Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-10-24
DUE TO THE TARIFF.
The Wealth and Progress of the Grand
Old Union.


From the Milwaukee Wisconsin.
Underlying this discussion of the tar
iff question, and inseparably connected
with it, is the question of national thrift.
The leading nations of the earth have
been the wealthy nations without an
exception in the range Of ali history;
and whatever tends to make people
rich has direct tendency to make them
powerful, respected and independent.
If we look into the history of our own
country to discover the reason why
there was not one free-trader among
that heroic band of patriotic men who
founded the republic and framed the
constitution, we learn that they had
just emerged from seven years war,
and they knew from sad experience
what it was to fight for liberty, without
money. After peace was declared and
before the adoption of the federal con-
stitation-a period of seven years-the
people of the old thirteen states had the
privilege of sampling the theory of the
free traders and of "buying where they
could buy the cheapest" to the neglect
of their own manufactures; and the
result was debt, stagnation in all branch
bankruptcy, and general depreciation
of all values. The first Congress passed
a tariff act and declared its object to be
among other things, ito encourage man.
ufacturing;" and Washington took
the oath of office as the first
President of the United States clad in
suit of homespun. This he did to en-
courage domestic industry, and to teach
the people of the new nation the great
importance of relying upon their own
resources in peace as we'll as in war.
Benjamin Franklin appeared at the
court of France as the representative of
the new republic dressed in a suit Of
clothes woven on hand loom, and he
did this not so much to show his con-
tempt for the tinselry and frippery Of
his people at home.
National thrift means national wealth,
national greatness, national independ-
ence and national success. In the late
civil war in this countrv-the most eX-
pensive war of which history makes a
record-the North was victorious chiefly
for the reason-not that the Union
soldiers were Drawer men Or better
fighters than their mistaken Confeder-
ate enemies, but first because they were
right, and also because they had greater
resources, better credit abroad, more
money, better preparation to stand the
destruction that war inhicts on all
branches of business, superior facilities
for equipping armies, more sklllful
workmen, and the more inventive
genius of her people. National wealth
is the root Of national superiority, and
among all the historic nations of Con-
tinental Europe no poverty-strieken
paon1a have ever made themselves ro-
spectacle among mankind, or main
tanned a prominent position as a first
class power of the earth.
The Democratic theory of free trade
is antagOnistic to national thrift because
it discourages native industry, teaches
the people that 1t is better to buy than
to make, encourages importation rather
than expectation, and vastly increases
the figures on the debt side of the ma
tional ledger. The low tariff under
John Tyler's administration impover-
ished the nation and run it in debt.
The same state of things occurred under
Fillmore, and the financial condition of
the country was still worse under
Buchanan. When the free trade
South rebelled in 1861, a low tariff
had paralyzed all domestic industries
and bankrupted the national treasury.
Think of the Secretary of the Treasury
offering to pay from eight to twelve per
cent. for borrowed money with which to
pay the current expenses of the govern
ment, as was done under the last Demo
cratic administration that cursed the
country before the "reformer" Cleve-
land took the helm. Think of Uncle
Sans prosperous financial condition to-
day, the benefcent result of q Repub-