Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-04-20
NO. 1G.
OUR PROTEC7Tt'E TIRIFF
THE SPEECH
OF Senator Merrill in Answer 10 the
Presidenra MessnRe.

MANUFACTURES, AND AMERICAN FARMERS
The reckless assertion has soma
times been made that the cheaper cost of
living in Great Britain fully compensates
for the lower rate Of free trade wages. In
the 30 years ending in 1887, 4,22O, 900 i'm.
migrants from the British kingdom came in
to the United States, and their action
brands the assertion as a colossal inveracity.
The meaning of this is further accentuated
by the fact that the total number of foreign
born residents in the United Kingdom at
the last census was less than the half of
one per cent Of the population. The Brit
ish lowgrade wages and living breed dis
content at home, and attract no Americans.
but expelled last year 2s1 is1 of their own
subjects, of whom - per cent came to the
United States, and all are swift witnesses
against free trade fabrications
The wages Of laboring men, beyond all
dispute, are far greater in the United States
than in any other country in the world,
and the cost of subsistence here is only in
creased by its higher grade and more gen
erous amount. Undoubtedly it is more diff
ficut for our siXty-two million of people to
find profitable employment in 1888 than it
was for thirty-fve or thirty-six million in
1851, and the difficulty would be greatly
augmented should free trade or the policy
OF non-protection ever become dominant in
tariff legislation.
The attacks on a protective tariff how
ever masked or disguised, are aimed at the
wages OF laboring men, and are not remov-
ed by the vain glorious assumption of free
trade orators, destitute Of all sympathy for
manual labor that Americans can do more
work per day than the people of any other
country. If it were true, then this extra
wear and tear of human life should not 20
unrewarded but it is not wholly true. For.
eign workingmen not only work for less
pay, but more hours for a days work than
are required here. The output of a great
part OF manufactures is, moreover, inexor-
ably regulated by machinery with fixed
speed or revolutions for perfect work The
best machinery is eagerly sought after and
quickly distributed throughout the world
1t is the lower and unequal wages of foreign
workmen alone with which Americans have
to contend, We should not, however. for
any consideration impair the superior phy-
sique Of American workmen by compelling
them to perform greater tasks than are al
loted to any other people.
1t cannot be doubted that q protective
tariff has vastly increased and diversified
American manufactures, and made their
economical and multiform production a
wide and profound study among the people
Of every state in the Union 1t has excited
the brain power of not merely the men of
science, but the inborn inventive faculties
of great multitude of practical working
men, and has promoted their happiness AMI
thrift. There is hardly a state now with
out the name of some prominent inventor
deserving public gratitude and honorable
remembrance
The new inventions relating to manufac-
lures and TO agricultural machinery, in all
their major and minor aspects, are identified
with our industrial life they are discoveries
of genius not only for the benefit of the pres.
ent, but also of future ages, and destined TO
give perennial fame to America as the most
prolific land of their birth They have dim
inished the hours of labor of workingmen
and increased their wages. They have been
and deserve to be encouraged by a proper
protective tariff, as their encouragement is
impossible where such protection finds no
favor. The busy race of American invent
ors should not perish for lack of friendly
care or by contemptuous neglect To de-
duct the intellectual force of the authors of
these useful and wonderful labor saving in
venti1ns from our history would leave the
position and civilization of our people on
the poor level of many inferior nations.
Nickel-plating is only a recent invention,
but its great advantages having been at once
comprehended by the manufacturers of
stoves, it has grown so rapidly in favor, ac-
cording to Carroll D. Wright, that 30, 900
additional workers have found employment
in the business without disturbing any 9TH
ers.
Files, prior to the tariff of 1861, were
nearly all imported, and those of the ordi-
nary size were sold at from So to s. per
r L
vented a machine for their manufacture
which proved a success, and today we have
$50 file works entirely established. due to a
protective tariff, and find that files of equal
merit are now sold at from 50 to 50. 80 per
dozen. Of files only to the amount of $40
were imported in 1887, but some thousands
of American workmen now find employ
ment in their manufacture.
The Simonds rolling machine, said to be
''the grandest mechanical invention of the
age, by Mr.. Simonds of Fitchburg, is de-
scribed as a machine in which two fiat sur
faces, acting vertically or horizontally, and
moving in opposite directions with adiusta
BILE dies fixed upon them, roll in one motion
piece of metal of regular or irregular
shape, and in almost any pattern desired
The work is quick and accurate, and by
one movement a conical shot, or chair-screw,
bolt, axle or spindle is produced, and the
machine is likely to supersede the lathe, the
trip-hammer, and other methods of forging
as to an immense number of useful articles
The history of the Waltham Watch COM
pany is typical of many American manu-
featuring enterprises. 1t started in 1857,
when the duty on foreign watches was
per cent only, and failed. The imports of
watches from 1925 to 1858 amounted TO
$40, 800, 900. The duty was raised in 1861
to 10 per cent, soon afterward to 25 per
cent, and the company started again in
1862, with machinery of their own inven-
tion and construction, and now turn out
daily 1900 watch movements, 300 gold cases,
and 900 silver cases, and employ BOO hands,
with at least half as many more who fur
nish supplies. Including families and de-
pendents, from 10. 900 to II. 900 persons de-
rive their support from the work of the
company. The average daily wages paid
to women is 81 40 and to men SO 60 to So
90 In the United States there are now Is
companies making watch movements and
! 40 making watch cases, one of which is in
| Covington, Ky. The estimated annual val
ue of the product is Sl6, 900, 000 and the
number of hands many thousands In
/ 1860 good English silver lever watch cost
| from $40 to $50. An equally good running
watch can now be had at from $ll to $l5,
and excellent watches may be had at from
| SS to $40 each. Many curious and e1pen-
sive watches are still imported, but last
year the watches exported TO England alone
amounted to S1S ,0l5. The Elgin nl.)
! Watch company paid no dividends for many
/ years, but is now prosperous. l have risk
| ed wearying the Senate with these details
because many other manufactures have a
a similar history, by which the American
| people have been largely benefited.
In this diversity of employments, result
ing from tariff protection, American wom-
en- have been elevated and made much
more independent. Largely participating
in the worlds useful work, they were new
er more charming than today There is
much fine and light work. often that con-
nected with the manipulation of machine
/ ry, where their tact and aptitude has been
found superior TO that of men, and the
wages of women for a week now often
exceeds what was formerly paid for a
month. Far more than men would the for
tunes of women be adversely affected by
any steps towards the British goal of free
trade.
1t appears that what really constitutes
the tariff doctrine of the present Democrat
ic administration radically changes from
year to year. The latest bill which is said
TO have the approval Of those in authority,
not only reduces the nominal rate of duties
but proposes to change the method of as
certaining the amount by an abandonment
of the system of specific duties now so
largely in force, and substituting therefor
the old system of ad valorems, rejected
everywhere, as far as practicable, by all
enlightened nations Obviously specific
duties are uniform at all ports, require less
numerous custom-house forces, and they
are the only complete remedy against un-