The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-02
STRONGLY DEMOCRATIC.
ADDRESS OF MR.. BOLTON SMITH AT
A TARIFF REFORM MEETING.
Strong Array OF Facts and Figures
Bluntiy but Well Put Together, Show
ing How Essential and Vital is the
Issue to American Workingmen.

Mr.. Bolton Smith, president Of the Tariff
Reform club, is an earnest and well-in-
formed laborer in the cause.
His admiration for Henry Georges
teachings and desire TO see them put into
practice finds at least partial fruition in the
Democratic platform declarations on the
subject of the tariff.
At the Tariff Reform club meeting Sat
urday night, Mr.. Smith delivered the fol-
lowing address. 1t elected generous APP
plause and unstinted commentator, and
is published as an admirable campaign
document.
THE SPEECH.
The Republicans, oblivious OF our his.
tory, give the name OF american System"
TO system which taxes well nigh all the
necessaries OF life by an average duty Of
AZ per cent. The time was when the
American was made to feel the weight,
not OF British free trade, but OF British
protection, which rested on our growing
industries with wellnigh crushing force,
and had much to do with the feelings OF
antagonisn to the mother country which
eliminated in the revolutionary war and
the Declaration Of Independence. The
fathers spoke OF free tradeas the American
system, OF protection as that Of Great
Britain. But, after the adoption OF the
4, constitution, and while she still dreaded
the result of war with foreign nations, pa
trots advised protection to certain
industries as patriotic, not an eco
nomic measure, with the purpose
OF placing tho nation in position
TO supply all needed commodities to her
armies and citizens, in the event of war.
This is the only logical foundation Of pro-
lection, this patriotic feeling is the cause
OF It's strength in the minds OF the people
today, and until we show that our in
dustrles need protection, we shall not have
dealt the death blow TO the Republican
idol. But we OF this club believe and
confidently assert that the tariff far from
encouraging, really dssourages our manu-
factories, and that IL has the same effect In
their developments which q tight bandage
has upon that portion Of the body upon
which it is placed.
American clocks are being undersold in
our own market by German make, not
because our higher paid laborers can not
compete with cheaper German operatives,
but because the material mainly used In
chased far cheaper abroad than
here. The American copper mines are
very rich, but a combination OF
mine owners fixes the price at which
copper shall sell in the Union, exporting
hyhe surplus and selling II in Europe at
Hseveral cents less per pound than in the
"A United States. The protection needed by
nlA mericn clock manufacturers Is free raw
Ne lateral. Their superior skill may be re-
led upon TO do the rest.
AZ Mr. Everett p Wheeler, OF New York
by, had stated before the Nineteenth
CENTURY club that having recently built
Mur houses he had found that had il not
Riten for the tariff on the material used he
rrfdld have erected five houses with the
n me money, and this was the system
wlhSl the Republican party offered as an
encouragement 10 industry and as the
mother OF high wages. The more this
question was examined in the light OF
facts the more IL would dc see n that what
had been support 10 the child had be-
come gricvous weight 20 the man, aud
that II vas the tariff only that stood in the
way OF the most wonderful industrial de-
vclopment the world had ever seen,
a development which would carry our
goods 10 every cline and nation, and lay
the globe under tribute 10 the skill and
intelligence OF our labor. The higher
wages Of labor in our country over that OF
any other are due 10 the great efficiency,
intelligence and nervous energy Of the
former. With nations II is as with indi-
yiduals, the efficient receive more than
the inefficient, and the latter fear the
former. In conclusion, | challenge the
history Of the world 10 show where slaves
have overcome frccmen in the field or in
the workshop. In the history Of wages
in Mexico, Germany, France, Russia and
Great Britain can be read the truth that
efficiency, not protection, is the mother Of
high wages.