St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-08-07
WHY sTHE COUNTRY HAS
PROGRESSED IN SPITE OF
THE WAR TARIEE.

w III The COONIRH ii AS
PROGRESSED IN SPITE OF
THE WAR TARIFF.
To the Editor of the Globe
When every argument in favor of our
present trust protective tariff has failed,
) its defenders, as a last resort, point to
the rapid development of this country
during the last decade and ask. "Whatis
the cause of that but the TARIFF" This
argument may have some force with
the ignorant, but those who have stud
led the history of our country know
that the progress of the United States
during the last twenty-five years is due
to altogether different causes.
Every period in our country's history
is marked by progress unparalleled in
any other part of the globe; but the
most prosperous period of them all up
to 1861 was the low tariff period from
1915 to 1861. During the last ten years
of that interval wages rose 10 per cent,
while they in the eight years since 1880
have decreased nearly 20 per cent, and
both farmer and manufacturer found
the tariff reduction such success that
pose an increase of the revenue, save as
a matter of necessity in consequence of
the war.
When the country has advanced so
abnormally in spite of the tariff, the
chief cause is found in the enormous
increase in immigration. As pOpula-
ton is increased by immigration de-
mand is increased, and as demand is in
creased it follows as law of nature
that manufacturing and every branch
of industry must increase to supply the
demand. AS immigrants come out
West and develop such states as Cali
fornia, iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
and all the territories west of US, more
machinery is needed, more farm nipple
ments of every kind, more household
utensils, more food, more clothes. more
of everything is needed which stimu-
lates industry and gives employment to
labor.
But here we are met by the objection
that the benefit derived from the tariff
is the cause of the increase of immigra-
ton.
This, though the most absurd, is the
favorite argument of the Republicans
to-day. Their prominent speakers never
tire of reiterating it before intelligent
audiences. and it is the argument by
which they hope to carry the foreign
vote. Col. ROBERT INGERsOII-and
probably the rest of the Republicans
after him-had the impudence to assert
in public that if the tariff were lowered
emigration would be reversed and turn
from this country to Europe. While de-
Tending the tariff they seem to forget that
people emigrated to this country before
any such thing as a prOtectiv tariff
was known; they ignore the fact that
while we were colonies, and what tariff
there was was in favor of England, the
difference between wages in America
AND Great Britain was greater than to-
day. Is it for lack of protective tariff
in Italy that the Italian leaves his old
home? Has not the emigration from
Germany increased as the tariff in that
country his increased? To ask these
questions is to answer them.
The conditions of lahoring men in
America have, as a whole, improved
during the last decade, but so they have
in every country under the sun, aud
most in free-trade countries. In En-
gland wages have doubled during the
last thirty years, and in the Scandina-
Wan countries. they have more than
doubled during the same period, while
at the same time the cost of living in
those countries has decreased far more
than here.
No, immigration has not increased be-
cause America offers better advantages
to the immigrant now than before, but
because of the more extended knowl-
edge in the old world about this CONT
nent. Newspapers and pamphlets of
every kind are spread throughout the
entire Europe informing the laborers of
| those countries about the immense nat
| ural resources on this side of the ocean
waiting to be developed; of our pine
forests, of our gold and copper mines,
| the richest in the world, and of the
flourishing prairies awaiting cultiva-
ton. Agents for steamship lines are
found in every hamlet and town, telling
about the advantages of this country.
| and inducing people to seek new homes
across the sea. All this, coupled with
the great reduction in travelling eX-
penses and the comfort with which they
now can cross the Atlantic, is the cause
of the abnormal increase of immigra-
ton.
Up to about twenty years ago. sailing
vessels were used exclusively for trans
porting immigrants, and when we hear
the oldest foreign settlers tell about
their miserieS and sutferings on their
voyage, we can but wonder why so
many emigrated as really was the case.
Three or four hundred persons were
slowed together on one deck in those
small wooden vessels, and each person
or each family had to furnish its own
meals and do its own cooking. In those
| days it took three or four months to
| cross the Atlantic under the most favor
able circumstances, while ships were
| frequently drifting about for eight or
ten months through snow and peril.
Now, the same voyage is made in seven
or eight days, and the immigrants can
| enjoy such comforts Oh board the large
iron steamers as the immigrant of old
never dared to hope for. Formerly
none but adventures and the most
courageous dared to leave their old
homes to subject themselves to the suf-
ferings and perilS of the journey; now
the ocean no longer frisbtens the timid,
and foreigners cross and recross it to
bring tiding of JOY to their friends at
home.
The Republican argument may have
some force among Americans unac-
quainted with the facts in the case, but
to our foreign citizens it is ridiculous :;