River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-05-31
THE TARIFF ISSUE.
Colonel Robert q. Ingersoii Presents With
Cogent Logic the True Policy of the Ma
characterization for Home Industries
the Only Guarantee for the Future We'll
fare of the Gounfrv

Il
Il take as much interest in politics as
| Republican ought to who expects nothing
and who wants nothing for himself" said
! Colonel Robert G.. Iqgevsoll 10 reporter Of
/ the Press who questioned him as to mis- atti
| tude in political matters II want to see
| this country again controlled by the Re
publican party. The present Administra-
| ton has not, in my mind, the training and
/ political intelligence TO decide upon the
great economic sN.aud =. financial ques
tions. There kof IOWA great many
/ politicians and but-cew statesmen. Here,
where men have 10 be elected every two or
six years, there is hardly time for the Off
cials 10 study statesmanship--thoy are
| busy laying pipes and fixing fences for tho
next election. Each one feels much like a
monkey at fair on top of a creased pole
and spends most of his time lodging stones
and keeping from falling. | want to see
the party in power best qualified, best
| equipped to administer the Government
What do you think will be the partic-
ular issue of the coming campaign
"That question has already been an
swered. The great question viii be as 70
the tariff. MIR. Cleveland imagines that
the surplus can be gotten rid OF By a re
duction of the tariff. II the reduction Is
SO great as TO increase the demand for the
/ foreign articles, the probability is that the
surplus win be increased. The surplus can
surely be done away with by one of two
methods: first, make the tariff pro
hibitory; second have no tariff. But
/ il the tariff is Just at that point
where the foreign goods could pay
/ u and Yet undersell the Ameri-
can SO as to stop manufacture, then the
surplus would increase. As rule we can
| depend upon American competition 70 keep
/ prices at a reasonable rate. When that
/ fails, we have at all times the governing
/ power in our hands-that is to say, we can
reduce the tariff. In other words, the tariff
| Is not for the benefit of the manufacturer
/ the protection is not for the mechanic nor
| the capitalist-itis for the country don't
/ believe in protectns silks, simply TO help
the town of Patterson, but am
/ for the protection of that manufact-
ure, because, in my Judgment, IL
I helps the whole country, aud because 1
know that il has given us a far better ar
I ticie Of silk at far lower price than
we obtained before the establishment Of
those factories. ! believe in the prJtcc.
ton of every industry thar needs IL % the
end that we may make use OF every kind OF
bring and find use for all human capacities
In this way we viii pro luce greater and
better people a nation Of agriculturists
or a nation Of mechanics would become mar
row aud small, but whore every thing is
done the brain is cultivated on every side
from artisan 10 artist That is, we become
thinkers as well as workers; muscle and
mind form "A partnership I don't be-
lieye that England is particularly interest
cd in the welfare OF the United States. It
never seemed probable 10 me that men like
Goodwin Smith sat upon IL and feared that
we in some way might injure ourselves To
use phrase that viii be understood by
theologians at least, we ought 60 " copper
all English advice
The free traders say that there ought
TO be no distractions placed by Govern
ments between buyers and sellers II we
want To make trade of course there should
be no obstruction, but if we prefer that
Americans should trade with Americans =
that Americans should make what
Americans want then So far as
trading with foreigners is concerned,
there ought 90 be an obstruc-
tion. / am satisfied that the United
States could get along if the rest Of the
world should be submerged, and | want 20
see this country in such condition that IL
can be independent OF the rest Of mankind.
There is more mechanical genius ia the
United States than ia the rest Of the world.
and this genius has been fOstered and dc.
velOped by protection The Democracy
wish 10 throw all this away-to make
useless this skill, this ingenuity, born Of
generations of application and thought, 10
make these deft and marvellous hands that
create the countless things Of use and
beauty TO be worth no more than the com
mon productions of ignorant delivers and
shovelers. To the extent that thought is
mixed with labor. labor becomes honorable
and its burden lighter Thousands Of mill
ions Of dollars have been invested on the
face of this policy millions and millions Of
people are this day earning their bread by
reason Of protection, and they are better
housed and better fed and better clothed
than any other workmen on the globe The
intelligent people Of this country will not
be satisfied with President Cleveland
platfoTm-with his free trade primer They
believe in good wages for good work, and
they know this is the richest Nation in the
world The Republic is worth at least
81. O00000,O1l This vast sum is the result
Of labor, and this labor has been protected
either directly or indirectly. This vast sum
has been made by the farmer, the mechanic,
the laborer, the miner, the inventor.
''Protection has given work and wages to
the mechanic and "A market to the farmer.
The interests of all laborers inAmerica-all
men who work-are identical. If the
farmer pays more for his plow he gets
more for his blowing. In old times, when
the South manufactured nothing and
raised only raw material-for the reason
that its labor was enslaved aud could not
be trusted with education enough to be
come skillful-it was in favor OF free trade
it wanted to sell the raw material to En-
gland and buy the manufactured article
where it could luy the cheapest Even
under these circumstances it was a short
sighted and unpatriotic policy
- Now every thing is changed in the
South They are beginning to see that he
who raises raw material is destined to be
| forever poor. For instance, the farmer
who sells corn will never get rich; the
I farmer should sell pork and beef and
1 horses. SO a Nation, a State, that parts
with its raw material loses nearly all the
| profits for the reason that the profits rises
] with the skill requisite to produce. 1t re
| quires only brute strength to raise cotton;
1 it requires something more to spin it, to
/ weave it, and the more beautiful the fabric
| the greater skill and consequently the
/ higher the wages and the greatest profit In
/ other words, the more thought is mingled
/ with labor the more valuable is the result
\ Besides all this, protection is the mother OF
economy; the cheapest at last whether the
/ amount paid is less or more. II is far bet
/ ter for US to make glass than to sell
/ sand to other countries; the profit on
/ the sand viii be exceedingly small There
] is another thing that few people seem to
appreciate, and that is that the value OF
/ raw material is only normal. The raw
material of a ship costing 100000 Is only q
/ few hundred dollars The value of the raw
| material of ton of steel rails, Including
/ the coal and lime il not to exceed five
cents: all the rest is labor. Only little
I while ago steel rails were worth sl21 3
I ton They were made in England anc
I shipped to the United States. There has
/ been a tariff of IS a ton on steel rails, anc
the result has been that since that tariff
1 was in existence steel rails have been sold
/ in the United States at so a ton, and are
now worth only between 80 and $40. There
are hundreds and hundreds of instances in
/ which competition has succeeded in pro
/ ducing manufactured articles and selling
! them for much less than the tariff.
The interests of this country are united;
| they depend upon each other. You de
1 stroy one and the effect upon all the RES
\ may be disastrous. Suppose we had free
trade today. what would come OF the man
ufacturing interests tomorrow The value
/ Of property would fall thousands Of mill
ions in an instant. The fires would die on
/ in thousanes and thousands Of furnaces
| innumerable engines would stop, thousand
I and thousands would stop digging coal ans
I iron and lead What would the cities tina
l. H. 49,, t,,,;ft -, nv Factories Ia WORT