The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-09-07

| Is the most modest reduction of tariff
| duties that has almost ever been attempted
in this country. The average duties levied
under the present tariff are AZ per cent
Under the Mills bill the average duties
will be only about 40 per cent. A mere re-
! duction of per cent. on all the duties
taken together. OF course there are some
! things upon which the duties are reduced
more. For instance, duties taken of a
number of articles called raw materials
which are used by the manufacturers in
| their work in the fabrication of their prod
uct And as they receive this great
| benefit of having their raw materials free
or at a comparatively small duty, the bill
wisely provides that articles manufact-
ured by them when brought into the coun-
| try shall pay a lower rate of duty than
/ they did before, but that is nothing more
than compensation for taking off the duty
on raw materials. President Garfield
/ said in the House of Representatives
on March 10, 1871: Il was sur
prised at the remark of the distin-
| guished gentleman from Michigan. RI don't
| know who that distinguished gentleman
was, but he was Michigander. He as
! serted that there is no item in the whole
tariff that stands alone on its own merits,
| but that it must all be taken in a lump in
/ order to stand" He was a high protection
| ist, this Michigan man, so he said there was
no item in the whole tariff land there are
| ZOO and odd items in it on which tax is
| levied) that could stand on its own merits,
and it was necessary to take them into a
! lump entire so that they might stand. He
meant that coal must take salt by the hand
and they must take something else by the
hand and that all the interests should unite
! their forces before they could make a stand
before the country. This Michigander
came from log country, expect and was
in favor of log rolling and log rolling on
= T,,,-~ IL -
that the man who wanted protection on
one article should log roll with one who
| wanted protection on another, and thus,
! by all uniting together and making one
| grand syndicate or pool, force the measure
through the Congress of the United States.
/ What said Mr.. Garfeld9 ''If this remark be
| true it strikes blow at the whole tariff
system, blow l am unwilling to strike
am unwilling to admit that bad taxes must
be tied to good ones and thus be kept afioat.
l think it unwise TO continue this duty
on coal-they were then talking
about COal-and 1 am, therefore, in
favor of its repeaL' There is another
thing to which l wish to call your atten-
tion. They say all at once-I say all at
once, because it is very late doctrine
those advocates of protection are all at
once seized with a wonderful solicitude
for the laboring- men of the country, and
they want a high-protective tariff, not to
benefit capitalists, not to benefit the
| monopoIists, not to benefit the manufact-
uTer, according to their statements, but to
| benefit the laboring-man. He is the man
| they seek to protect. Well, how are they
/ going to protect hint They saw high
| protective tariff will better his condition
and give him More wages / would 1iketto
! know how that can be; would like to-know
/ how taxing a labOring man on every thing,
| from the crown of his head to the soles of
! hot ia
does, is going to enrich hint This pro
| tective tariff taxes him on the hat he
wears, on the coat he wears, on his shirt,
| on his necktie, his underclOthes, his vest
his breeches and his stockings and his
boots. TLaughter.1 1t raises the price on
every thing, and taxes the poor man until
| he can hardly make enough money, even
if he can get a few cents day more
wages, to support himself and his little
| family, if he have one. And yet they say
that this is for the benefit Of the laboring-
men. My friends, that is a very bald
| faced thing, if there ever was one in the
world. But there is another thing about
it. How is he to get those high wages. He
| is to get them because his employer, the
| capitalist or the monopolist, will make
more money and therefore can afford TO
pay his employees or hired men higher
wages than they were paid before. Iagree
that he can. agree that the protective
thathe might, having this increased profit
pay his laboring men more than he did
before But does he do it7 That is the
question. lCries of SNo," @No."l Did you
ever know him to do itl [Cries Of @No,"
%Never."l The tariff has been raised again
and again. It was immensely raised by
the act of 1861 or 1862, / forget which of
these years. 1t was raised in few years
again, and again and again, and yet in all
that time have never been able to find
the manufacturer or monopolist who upon
the raise of the tariff increased the wages
of his labor.
Now, my friends, while am on this sub
ject of the ldbOring man, let me speak of
American labor as compared with the
laber Of other countries. 1t is true that in
America the 1aboring man generally re-
ceiVes more wages in money than they do
in foreign lands, but by no manner of
means to the extent that you may suppose
from hearing 50 much said about it. For
instance, let me give you the following
facts: According to the last census Great
Britain had a population of 4O1 to the
square mile, and the average wages paid
was 9z2S cents per day. New England has
2i0 to the square mile, and the average
wages are Sl.02 per day; about 4 cents
more than in England. Ohio has eighty
| to the square mile, and the average wages
/ are S1.06 a day Colorado has two to the
| age 81. 45 day. The entire United States
not including the Territories and the Dis
trict Of ColumbIa, has twenty-four 20 the
square mile, and the average wages are
81 Il per day. What fact does this estab-
lishl Does it not prove that the more
dense the population the greater the COM
| petition among wage-earners and the lower
the wages, and the reverse proposition,
| the less competition among wage-earners
| the higher the wagesl No man can deny
that who has any regard for truth.
That is it Now, my friends, you
hear a great deal said about the
pauper labor Of England, especially be-
cause our chief imports arc from Great
Britain, that is England, ireland and Scot
| land, and yet you see IN that most prosper
GUS State Of Massachusetts, the greatest
manufacturing State Of the country, the
averages are only about four cents more
than they are in England But If you take
the purchasing power into account, as you
must do, the wages are just as high In
England5as they are in Massachusetts,. "a
gentleman on the platform: " HigbaE-"l /
don't know but what they are. They are
as high. certainly because in order 70 as
| certain how much man Is obtaining by
his labor, how much his earnings tend to
support him and his family, you must take
what it costs him to live into account, and
if 1t costs him more to live In one place
than it does in another, although he gets
more wages in the first place than be does
in the second, he will not lay up one single
cent more money. / am ready 10 admit
that as general rule American labor Is
paid higher wages in money than the labor
OF any other country. But what are the
reasons for it, In the first place, labor is
more effective in this country. The Amer
ioan laborer produces more than the for
eign iabOrer In the same time All the
authorities admit that AL Of them argue
that his superior industry, his superior
skill, his superior diligence. enable him 10
produce more in the same time than does
the laborer In any other country In the