The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-08-30
which is always the best because the most

Inc south mas shared IN LnlS splendid
progress, in this golden period of devolp-
ment. From 1851 to 1860 the average year
ly production of pig iron throughout the
United States was less than 100000 tons.
In 1886 the States of Alabama, Tennessee,
Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky,
Georgia, Maryland, Texas and North
Carolina produced S75, 179 net tons, or U.s.
600 more than tho whole annual output of
the United States under the free trade
period. The eight years last past have
brought to the South wonderful progress.
You had in 1880, Is, 435 miles of railroad
you have now &c, 1877 miles, and this is in
creasing. You raised in 1880 5,755 $50
bales of cotton in 1888 you raised $780, 900
bales. In 1880 you raised 43l, 07i630 bush
els Of grain, and in 1887 you raised &C.,
3O5, 600 bushels. In 1880 you had live
stock amounting in value to 1891, 3l2, 2j4 :;
it is now valued at S573 $50. The value
of your agricultural products in 1880 was
$57l COS, 454 III 1887 il had reached SSl2-
066, 400. In 1880 you produced 397, 30l tons
of pig iron ; in 1887 you produced 929,43G
tons, and | am assured upon the best au-
thority that it is upward Of 100000 now.
You mined in 1880 G,049, Al tons of coal, in
1887, 16, 476, 7S5 tons. You had in 1880, l79
cotton mills you have got to-day 300, and
they are increasing. The number of your
spindles in 1880 was 1889; they are to-
day 1,495, l45. The number of your looms
in 1880 was 1929 they are over $4,000
now. The value Of cotton goods in 1880
which you produced was 81, 100000; in
1887 it was over S43,O0O,0OO. And yet, in
the presence of such progress, it is serious
ly proposed to reverse the policy under
which it has been made. Surely a
NEW ERA OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
has come to the South Nothing should
be permitted to check or retard it. To her
nature has been most prodigal with her
gifts. Her bills and valleys have been
made the storehouses of richest treasure.
Coal and iron mines wait impatiently the
touch of labor and capital, and tempt both
with promise of lavish profit. Raw mate
rails are found at every turn to invite the
skilled artizau TO transform them into the
finished product for the highest uses of
man. She possesses the fibres in rich
abundance; her skilled labor should weave
the fabric. 1t is said that there Is nothing
grown in any of the States, except Florida,
that Georgia cannot prOfitably/ produce.
She has coal, iron deposits, marble and
building stone, cotton and the cereals
Nothing but her own folly, nothing but
blindness to her highest and best interests
can keep her from the front rank Of the
industrial states of the Union. Whether
we discuss this question from principle,
from statistics or experience, we must
reach the same conclusions; all lead to the
same conviction. Let me give you some
important evidence from high and I'M
doubted sources, which confirms the argtl-
ment which / have been making. Presi-
dent Fillmore said, on Dec. 2, 1851, in his
message to Congress, speaking of the con.
dition of the country:
1.-THE value Of our exports of breadstuffs
and provisions, which it was supposed the
incentive Of low tariff and large importa-
tions from abroad would have greatly
augmented, has fallen from SOS, 701, 92l in
1917. to SIG, 1913 in 1850, and to 81 ,S4S 653
in 1851, with a strong probability, amount.
Ing almost to certainty, of still further
reduction in the current year. = The
policy which dictated low rate of duties
on foreign merchandise, 1t was thought by
those who promoted and established it, ,
would tend to benefit the farming popula-
ton Of this country by increasing the de-
mand, and raising the price of agricultural
products In foreign markets. The forego-
ing facts, however, seem to show inCon
testably that no such result has followed
the adoption of this policy"
Again he said in his message Of Dec. 6,
1852:
without repeating the arguments con-
tanned in my former message in favor of
discriminating protective duties, deem 1t
my duty to call your attention to one or
two other considerations affecting this
subject. The first is the effect of large
importatiOns Of foreign goods upon our
currency. Most Of the gold OF California,
as fast as 1t is coined, finds its way directly
In IN fF.t.T 10 nl.ng
ed. In the second place, as our manufac-
turing establishments are broken down
by competition with foreigners, the capital
invested IN them is lost, thousands of hon
est and industrious citizens are
THROWN OUT OF EMPLOYMENT,
and the farmer to that extent is deprived
of home market for the sale of his sur
plus produce. In the third place, the de-
struction of our manufactures leaves the
foreigner without competition in our mar
Ret, and he consequently raises the price
of the article sent here for sale, as is now
seen in the increased cost of iron imported
from England"
In December, 1857, President Buchanan,
in his annual message to Congress, said:
''The earth has yielded her fruits abund-
antly, and has bountifully rewarded the
toll of the husbandman. We have pos
sessed all the elements Of material wealth
in rich abundance, and yet, notwithstand-
ing all these advantages, our country in
its monetary interests is at the present
moment in deDlorable condition. In the
midst of unsurpassed plenty in all the pro-
ductlons and in all the elements of natural
wealth, we find our manufactures sus.
pended, our public works retarded, our
private enterprises of different kinds aban-
dOned, and thousands of useful laborers
thrown out Of employment and reduced to
want"
This testimony would condemn "a rev.
enue tariff" In any court of the land. It
ought to force like verdict from the
great jury of our countrymen.
One Of the chief complaints against the
protective system is its alleged hindrance
70 foreign trade and foreign market for
our own products. 1t is argued that il we
could import raw material from other