Richland beacon., 1888-09-15
FEW NUTS 70 CRACK.

! for twenty seven years nearly The highest
tariff that this country ever knew, fully
on an average tw.cc as high as 1t was
before the war. We have had that high
tariff all this time. Now, if that high
tariff is so much for the benefit Of the
labOring men why have not the laborina
men in these twenty seven years grown
rich, | should like to know! Have they:
/ tCrics of "No, no!') If they have, they
/ are very unreasonable men, for not a
year passes over our heads that We do
not hear of strikes of the laborers be-
cause they demand more wages, and say
! they cannot live on what they receive.
Again and again we hear OF what are
called lockOuts-that is, where the en-
ployers suspend operations and lock ur
Their mills because they say they cannot
afford to pay any more wages than they
| do. Why are these strikes! Why are
these lockouts? Why are there such in
stitutions as labor unions2 So as to Sc
cure better wages. Why is there such
an institution as the knights of abori
TO prevent laboring men from being i'm
posed upon and to increase their com
pcnsation. Why is there necessity foi
all these things. and all these extensive
and worthy organizations if high tariff
gives high wages to the laborer' No
man can answer that question satsfac-
torily even to himself. II what these
men say is true about high tariffs and
their effect upon wages, why, then, geu-
! tlemen, all these Dor unions, all these
Knights of Labor aud everybody else
, who is engaged in that kind of bust
ness are simply wasting their time, for
the tariff nicely solves the problem for
them. daughter and applause Yes, 1t
does solve the problem for them, but
not in tine way they like renewed laugh
ter, not in such a way that they feel az
If they were benefited, and therefore
they have to resort to other means to get
those wages VIII, h the employers are not
willing to pay.
''But while l am on this subject of
the laboring man, let me add: They say
that the tari.i does not raise the price.
If it doesn't raise prices would like to
know why the manufacturers or 80 many
of them are in favor of itl DO they
want high tari.l in order to lower the
prces1 Not m,ny of them, think.
There are instances in which high tariff
has lowe; ed prices for especial and pc
culiar reasons. but as general rule. as
have already SHOW YOU by what read
from MIR. Adams reporl, rom other au-
thOritics, and also from reason, the :~r'f
increases the price. II it doesn't increase
the price you may be sure that the mann
facturers and capitalists would not want
it, and if it doesn't increase the price
pray where Is the protection. Where does
that come in9 They are afraid of our
getting things cheaper in this country
than they can be manufactured here, as
they say, by reason of the pauper labor,
as they call it, of Europe. Well, now,
if the tariff is not to increase the price
of articles which we buy and which are
manufactured here, where IS the protec-
ton to American manufacturers, and
how. if the price is not raised, can they
pay better wages to the laborer?
HOW IT AFFECTS FARMERS.
"But there Is one class of laborers, my
friends, that want to call your attention
to especially. There Is one class of
laborers in this country who have been,
according to the claims of the aboli-
tionists in the country and of the Tepub-
licans, their espe ial wards-especially
under their guardianship-and for whose
interests they feel the most peculiar and
earnest solicitude, and they are the
negroes. Now, the result of the war
was to free about four millions of negroes,
and am very glad they were freed, and
they have increased now to about six or
seven millions, for the negro is prolific
animal. Great laughter and applause
Now, how do these negroes make their
livingl Why, a great many Of them 60
to town and pursue any kind of handi-
craft that they can, becoming domestic
servants, backing shoes, shaving faces or
doing things of that kind. But in the
country the .egrO makes what he gets by
cultivating the earth throughout the
whole South. How does he cultivate it7
Why. he either has bought some land
and some of them have bought n good
deal, or he rents land. Whether he
cultivates his own land or whether he
rents it, the crops that he gets from it
are the remuneration he receives for his
toll. Now, that crop in the ma n consists
Cf cotton, some corn and some little
wheat, but mainly cotton. Now. how
can the high protective tariff benefit the
negro who ra Sc, cotton aud has for his
share of the crop three, or four, or five
bales of cotton each yearl Why, gentle
men, there is no tariff at all on cotton.
1t comes In free as the air. The price of
cotton therefore is not raised, rs they
say, or lessened by this tariff tax. and
yet here is all that the negro has for h g
labor. lie can't get cent more for his
cotton by reason of any high protective
tariff, and he does ge', perhaps, a cen:
less. He has to sell his cotton and to
sell il at the price that is made BY the
foreign market; the price in Liverpool
or in London to which ports cotton is
exported from the United States. 1t is
there that the price OF his cotton is fixed.
and for that price he has to sell it, tariif
or no tariff.
''But how is it on the other hand
The negro, although he is living in a
pretty warm climate, still wants to be
decent and wants to be comfortable and
wants his wife and children to be com
o;table. and they need clothing as we'll
as other people, but upOn every single
thing that he buys to c!othe himself. to
clothc his family. to c.othe his little
pickaninnics. to get blan ,ct. to get a
tool or implement of any kind, he is
taxed by this high protective tariff and
he is compelled to pay a higher pri c
than ne otherwise would, SO that, so faI
as he is concerned, there can be no pre-
tense whatsoever that the tariff is
anything but an unmit gated injury tC
him. He has nothing to sell which he
is benefited by; he performs no labor
that by any kid of argument can be said
to be benetted by it. He sells it at 9