The Osceola times., 1888-09-01
n. T,s Rsnubl,cans are more afraid Of free

| Renewed laughter ana cneers.J No", ~
Tar from this Mills bill being free trade,
tho most striking thing about II Is that IL
| Ia the most modest reduction OF tarin
duties that has almostever been attempted
| In this country. The average duties levied
under the present tariff are AZ per cent
Under the Mills bill the average duties
| will be only about 40 per cent mere re-
duction of per cent. on all the duties
taken together OF course there are some
| things upon which the duties are reduced
more For instance, duties taken on
number Of articles called raw materials
which are used by the manufacturers In
their work In the fabrication Of their prod
net And as they receive TINS great
| benefit of having their raw materials Tree
| or al comparatively small duty, the bill
wisely provides that articles manufact-
ured by them when brought into the coun-
try shall pay lower rate Of duty than
| they did before, but that is nothing more
| than compensation for taking on the duty
| ON raw materials. President GARFIELD
said In the House of representatives
| on March 10, 1871: 81 was sur
prised at the remark OF the distin-
guished gentleman from Michigan. i don't
know who that distinguished gentleman
was but he was Michigander. He as
serted that there is no item in the whole
tariff that stands alone on its own merits,
but that it must all be taken In lump in
| order 10 standn He was high protection
ist, this Michigan man, so he said there was
no item In the whole tariff land there are
| 1000 and odd items in II on which tax Is
| leyied) that could stand on its own merits,
and II was necessary to take them into q
lump entire so that they might stand. He
meant that coal must take salt by the hand
and they must take something else by the
hand and that all the interests should unite
their forces before they could make stand
| before the country. This Michigander
came from log country, expect and was
| in favor Of log rolling and log rolling on
the largest kind Of q scale. He believed
that the man who wanted protection on
| one article should log roll with one who
wanted protection on another. and thus,
by all uniting together and making one
grand syndicate or pool force the measure
through the Congress of the United States.
What said Mr.. Garfield 'If this remark be
true 1t strikes a blow at the whole tariff
system, a blow am unwilling TO strike.
am unwilling to admit that bad taxes must
be tied to good ones and thus be kept aioat
think 1t unwise TO continue this duty
on coal-they were then talking
about coal--and l am, therefore, in
favor Of its repeal" There Is another
thing to which wish to call your atten-
tion. They say all at once-l say all at
once, because it is very late doctrine
those advocates Of protection are all at
once seized with wonderful solicitude
for the laboring-men Of the country, and
they want high-pro tective tariff. not TO
benefit capitalists, not TO benefit the
monopolists, not to benefit the manufact-
urer according TO their statements, but TO
benefit the laboring- man. He Is the man
they seek to protect. Well, how are they
going to protect hint They say high
protective tariff will better his condition
and give him more wages Iwould like TO
know how that can be; would like TO know
how taxing a laboring-man on every thing,
from the crown Of his head TO the soles of
his feet, for that is exactly what this tariff
does, Is going to enrich hint This pro-
tective tariff taxes him on the hat he
wears, on the coat he wears, on his shirt,
on his neclitie, his underclothes, his vest,
his breeches and his stockings and his
boots. Laughter 1t raises the price on
every thing, and taxes the poor man until
he can hardly make enough money, even
if he can get a few cents day more
wages, to support himself and his little
family, II he have one. And yet they say
that this is for the benefit Of the laboring-
men. My friends, that is very bald
faced thing, IL there ever was one in the
world But there is another thing about
it, How is he TO get those high wages. He
is TO get them because his employer, the
capitalist or the monopolist will make
more money and therefore can afford 10
pay his employees or hired men higher
wages than they were paid before Iagree
that he can. / agree that the protective
tariff will increase his profits. | agree
that he might, having this increased profit,
pay his laboring men more than he did
before But does he do III That is the
question. [Cries Of @No,n aNo.pl Did you
ever know him TO do iti [Cries Of mo, =
Never" The tariff mas been raised again
and again. 1t was immensely raised by
the act OF 1861 or 1862, | forget which of
these years. II was raised in few years
again, and again and again, and yet in all
that time have never been able TO find
the manufacturer or monopolist who upon
the raise Of the tariff increased the wages
Of his labor.
Now, my friends, while am on this sub
ject Of the laboring man, let me speak of
American labor as compared with the
laber Of other countries II is true that in
America the laboring man generally re
ceives more wages in money than they do
in foreign lands, but by no manner Of
means to the extent that you may suppose
from hearing so much said about IT, For
1 Ina lot f.fn.
facts; According TO the last census Great
Britain had population Of 40l to the
square mile and tho average wages paid
was 91S cents per day. New England has
2lO TO the square mile, and the average
wages are q. G2 per day; about cents
more than in England. Ohio has eighty
TO the square mile, and the average wages
are slO6 day, Colorado has two { the
square mile, and wages in that State aver
age sl45 a day. The entire United States,
not including the Territories and the Dis
trict OF Columbia, has twenty-four TO the
square mile, and the average wages are
sll2 per day. What fact does this estab-
lishi Does IL not prove that the more
dense the population the greater the COM
petition among wage-earners and the lower
the wages, and the reverse proposition,
the less competition among wage -earners
the higher the wages, No man can deny
that who has any regard for truth.
That is 1t. Now, my friends, you
hear great deal said about the
pauper labor Of England, especially be-
cause our chief imports are from Great
Britain, that is England, Ireland and Scot
land, and yet you see in that most prosp
Gus State Of Massachusetts, the greatest
manufacturing State of the country, the
averages are only about four cents more
than they are in England But il you take
the purchasing power into account 90 o.,