The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-04-25


places about this procession-one after 1t, the
other under it Seek to-day whether you prefer
crushed by it.
Mr.. Burrows, of Michigan, was the next
speaker He said our tariff imports was to-
day confessedly protective in that it was levied
not for revenue only. but to encourage Ameri-
can industry and protect American labor. One
wing of the Democratic party, unier the leader
ship or President Cleveland, assailed this sys-
tenn, denounced it as vicious and illogical. and
declare it to be not only unwise but unconsti-
tutIonal On the contrary, the Repuo lican
party believed in q protective tariff; that In
levying duties imports revenue should not
alone be considered, but that thoss duties should
| be so adjusted as to give announcement TO
American capital and employment to American
| labor. The Republican party insisted that the
present protective system should not be dis
turbed, except 50 far as might be necessary to
correct Its incongruities and harmonic its pro-
visions If Congress followed the lead OF the
President in his bold declaration and secured
reduction by such revision of the tariff as pro-
| posed, leaving untouched, as he suggested, the
internal revenue system, not only would the
protective system be destroyed but the Natlo1
| would be out the highway OF free trade. As
members were free-traders or protectonists the
bill of the com mitfee would be approved or con-
| demned. The probable measure stood without
parallel in the history of American legislation.
Conceived in darkness, brought forth In secrecy
it's parentage carefully concealed. 1T was at last
laid at the door of the committee of ways and
means, where the majority took 1t up as ten
DERBY as though it were legitimate offspring,
hurriedly brought it into the House to be adopt
| ed by the Democratic party and nursed by the
harlot OF free trade, but, whatever its parent
age. whether British free-trader OF Golden Club
either of which was capable OF the outrage
| justice and fairness compelled him to state that
public suspicion of it's parentage did not
attach to the members of the majority, and
In further vindcation of their high character it
would be no violation of the secrets OF the com
mittee-room to state that, when pressed on this
point, mem Der OF the majority was so lost to
all sense of personal pride as to acknowledge
the parentage. Think OF the majority. of
- ~ - he not AnfR
resentatives. charged with the dusy Of consider
ing important message from the President
hiding away in secret places taking counsel,
probably, of the enemies OF our industries,
framing a measure involving the well-beng Of
$4,000. 900 people, refusing to enter into any
sideration of its provisions disclose any data
on which its action was based, steadily refusing
to answer any questions propounded by the mi
norty; submitting to notifications except
those suggested by the majority; declining to
listen to any member of the House in behalf Of
the people he represented; refusing audience to
Senators the industries of whose States 20
be destroyed; rejecting all appeals from manu-
word in behalf OF, their. focks
and fields; shutting the door of the
committeeman in the face Of the aboring man,
who came to plead for the projection of his
home and family-imaRine such conduct on the
part of committee of the House of Representa-
tives, and there could be faint conception of.
the committee of ways and means of the Fif5ieth
Congress The pending bill exposed TO foreign
assault many of our principal industries. The
"
only in the infancy of its development was 20
be exposed TO q ruinous foreign competition
which would surely prove it's destruction. The
majority tried to delude the people into the be-
lief that cheap wool meant cheap clothing He
admitted that wool would be cheaper while our
foreign rivals were trying to destroy our in
dustry, but when they had eliminated from our
market the production of three hundred million
pounds of domestic wool, we would
find ourselves bound hand and foot at
What restraint would there be, them
on his power cupidityl In
the exuberance of the Presidents zeal for free
trade he wanted the entire reduction secured by
a revision of the tariff but even the free-traders
of the Democratic party lacked the courage to
move on that line and occupy the advanced po-
sition.
The President asserted that the duty on i'm
ports enhanced the price of both foreign and
domestic articles to the consumer, and that the
removal of the duty would proportionately re-
duce the price. He Mr.. BurrowsI would have
thought that the insentient pen with which the
President wrote that paragraph would have re-
fused to record the error. Could 1t have spoken
to him :t would have said: 1.-THE very pen with
which you write this folly is cheaper by half than
before the duty on it was imposed" The Presi-
dents argument has been echoed by every free
trader in the United States, and has been hailed
with delight by every free-trader in England.
There was a comprehensive and complete
swer to the Presidents argument 1t was not
true He commended to the President his own
admonition: 1T is condition which confronts
u.s. and not theory" and that condition
was an absolute refutation of the
Presidents theory. He challenged any man to
name product of single well-established
American industry that could not be bought
cheaper to-day under the protective system than
at any period under free trade. The difficulty
that the price of commodity did not depend on
the ratio of duty. but upon the great law of
supply and demand. The gentleman from
Texas Mr. Mills had stated that taxes
were higher to-day than during the war; He
spoke only of dutiable imports emitting those
received free of duty, therefore his calculation
hrv+n
The same miscalculation destroyed the force of
his argument that the average rates of duty to-
day were heavier than during the war. Taking
our entire imports the average to day was 81
per cent, while during the war it had been 80
per cent. The one per cent increase was largely
attributable to lower prices; following the in
exorable law, as prices declined the percentage
of the ad valorem rate increased.
Efforts were being made persistently to in
duce the American farmer to believe that pro-
tective tariffs were hostile to his interests. Mr..
Burrows argued that the farmers were directly
interested in maintaining the protective system
and a home market. This home market should
be to hin the object of the deepest solictude,
and upon IL the future agricultural interests OF
the country hung. Here was lesson TO be
drawn to the South from the history of the past
Protection had enhanced the value of land in
the North, and it would bring it to the South.
Is would bring an era Of unexampled prosperity.
1t would Develop her mines light the fires III
her furnaces, construct her railroads invite
capital. employ laborers, plant cities in her
waste places and lead her people into the high
ways OK 1nQustrial prosperity DlrlnR In0 IaSL
ninety days 1886 600 900 capital had gone into ner
manufacturing industries. There was not an
industry of the South which he would not cher
ish as though it were industry of Michigan.
He believed in protection not for his State alone
but for his country. He believed in American
industry, in American capital, in American la
bor against the whole world.
The chairman OF the committee On ways and
means expresses the hope that this measure will
pass. He is not alone in this desire. There is
not member of the Golden CLUB or free
trader in the United States who ia not in sym
patty with him. More than this, free-trade
England stands on the tiptoe of expectation and
screams with delight. Let me warn YOU gen.
tlemen of the South. that this measure BODIES
good to YOU It will arrest the investments of
capital and bring your Industries to q standstill
There is no portion of our country where this
measure should meet with more united and
determined OPPOSITION than in the South. IN
toward circumstances have heretofore retarded