Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-09-14

permanent sense makes the industries of
a people. 1t is the intelligence and in
dustry of the people itself.
But the most extraordinary part of this
sentence of Mr.. Stewart is its close "And
free trade would destroy it." VIII Mr..
Stewart tell us how he knows this? Does
he guess at it, or has he the proof of it?
We hardly think the country at large will
be sure of it, or even approximately sure
from his assertion.
We have already shown how very diff
ferent was the result in the case of Eng
land. AS against Mr.. Stewards assertion
we will now give the opinions of a num-
Der of the most prominent American man
u%facturers. OF course this is but a very
little of the vast amount Of similar testi-
mony that might be had if time and space
would allow.
Our first article is from a correspon-
dent of the New York Times, dated New
Haven, Conn, Aug. 0, ISIS, and headed
''The Blight of the Tariff" This cores
pondent writes: "a doubter on the tariff
policy or an innocent victim of protec-
ton sophistry must have been set right
could he have been today with a repre-
sentative of The Times, who spent sew
eral hours in the company of j. B. Sar-
gent of this place. Mr.. Sargent is no
theorist on the tariff. lie views it from
a manufacturers standpoint. For 30
years he has made hardware, establishing
a business which beyond dispute is the
largest in the world in locks, bolts, bull
ders' and furniture hardware, and in
certain lines of carpenters tools. He
employs from 1900 to 20O0 men. varying
with the season. His factories cover
four solid blocks, equivalent to 16 blocks
of city houses. They furnish a roof for
nearly II acres of ground. \ good part
of this roof is on five-story buildings.
All there is to this business Mr.. Sar-
gent has made it. He took hold of a
wreck in lS5s to save an investment and
advances. The splendid establishment
that he now has became what it is
through his energy. He thinks he does
only fairly well in a light season if his
daily output of goods is 80 tons. 1t
would be at least four times that quanti-
ty, he is confident, if he could get his
raw material free of duty.
''Mr. Sargent did not reach this con-
%clu,ion by closeting himself with college
books or the essays Of political econo-
mists. The development of his business
forced it upon him. He found that in
spite of a tariff whose protective features
barred the entrance of the bulk of his
goods into foreign markets, the finer
: grades of his wares found frequent out
: let abroad. This was conspicuously the
case with goods requiring the least raw
material and the greatest amount of la
= Dor. For heavy goods. easy of manufac
i ture, there was practically no foreign
= demand. The only deduction he coult
draw from this drift of trade was tina
> and that labor was cheaper.
"He made a trip to Europe in 1873 II
Investigate this matter. With a bust
ness man directneSs of method. he wen
right among the manufacturers and thu
: workingmen for his facts. He was pre-
pared to hear that wages were lower il
Europe than in this country. But. again
[ like a business man. he looked to the COS
Il of the product for a basis for his opin
ions. In that search he discovered why
V his fine goods entered foreign markets
1t was because he could offer them cheap
er. They cost him less. American
methods of business organizations, o
close personal attention to details, tn
readiness of Americans to avail them
o selves of modern appliances, the reduc
ton to a science of distribution of labor
c and, not least of all, a spirit of ambition
h in the American ~workingmen, were in
e comparably ahead of anything he coulC
discover abroad by most diligent inquir,
e and observation. The air of libert,
seemed sweeter to him than ever by wha
d he saw.
HE found that, as a rule, the European
workingmen were without ambition
t Their form of government and tradition
were alike against them. Having nc
hope of advancement, they allowed theil
work to become p%erfunctory. They were
%listless in it, and year after year followed
the same dull routine, looking only fol
stated wages at the end of the week, ant
knowing in advance that, work as they
> might, they could not provide for them