St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-13
ExPOUNDED BY A MASTER
The Burden and Fahacy Of Protection
Are Exposed.
MR.. NASH'S TARIFF TALK
Seven Hundred Million Dollars Robbed
From the People Every Year.
No Tariff on Labor.


Minneapolis, it's usual meeting being
honored with the presence of F. D.
Nash, Jr., of Fargo. one of the most
brilliant and fluent speakers in the
Northwest, on the subject of tariff re-
form and free trade. In appearance the
gentleman has very clerical look, and
evidently is possessed of highly ener-
getic nervous organization. He was in
troduced to the fairly large audience
present by A. LELAND, and with
OUT much ado started into
the pith of his subject in an
easy, pleasant conversational manner.
IF could have my choice of a place to
address you tonight" he said, 81 should
most certainly have preferred to do so
In the open air, because it is there per-
missible to speak in that free and easy
style known as the stump speech, and
by which homely truths are really best
conveyed; but, seeing l am cornered in
hall with all the restrictive features
that such place imposes, l will put
aside jokes and attend strictly to bust
ness. We are here tonight to examine
into the all important subject OF tariff
reform as against protection. We are
here to look into the question whether
it would not be for the we'll
fare of this country to have
a moderate, correct and thorough
Inauguration of tariff reform, whether
this would not be of immense advantage
to the country, and believing it to be so,
try and fathom the reason why it is de-
MED the United States by its own gov
eminent, and what remedies can be en-
forced to make satisfactory and prac
tlcal change in the present condition OF
things. The monumental humbug,
the highwayman of this age that stands
on the high road leading to our cOuntry's
protection, the humbug we arraign to-
day, because it has chOked the treasury
of our country till
IT is BULGING OUT
at either end with gold and silver lying
useless unless it is for the furtherance
of nefarious deeds; because by its
absurd taxation and unjust duties it
makes the working man, meaning
thereby every man who labOrs by the
sweat of his brow or the toll of his
hands, pay almost double what he ought
for the necessities and comforts of life.
Its upholders have bad the audacity to
. say that whisky and tobacco might 60
free where salt and sugar and tea and
other commodities, the necessities of
life for all men and their wives and
children should be taxed to high de-
gree; for these and many other reasons
do we arraign protection as a colossal
humbug, delusion and snare. Yet
these same prOtectiOnists claim for their
pet doctrine that it is sacred thing
almost, that it has been the life,
the breath of the country and that
If ic q iuUUQrDant hQppoth which aVarV
good American citizen should be willing
2 to cast himself, because it fosters the
industries of the country, takes the
farmer under its fold in protecting ca
reSS, and in short is a panacea for all
woe and misery in the land. Protection,
mark my word, is nothing of the sort; it
is simply taxation spelled with great
big L. There was bOarder at an hotel
once and he
STIRRED HIS COFFEE
in,such dubious manner that the land
lady asked him what was the matter,
and he might have more if he wanted
it, but he simply said no, and what
there was of it was enough for him;
that will illustrate the growing senti-
ment of the country; they have had
their fill of protection, and what they
have had has been quite enough for
! l.
$50 or $40 for suit of clothes when [
ought to get the same for 500. but our
paternal government steps in and taxes
everything in connection with my suit
and to the result I have experienced
and you have and every one else who
have purchased good imported suit Of
clothes. The total value of manufac-
tured goods in the United States, con-
sumed at home, amounted in 1880 to
$3.50, 100000. On great deal of this
sum the tariff did not increase price.
A great many articles so called
manufactured, such as flour and feed,
are not affected in price by the tariff.
We export them, not import them. The
average rate of duty on dutiable goods
was 41.70 per cent in 1880; assuming
what is reasonable that the average in
crease of manufactured articles amounts
to only one-fourth of the duty, then the
increased cost Of our homemade goods
Moreover, this means so much
ADDITIONAL CAPITAL INVOLVED
in the business of handling them, and
on this additional capital must be
raised an extra Is per cent for retail
and wholesale profits, which means a
tax of $50, 000, 900 more. This last is all
sheer waste; the government gets
nothing from all this vast sum.
1t amounts to about 100000
and is what the consumers
pay annually in America for the price
less boon of protective tariff. But the
most astounding thing is, we have al
ways had free trade in labor in this
country, and there is certain irony in
connection with this that must be
glanced at. A Cunarder arrives from
Europe having on board 1000 emf
grants, who represent labor and
are coming to compete with you and
me- Is there any tax OIL them? Oh, no,
but i'm the hold of that vessel are LOCO
crates of merchandise, the product of
labor. What benefits labor, the neces-
stiles of labor-these are what get taxed.
WHAT is THE RESULT?
Reckoning the 1000 men representing
labor at 10 per cent to be worth $4,000
head and landing free, and reckoning
the crates to be worth the same with an
additional Is per cent charged by the
government, increasing the cost to an
other 81 900 almost, is it not obvious that
labor has got to make up that 81 900 to
get even somehow? Speaking of the
taxation of home articles, ne reverted
to matches and to the shoe trade, both
of them the most prosperous in
the country, money being invested
in them all the time, and more since the
taxation had been taken off raw hides
of leather and matches. He touched
shortly upon the wooden industry, and
closed by apostrOphising the principle
of, free trade as simply righteous doc
trfne and the outcome of free thought,
free speech and free press.