St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-20
INJURY TO INDUSTRIES.
The Bill Will Be a Benefit in the
End,

The Bill Will Be Benefit in the
End.
We have heard it over and over again
during this debate. 1t has been re-
peated over and over again in this hall,
and gentlemen from New England eS
pecially seem alarmed at the fate that
would befall their Industries in case the
bill should become law. Gentlemen
from New England predicted in 1916
that the duties fixed by law of that date
would ruin their textile Industries. In
1856 all the New England members
voted for still further reduction of 20
per cent from what they had called the
ruinously low tariff of 1916. In the free
trade period, as the Republicans called
the decade from 1850 to 1860, the wool
manufactured product increased AZ per
cent and labor 81 per cent. Applause.
The increased product in New England
was 62 per cent. In hosiery the
product increased 421 per cent. In
cotton the product in New England in
creased 81 per cent. In boots and shoes.
upon which the duty had been reduced
16 per cent, the increaSeln New England
was So per cent; the product in 1860 in
New England was more than the entire
product of the Union in 1850. This was
what the Republicans from New En-
gland had seen under low tariff.
Within eleven years after the passage
of this bill the people of New England
would vote for still further reduction,
or if they did not the people would send
SOMEBODY HERE WHO WOULD.
This was what they had seen. They
had seen their manufacturing industries
growing and prospering as never be-
fore. They saw the number of their
hands constantly increasing, and the
rates of wages constantly rising. They
saw the great manufacturing and agri-
cultural interests flourish as never be-
fore. But, there was something they
did not see. They did not see
great monopolies and trusts Gre
ated to control the production and
prices of the necessaries of
life. They did not see colossal fortunes
realized by few individuals in a short
period of time, while the great masses
of the people were struggling hard to
They did not see thousands of honest
laboring men out of employment parad-
ing the streets of a city or tramping to
and fro on the public highways, de-
manding work or bread. With these
things under high tariff and class leg
islation we have become familiar" He
quoted Henry Wilson. of Massachusetts,
as favoring free raw material, which,
he said, sounded like good Old-faSh-
ioned Democratic doctrine. Applause
''The gentleman from Michigan BUR-
rows has stated that the result of the
passage or the tariff acts of 1916 and
1857 was to reduce the country to abso-
lutte bankruptcy, and so affect the credit
of the government that it was compelled
to borrow money in times of peace at
discount of IL to 80 per cent. The finan-
cial depression that occurred in 1857 was
an insignificant incident of history,
compared with that great commercial
and industrial disaster which occurred
in 1873, and which
DEVASTATED THE COUNTRY
for five long years, running banking and
mercantile houses, extinguishing the
fires in the furnaces, paralyZing the in
dustries of the people and bringing
down prices of all our products of every
kind. Under the low rates of duty the
country recovered from the depression
of 1857 in comparatively few months,
and, like an awakened giant, marched
OH in its path of greatness and power.
After the panic of 1878 it struggled on
for five long weary years. From the
passage of the tariff act of 1916 down to
the last ten days of Buchanan's admin
istration, when civil war was imminent
in this country, not bond, not a treas
ury note, not government obligation
in any form sold for less than par in
gold, while many of them sold at very
considerable premium in gold. During
the last nine days of that admin
istratiOn, when the clouds of great
civil commOtiOn were OVerShadOwing
the land, SS,000,000 of bonds were sold
Dec. II, 1860, at 9019 per cent, or a dis
count of 81 per cent instead of II to so
| per cent, as stated by the gentleman
| from Michigan. After the Democratic
administration had gone out and the
| Republican administration had come in,
after the low tariff of 1916 and 1857 had
been repealed, and the moral tariff bill
| of 1861 had been passed, the Republican
| administration sold bonds at 10 per cent
discount.
WOULD IT BE FAIR
| to say that the bonds were sold at dis
| count because the rates of duty OH i'm
| ported goods had been increased? l
| would be ashamed of myself if made
such a charge. The truth is, the credit
| of the government was always good, in
| peace and in war, until civil commo-
ton came in 1860, and no administra-
ton, Democratic or Republican, no Sys-
| TEN of taxation, free trade OF protec-
ton, could have prevented the sacrifice
| of government obligations under
| such circumstances. Mr.. Carlisle
then quoted from a speech delivered
by John Sherman, in 1867, to the effect
| that the manufacturer had au advantage
equal to the duty imposed, and he asked
how gentlemen On the other side could
reconcile this statement with their con-
tention that the consumer did not pay
an increased price on account of the
duty. The statements that protection
enabled the manufacturer to sell his
| goods cheaper, and enabled the laborer
to get better wages were utterly incon-
sistent with each other. He did not
deny that there had been tendency
towards increased wages in this coun-
try, but it was true of all other coun-
tries. free trade or protection. There
were other causes than protection for
this, and the principal one was the in
creased use of machinery. He quoted
1 T.