St. Landry democrat., 1888-09-08

to-day. But this l do say, that the iub0l
, uni0ns and the knights of Labor hare don,
more to secure reasonable cages for The labor
: ing men hd'1 all the tariff taWs that .uer aDsrt
I passed il, this acorld. Loud applause There
is another reason why American laborers
receive more wages and that is the i'm.
mense area of uncultivated territory in the
United States, the effect Of which is to
free the laborers of that dependence which
may exist in other countries where land
is very dear, that dependence upon the
manufacturing or capitalistic class for
work in this country. A man can get land
to labor upon to support himself and his
family by simply asking it Of the general
Government and settling upon it and re-
naming upon it a given length of time
The consequence is that with these adj
vantages no man need be a dependent upon
the good will Of any monopolist in the
world, and that gives our laboring men an
| independence which is not seen elsewhere
On the globe, and enables them therefore
to demand and receive somewhat higher
| wages than laborers receive elsewhere
| Then there is the fact of our free nstitu-
| tiOns and there is the fact of the pride that
every man i'll this country, be he laborng
man or not, feels in the consciousness that
he is an American citizen; that he helps to
| govern this country, and makes people
govern 1t as far as possible for his benefit
But there is another thing that is conclus-
| i've on this point and shows that high
protective tariff does not increase the
wages of the laboring men. It is conclus-
| lively shown by the fact that laborers in
| unprotected Industries are as well paid as
| those in the so-called protected industries
| How many laborers are there In what are
| called irf ctrfa &c
in manufacturing articles, which when they
are brought from abroad are charged with
tariff tax, and how many laborers are
there in the United States whose interests
are In no wise protected by any slch things,
and can not in the nature Of thihgs be pro-
tected by any such means9 It has been
estimated that there are 800, 900 or 900 600
laborers, including women and children, In |
the protected Industries, but we will put
the figure at 100000. There are eight |
times as many other laborers whose inter
ests and occupations are in nowise pro- |
tected by the tariff. Therefore, if the pro-
lection is for the benefit of the laboring
men, the wages of this million engaged In
the protected industries ought to be higher
than those of the men employed in non
protected Industries. In round numbers
the laborers in the unprotected industries
receive as high wages as those In the pro-
tected industries / don't know what the
wages Of farm hands are in Michigan. In
my State they receive about one dollar
day, and you see in the State Ct Massa-
chusetts, according to the returns Of her
own board Of industry, the average wages
is $l.04 day in manufacturing industries
So there is no difference worth talking
about between the wages the one receives
and the wages the other receives They
are both substantially the same Looking
at the improved condition and comforts
the constant elevation of the agricultural
hand in the State of Ohio, it will be seen
that ms receives quite as good wages as
the laborer in any protected industry in
the country.
EFFECT UPON THE FARMER
My friends, nothing is more common
FOR those men appeal to everybody-than
70 hear protectionst orator say that pro-
lection has benefited the farmer. How
ian it be Of benefit to farmerl I have
never been able to find out. Let us test it
'y little experience this country has had !
We had low tariff from 1S46 up to the
breaking out Of the war in 1861 It was ,
jailed the Walker tariff. / remember it
rery we'll for was in the House of Repre-
entatives at that time and voted for it. :
from 1850 to 1860, while that tariff was in
orce, the farm lands Of the United States,
ccordlng to the census reports, increased
n value 103 per cent Then came the high
ariff of 1861 or 1862, whichever it was, and
rom 1860 to 1870, another period of ten y
ears the increase in the value of the
arms of the United States was only 40 per :
ent. Under the low tariff the increase in
alue had been 1903 per cent. in ten years. C
Tnder the high tariff it was only 40 per b
ent. But it may be said that that includes :,
ne war period and does not make fair S
omparison. l have here statement of F
ow it was in this goodly State of Michigan. ;,
rom 1850 to 1860, under the low-tariff pc "
cd, the value Of the farms in Michigan 8
lcreased 211 per cent. From 1860 to 1870, r
nder high tariff, they increased 14S per II
emit; but that includes the time OF war. IT
rom 1870 to 1880, in a time of profound b
eace and under the highest tariff this %
'untry has ever known, the value of the p p
rms in Michigan increased only 251S T.
n cent. They increased under Walkers w
riff, which has been denounced so much
nee as free trade tariff, they increased -
ON 1850 to 1860 I'll per cent, and some of S ch
~ will remember that under the Walker Fl
riff we had a great war-the war with
exico Had values continued to increase W
ON 1860 to 1880 as they did under the low -
riff period-165O to 1s6O-the farm values PC
Michigan would have been $1,O47, OOO, 900
1880, instead Of being, as they were by gA
e census of 1880, only s499 900, 600 Or &
Ike farm implements. From 1850 to 1860 O.
e value of farm implements had in CO
eased at the rate of 1014 per cent. : In
80 the increase was only Al per cent If Fl
ey had increased in the same ratio under -.
e high tariff as they did under the low IA
ey would have been s29, 500, 900 instead of Pc
}, 500, 900. You will see by these figures that BA
is quite impossible that this high tariff W
q be of advantage to the agricultural w,
%
ALL SHOULD THRIVE AND PROSPER. "a
These, my friends, were my opinions BA
'hteen years ago, and every day has 80 -
we'd to verify their correctness They --,
} my opinions to-day, and, l have no =
lbt, they will be so long as I have life
me- Loud applause If know my
t, there is no man on top of this earth
o has more sympathy with laboring L
n, or men in humble condition, than l :
7e, and whatever can do to better their
ldition would do [cheers], and it is 49,
'ause don't believe for one moment I'M
t this high-protective tariff, which Is @Sa
much lauded, and which is Insisted T
IN by our political opponents, is for the d.
eft OF laboring men. That is one of r.
reasons why l AM opposed to such w
rous duties. l have shown you that, TIL
Ter this high protective tariff, the asri- va
tural interests of the country have fhe
en- OFT enormously. The value of
ms has fallen off from an increase of
hundred per cent, to an increase of 3