The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-08-02
PROTECTION VS.. FREE TRADE.
EMINENT DEMOCRATIC TESTIMONY

| President Washington Approved the First
Tariff Bill and It was Regarded as the
"Seoond Declaration OF Independence. 4"
| james Buchanan's Testimony, as well
as that OF Andrew Jackson, james X.
Polk and Others.
Last week we gave space to the admir-
able and unanswerable argument Of E.
A. Hartshorn, Esq, and it is now fol-
lowed below by concise history of the
trial of both doctrines-protection and
free trade-by the Hon. d. G. Hartman
of the New York and Brooklyn bar. His
name is a sufficient guaranty of the cor
rectness of rhe summary. The impor.
lance of such history is shown by the
manner free traders hide behind tCOrdS
in discussing tariff matters. DIR. Lever
son in Mondays Herald, for instance, at
tempts to enlighten the people further
by saying 1.-THE free trade which as
serted commenced in 1889 was an abso-
Lutte free trade between the ID original
States which up to that time had been
separated by hostile tariffs; and that was
followed by unexampled prosperity I'M
til 1908 when the embargo cut off all for
eign importations and was followed by
universal distress"
This nonsense is answered fully by our
summary and is only referred to as an
example of the perversion used by free
traders generally, they allowing infer
ences to be drawn favorable to that side
while really there Is no foundation Of
fact therein
17S9.-THR TARIFF THE FIRST QUESTION,
The tariff question was the very first
subject discussed by the First Congress ;
and for more than one hundred years has
been the one subject that has never
been finally settled.
| Notification, secession, banks, slav.
cry and recohstruction have had their
times of fierce discussion and haye all
been forever settled, but the tariff was
never a more vital question than it is to.
day.
The first act of the First Congress reg
ulated the form of the oath to be taken
by officials and was merely formal, but
the first act OF that Congress affecting
the country was the act establishing II
tariff, passed and signed by George
Washington, July 4th, 1880.
The discussion was long and earnest.
1t was participated in by such men as
James Madison, r. II, Lee. Charles Car
roll, Rufus King Oliver Ellsworth, Fish
err Ames, Roger Sherman, j, Trumbull
and others ; and Congress composed OF
such men passed tariff act in the inter-
est of protection and not for "revenue
only :" for in the preamble to the act &C
cur these words Whereas, 1t is neces-
sary for the support of government, for
the discharge of the debt of the United
States, and for the encouragement and
protection of manufactures, that duties
be laid on imported goods, etc; there
fore be it enacted" etc.
1t is thus seen that the doctrine OF
protection to home manufactures to
home products, was coeval with our ma
tional organization. 1t had its enemies
even then; and then, as now, the most
conspicuous were either Englishmen or
men imbued with English ideas.
1S12.-THE TARIFF DUTIES RAISED.
The act of 1889, with some slight mod
ifications, continued in force till 1916,
and during this period through the pro-
lection afforded by the tariff, many I'M
portant industries were established; bus
mess revived every where the people
r-""Tne Gonten.ed and Industrious
again ueS-. 80 H-I aud the
our commerce was multlpm,-
country seemed to be and was on the
high road to great national wealth and
prosperity.
In 1912, as a measure to raise money
to carry on the war with England, the
tariff duties were nearly doubled greatly
TO the benefit of the country and Of its
home industries.
1S16.-REPEAL OF THE TARIFF.
But in 1916 a reaction had taken place
in favor of the Democratic party and its
economic ideas which have dLlUdyS
leaned strongly toward free trade or very
low tariff rates. The law of 1899, to.
gether with the amendments of 1879,
was repealed and very low duties only
were allowed.
RESULTS OF THE REPEAL,
Great depression in all branches of
business &C once followed. Bankruptcy
soon became general and financial ruin
was every where present.
Horace Greeley says of this period
"At the close of the second war with
England peace found this county dotted
with furnaces and factories which had
sprung up under the precarlous shelter
of embargo and war. These not yet
firmly established, found themselves
suddenly exposed to relentless and de
termined foreign competition. Great
Britain poured her fabrics, far below
cost, upon our markets in perfect del
uge. Our manufactures went down like
grass before the mower and our agricul'
ture and the wages of labor speedily fol.
lowed. Financial prostration was gen
eral and the presence of debt was uni
verssl. In New England fully one-fourth
of the property went through the sher-
ifs mill and the prostration was scarce
ly less general elsewhere. In Kentucky
the pressure of debt was simply intoler-
able. In New York the leading mer-
chants in 1917 united in a memorial to
Congress to save our commerce as well
as our manufactures from utter ruin by
increasing the tariff duties"
Henry Clay declared that the average
depression in the value of property under
that state of things was not less than 81
per cent,
1S24.-PRoTECTIoN AGAIN RESTORED.
This disastrous state OF affairs contn
tinued for several years until our people
with a mighty effort resolved to endure
it no longer, and in 1924 Congress gave
us new tariff far in advance of that OF
1889 and our first really protective tariff
Again and AT once an era of great
financial prosperity set in. SO marked
and helpful was the improvement that
in 1928 the duties were raised still higher
and yet business improved new indus.
tries were started, and prosperity glad
dened the people.
| Hear what PRESIDENT ANDREW JACK
son, the patron saint of Democrats, said
in his annual message in December, 1882
concerning the results and benefits o.
four years of protection under the tariff
of 1928: "Our country presents on every
side marks of prosperity and happiness
unequaIed, perhaps, in any other portion
of the world"
i 1900 u.nuI. III Ii. A ~