. I would like to know how that car
be. l would like to know how taxing la
!, boring man on everything from the crown
, of his head to the sole of his feet is going Il
enrich him daughter and applause1-ye
this is exactly what this tariff tax does. Il
taxes him on the hat that he wears, on tha
cap that put on my head to keep it warn
[applause and laughterl-it taxes him or
bis shirt, on his necktie, on his under
, clothes, on his coat, on his vest, On hit
breecbes, on his stockings, on his boots, OF
everything. [Renewed cheering. 1t raise!
the price and taxes him until the poor man
can hardly make enough money, even if be
. gets few cents more wages in the day.
taxes him until he can hardly make enough
money to support himself and his little
family, if he has one. And yet they say
that this is for the benefit of the laboring
man. Ny friends, that is very bald-faceo
statement if there ever was one in the world
, But there is another thing about it.
HOW WILL he GET THEM2
SHOW ia he to get these high wages.
Why, he is to get them because his employ
er, the capitalist or monopolist, will make
more money, and therefore can afford to pay
{ his employees or hired men higher wages
than he paid them before. agree that he
could; agree that it increases his profits
l agree that he might, having these increas.
ed profits, pay his laboring men mora than
they were paid before. But does he do iti
That is the question. Did you ever know
him to do it? [Applause and cries of ''No,
i
again and again; it was immensely raised
by the tariff of 1861 or '62-I forget which
of those years it was. 1t was raised in a
few years again, and it has been raised
again, and again, and again, and yet in all
that time / never have been able to find the
manufacturer or capitalist who, npon the
raising of the tariff, has increased the price
paid to his laborers. If there was such a
case it has escaped the attention of every
body, even of those diligent newspaper men
who gather up all the news, and sometimes
a great deal that is no news at all. Merri-
ment But they have never been able to
find that manufacturing man who increased
the price paid his laborers because the tar
iff was increased.
YET THE LABORING MAN Is NOT RICH.
"But, my friends, we have bad for twen-
ty-seven years nearly the highest tariff that
this country ever knew, fully on an average
!, twice as high as it was before the war; we
have had that high tariff all this time.
Now, if that high tariff is so much for the
benefit of the laboring men, why have not
the laboring men in these twenty-seven
. years grown rich, should like to knows
Have they? [Cries of No, nor] If they
have, they are very unreasonable men, fol
, every year not year passes over our heads
, | that wa do M hear of strilxea of the labor