St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-08-30
which is always the best because the most

which Is always the pest because the most
reliable.
The South has shared in this splendid
progress, in this golden period of devolp-
ment. From 1851 to 1860 the average year
" production of pig iron throughout the
In 1886 the States of Alabama, Tennessee,
Virginia. West Virginia, Kentucky,
Georgia, Maryland, Texas and North
Carolina produced S75, 179 net tons, or 75,-
600 more than the whole annual output of
the United States under the free trade
period The eight years last past have
brought to the South wonderful progress.
You had in 1880, Is, ABS miles of railroad
you have now sc, 737 miles, and this is in
creasing You raised in 1880 5,755, $50
bales of cotton in 1888 you raised $500, 900
bales In 1880 you raised 43l ,07463O bush
els of grain, and in 1887 you raised 626,-
Bus. 600 bushels. In 1880 you had live
it is now valued at 1913 .695, $50. The value
of your agricultural products in 1880 was
S571 O9S, 454 in 1887 it had reached sS42,-
O66, AGO. In 1880 you produced 397 ,301 tons
tons. and am assured upon the best au-
thority that it is upward of l ,000, 900 now.
You mined In 1880 6,049, All tons of coal, 10
1887, 16, 476, 7S5 tons. You had in 1880, 179
cotton mills; you have got to day 300, and
spindles in 1880 was 713, 969 they are to-
day ,495, AS. The number of your looms
in 1880 was 1929; they are over $4,000
now, The value of cotton goods in 1880
which you produced was S21, 100000; in
1887 it was over $40, 000,0 And yet, in
the presence of such progress, it is serious
ly proposed to reverse the policy under
which it has been made. Surely
NEW ERA OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
has come to the South. Nothing should
be permitted to check or retard it. To her
nature has been most prodigal with her
Gift Torh hills ond uaJ1QvS no
made the storehouses of richest treasure.
Coal and iron mines wait impatiently the
touch of labor and capital, and tempt both
with promise of lavish profit. Raw mate
rails are found at every turn to invite the
skilled artizan to transform them into the
finished product for the highest uses of
man. She possesses the fbres in rich
abundance; her skilled labor should weave
the fabric. 1t is said that there is nothing
grown in any OF the States, except Florida,
that Georgia cannot prof1tably/ produce.
She has coal, iron deposits, marble and
building stone, cotton and the cereals.
Nothing but her own folly, nothing but
blindness to her highest and best interests
can keep her from the front rank of the
industrial states of the Union. Whether
we discuss this question from principle,
from statistics or experience, we must
reach the same conclusion; all lead to the
same conviction. Let me give you some
important evidence from high and I'M
doubted sources, which confirms the arpu-
ment which 1 have been making. Presi-
dent Fillmore said, on Dec. 2, 1851, in his
message to Congress, speaking of the con-
dition of the country:
tThe value of our exports of breadstuffs
and provisions, which it was supposed the
incentive of low tariff and large importa-
tons from abroad would have great ly
augmented, has fallen from $685. 701 ,921 in
1847 to S26, 051 1873 in 1850, and to 50, 84S 653
In 1851, with a strong probability, amount
Ing almost to a certainty, Of still further
reduction in the current year. The
policy which dictated a low rate of duties
on foreign merchandise, it was thought by
those who promoted and established it,
would tend to benefit the farming popula-
ton of this country by increasing the de-
mand, and raising the price Of agricultural
products in foreign markets. The forego-
ing facts, however, seem to show incon
testably that no such result has followed
the adoption of this policy"
Again he said in his message OF Dec. 6,
without repeating the arguments con-
tanned in my former message in favor of
discriminating protective duties, l deem it
my duty to call your attention to one or
two other considerations affecting this
subject. The first is the effect of large
importations of foreign goods upon our
currency. Most of the gold OF California,
as fast as it is coined, finds its way directly
to Europe in payment for goods purchas-
ed. In the second place, as our manufac-
by competition with foreigners, the capital
invested in them is lost, thousands Of hon..
est and industrious citizens are
THROWN OUT OF EMPLOYMENT,
and the farmer to that extent is deprived
of home market for the sale of his sur
plus produce. In the third place, the de-
Struction of our manufactures leaves the
foreigner without competition in our mar
ket, and he consequently raises the price
of the article sent here for sale, as is now
seen in the increased cost of iron imported
from England"
In December, 1857, President Buchanan,
In his annual message to Congress, said:
-The earth has yielded her fruits abund-
antly, and has bountiful1y rewarded the
toll of the husbandman. We have pos
sessed all the elements of material wealth
in rich abundance, and yet, notwithstand-
ing all these advantages, our country in
its monetary interests is at the present
moment in a deDlorable condition. In the
midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the pro-
ductions and in all the elements of natural
wealth, we find our manufactures sus-
pended, our public works retarded, our
private enterprises of different kinds aban-
doned, and thousands of useful laborers
thrown out of employment and reduced to
want"
This testimony would condemn ga rev.
enue tariff in any court of the land. 1t
ought to force like verdict from the
great jury of our countrymen.
One of the chief complaints against the
protective system Is its alleged hindrance
co foreign trade and a foreign market for
our own products. 1t is argued that if we
could import raw material from other
countries free, and manufacture such raw
oil Infn otcJ f,rs or7ll