Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-03-09

1880, 5,3b9, 5l9,l9l oo.0S
Thus from 1850 to 1860 under the
Walker tariff, when duties were so low
as to approximate tariff for revenue
only, our manufactures increased, IN
decade, S5.05 per cent. In the ten
wears from 1860 to 1870, under the
stimulus of our present high tariff.
they increased but 1854 per cent. 1t
should be remembered, however, that
this period covers the years of the war
and this might account for the failure
of the great increase in duties to accel-
lerate the growth of our home indus
tries But when we turn to the period
from 1870 to 1880, one of profound
peace during which these monstrous
rates upon imports were maintained III
all their stringency, we find that the
manufactures of the country increased
only $3.50 per cent. In other words,
this overstrained system of protection
steadily retards, instead of assisting
the growth Of those very manufacturing
industries, for whose supposed benefit
we have so long, with stupid patience,
borne this crushing burden. Mr. Henry
Watterson has moreover shown, in an
able article in Harper's Magazine for
January, 1888, that, as appears by of
fetal labor statistics, wages have ma
terially advanced for many years both
in the United States, under protec-
tive tariff, and in England under free
trade.
He conclusively establishes, more
over, the interesting fact that wages
increased quite as rapidly and steadily
in this country under the low Walker"
tariff from 1916 to 1860 as under the
present high "Morrill" tariff, which
has prevailed with but small altera-
tions, for the past % years, and that
under substantial free trade, the in
crease Of wages has been fully as great
in En- la I'd rs under our h Oh prot C
ton in America, and tnat this increase
OF wages in the former country has
been accompanied by an increase of
manufactures and of commerce that
dwarfs all expectation.
Our present system by increasing
the cost and destroying the employ
ment of our merchant marine has al
most obliterated the great industry IF
ship building and driven the American
flag from the high seas. "A dtstin-
guished commodore of our navy has
recently declared that when he made
his first voyage in 1857 more than half
the vessels he saw in South American
ports carried the stars and stripes,
while on his last voyage to the same
ports he saw the American flag not
once. save on vessels owned by the
government
In 1880 we paid to foreign ship
owners Sl25, 100000 for carrying our
exports to foreign ports not having
domestic vessels enough for the limited
trade which our high duties permit,
for we can have no vigorous export
trade without an equally vigorous i'm
port trade. Commerce is rs reciprocal
as friendship.
The burden of this system falls upon
the agricultural classes and upon all
men employed in local industries Of
any SORT, that is, upon professional
men, men engaged in trade, upon the
blacksmith, the carpenter, the inn
keeper. the laundreSs, the domestic
servant. The only return they are
supposed to get is such crumbs rs fall
from the rich mans table, such over
flowings of prosperity as the wealthy
iron and coal-workers of Pennsylvania
OF cotton spinners of New England
permit to percolate back to them.
Since tariff destroys commerce
with other nations, the prosperity OF
the protected industries must be solely
derived from such extra prices as the
tariff enables them to exact from then
own countrymen, and out of these
exactions the gorged manufacturers
are to dispense back to the communit.
enough to more than made good what
they have thus leeched from them
This is the theory on which it i:
claimed that protection repays NOR,
than il takes and it needs only TO b,
stated to show how hollow and rotter
it is. But it is of far more momen
than any economic argument that tn,
present system is an invasion of libert.
since it is designed to exact and com
pei us to pay tribute, not to the gov
eminent alone, which we will willingl.
support, but to the wealthy priyat'
monopoliss which are draining on
prosperity on every side.