Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-08-09
SPEECH OF HON. J. D. taylor
[COncluded from FOurth Page.l

the Government and these rulings of the
Treasury Department, which are destroy
ing our protective system by letting in
cargoes of foreign wool at mere noni-
nal duty.
will say to the gentleman from Ken
lucky Mr.. Breckinbridge that right in
his own State. in the city of Louisville.
there are several wooden mills engaged
in the manufacture of Kentucky Jeans
that are using imported wool.
Seven or eight years ago they used
American wool bought in Kentucky,
Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. At that
time they did not use a pound of import
ed wool. l am informed that substan-
TALLY all of the wool now used in those
mills is imported. These mills buy where
they can buy the cheapest, and 1 am sat
isfied that the importers of this wool do
not pay over D cents a pound duty on
it. There is smuggling going on some
where under the shadow of the United
States custom houses. Importers are
flooding the country with what they call
carpet woods, and it is used for other
purposes and takes the place of wool
that ought to pay duty of 10 cents a
pound or more. The rule that washed
wool pays double and secured wool triple
does not apply under the present law to
comblng wool or carpet woods, and hence
secured carpet wool only pays a duty of
y to D cents pound, and it may not
be carpet wool at all when it gets out of
the custom house.
The gentleman from New Hampshire
Mr.. Mckinney who made speech to-
day in which he declared that, in spite
of the admission of free wool, the price
of wool will be kept up, did not explain
how he could reconcile that statement
with the other argument which he made,
that free wool would enable the Ameri-
can manufacturer to compete successful
ly with the European manufacturer;
would place the foreign and American
manufacturer upon an equal footing,
giving them both the same opportuni-
ties. The one proposition is contra
diction of the other; but | want to say
to the gentleman that he is mistaken.
The mere fact that man can buy free
wool, the mere fact that the American
manufacturer can get his raw material
free of duty does not place him on an
equal footing with the European manu-
facturer.
If every wool manufacturer in this
country had free wool, they could not
compete with the foreign manufacturer.
The American manufacturer has got to
pay higher price for his labor, for his
plant, and for everything else that he
uses. Free wool is only one of the man.
ufactureTs many expenses, and it does
not place him on an equality with the
foreign manufacturers who have cheap
er materials, cheaper labor, and cheaper
supplies of every kind
The chairman of the committee Mr..
Mills said with great emphasis, that if
we could only get few raw materials,
that our labor was so much more intelli-
gent and our machinery was so much
better handled, we could compete with
the world in the sale of our goods. This
is good rhetoric but bad logic. If this
were true why do we not manufacture
our own in-plates? We have the iron
ore, the tin, the lime stone, and the coal
all free, and yet we do not make tin
enough in this country to make dinner
horn.
According to Mr.. Mills we ought not
only make our own tin plates, but we
ought to send them out into the markets
of the world. Why is this? Simply be-
cause the labor in this country costs
more. The same is true of cotton. The
70 hic OF
tial free, and yet We import a large
quantity of our cotton goods, and there
is no manufacturing that involves so
little labor as the manufacture of cotton.
This beautiful theory will not bear the
light of fact.
We need this impregnable barrier
against the Importation of the products
of impoverished labor more than we do
forts or Notifications to protect us against
ter, the life, the heart of our prosperity,
the hope of the Republic and the glory
of the American people. 1t lifts up the
downtrodden, elevateS the loWly, distrib
utes comforts to the poor, and lays I'M
told blessings at the door of the sons of
toll.
Besides, it should be remembered that
the United States is the worlds great
dumping ground, where all foreign coun-
tries bring their surplus and sell it at
any price they can get. We do no not
expect to make profit on the manu-
factured goods that we export, as rule.
A factory has to run full, and at the
end of the year it often has surplus of
goods which it is willing to convert into
money at loss. Some manufacturers
pay bonus to any one engaged in the
same business who exports his goods so
as to keep down OverprOduction. A
woolen mill can better afford to run full
and lose a large per cent. on the value
of its product than to stop, as its ma
chinery deteriorates rapidly when not
running.
The Government encourages exports
by allowing drawbacks and bearing 9TH
er losses. So it is with exports and i'm
ports. They are often sold at loss.
Hence every business needs protection
as shield to prevent this sort of compe-
titiOn. The people of other countries
are now sending their surplus here and
selling it in our market without regard
to price, and if we had no tariff they
could sell low enough to stop manufac-
turing in this country and to wipe these
industries out of existence And when
this was once accomplished prices would
be higher than they are now.
A member asked a question to-day
which he seemed anxious to have an
swered. He wanted to know, if the
farmer gets 10 cents per pound more for
his wool, whether the man who wears
the wool does not have to pay the 10 |
cents.
Certainly he does if he has it. But
suppose the man who was to wear the
coat did not have the 10 cents, what ad-
vantage could it be to him to have cheap
wool? If bread is worth only cents a