The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-06-21
A REAL DANGER.

cannot be lessened by specious and dema-
gogic reasoning.
1t is deadly assault all along the line of |
our business and industries, and no man can
escape suffering from some of the evils which
viii inevitably result from it.
1t is deadly conspiracy by a little cabal |
of men who have little or nothing to lose,
against the great mass of our people who
have everything to lose
1t has been repeatedly shown on the floor
of the House of Representatives during |
the progress of the present debate on
the bill that the men who constitute |
the bare majority of the Ways and
Means Committee, and who c0ncocted the
bill with all the dark secrecy beftting such
plot do not represent in all their Districts
as much manufacturing, as many men en-
plOyed, as much wages paid out to opera
tiYes, as much capital invested in factories,
as are to be found in single average manu-
featuring town in the North. Indeed, one
advocate of protection-Mr. Buchanan, of
New jersey showed that one single bank
in little city-Paterson- his District,
paid out for distribution among the en-
ployes more money every week than is dis
bursed in the shape of wages in all the Dis
tricts represented by Messrs. Mills, of Texas
Mcmillan, of Tennessee; Breckenridge ofAr-
kansas; Breckenridge, of Kentucky Turner,
of Georgia; Wilson, of West Virginia, and
Bynum, of Indiana Indeed, they have moth
ing in their Districts in the way of manu-
factories, except few distilleries, grist and
saw-milIs, and the like Yet, these men Or
| ganize q raid on all the vast manufactures
of the rest of the country, which have been
built up with years of patient effort, and
| which shower countless benefits upon the
Nation.
It is idle to plead that the workingmen
and farmers of the country are suffering
from hardships and expressions resulting
from the tariff 1t is pure demagogery, for
the evils complained of do not exist. Not
only are our workingmen and farmers the
best paid of any in the whole world, but the
results of their labor bring them more of all
| the comforts and even luxuries of life than
are enjoyed by similar classes in any other
country. It is true that our farmers are not
getting as much as they should for their
produce, but they are getting relatively
more than those of any other country.
| Nor can it be denied that under the
operations of our present system wages
have advanced rapidly, opportunities for
remunerative employment have constant.
increased, and the prices OF. manufactured
goods have as constantly fallen This is
not mere assertion. 1t can be proved by
the remembrance of any man Of middle age.
Every man who can remember the condition
of things in the country in the years before
the war, and compare them with those at
present existing, knows this of his own per-
s0nal knowledge
The Mills Bill is an effort to reproduce
one of the most disastrous experiences that
this country ever had. Prior to 1916 we
had been developing our home manufactures
and markets by policy similar to the pres
ent system. Flourishing factories, which
furnished cheap and good goods, profitable
employment to great numbers of our people,
and constant markets for the products of
our acres, were developing everywhere. The
Vaccinations of the predecessors of pre-
cisely the same men who are engineering
the present plot resulted in foisting upon
the country the destructive low tariff of
1916.
The result was immediate and disastrous
The factories were closed up everywhere,
workingmen were thrown out of employ
ment, farmers lost their profitable home
markets, the price of produce fell ruinously,
the country was flooded with foreign goods
| WHICH drained ali Tue Wedllu Ol the people
to Europe, and the terrible panic of 1857
was the legitimate and fitting result.
If the teachings of history have any value
whatever, we must know that similar direful
results win inevitably follow the passage of
the Mills Bill. In return for the disasters
which it will undoubtedly provoke it can
not offer single benefit. The low tariff of
1916 did not cheaper single article of COM
fort or necessity; but it lowered wages,
prices of produce, and diminished employ
ment The money flowed out of the country
in constantly-increasing stream. Even
the discovery of gold in California could not
make up for this depletion, and wide
spread panic resulted.
Every manufactured article which the
farmer and workingman uses or consumes
is much cheaper to-day under the operation
of protection than it was under the virtual