The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-06-06

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would ,sss S% re 9y yer, Sr 81: hi y: ss ssp
go into operation e the end Of the nscal year
isso the dutiablo list In tho bill would carry IN
tine snSsy ths
the reduction Of duties upon foreign imports the
bin would stimulate an Increase Of foreign Inn
| revenue There wore a fsw striking things In the
bin which tho country ought 70 understand.
Gentleinen would have supposed who have
duties all along the line. They never would have
believed, listening 10 tho gentleman from Texas,
and the other gentlemen 81 the majority az inc
creased the duties. How many mon on the other
| side OF the House knew what was In the bill to-
sin single item, steel bilists. The present du-
| ~ was As per cent. al valoreni. IL was
| Increased TO 81 ton, which was equiv,
raised the duty from As per cent to 3.S3 per
| cent. I'D valorem advance OF As per cent. Did
gentlemen know what was made out Of these
| steel billets? Wire fencing that inclosed the
great fields Of the West. II II was true, as con-
| tended by gentlemen ON the other side, that the
pound of wire fencing would be increased from
| one-quarter TO one-half cent a pound; and this
| was done by Democratic House. What else
was made out of steel billets? Cut nails, which
everybody used. The duty cut nails was re-
duced IS per cent. and the raw material was in
creased As per cent. When one end went up the
| the fate OF this bill. What did the gentlemen
| think OF that for raw material for the manufac-
| turer? But that was not all In this bill-this
| bill that based on principle, that the Presi-
| dent stood behind and beneath, and that he In
| sisted should be passed whether or no in this
House. and which he was dispensing ON.
| said, there were Allentowns for every
| Sowden. Here were cotton ties that
presented another queer freak in this bill. A
Southern cotton-planter wanted some hoop-iron
| TO bale his cotton, and he went TO the custom
house and got all he wanted, and did not have TO
pay cent duty. but II the Western farmer want.
| ed some hoop-iron of exactly the same width and
| exactly the same length he had TO pay one ana
| one-hah cents pound. III the Western farmer
wanted IL for his pail or his thatch, or the wash
erwoman wanted IL for her wash-tub, they must
| pay one and one-hah cents a pound while the
cotton-planter got it for nothing Was that fan?
| He appealed TO Southern and 70 Northern Demo-
Gratis. Was that fair on any principle OF Justice
| or fair play? Talk about sectonalism The bill
raises aquestion Of sectonalisn, and he regretted
| it more than any one else There were other
\ strange features TO the BILL What in the world
| had the bill done for the people anyway? What
1 Ind il done for the farmers? lthad taken the du-
| ties practically of everything he grew-of every
! product OF the farm. Ii took the duty OF WOOL
| Whit did IL give the farmer in return? Every
| thing that he bought dutiable; the coat
| lac wore the Int that covers his head, his
| shoes, his stockings, his sugar his rice-every-
thing Is dutiable. But everything he raised was
| put ON the free list. The duty on wool was gone
| What had the Democratic party given the farmer
in return for this slaughter of his interests? He
| had looked up and down the bill, ana would ask
what did IL do for the farmer. Why, IL had given
his free sheep dip. IL was preparation used
| on sheep. 1t was made largely of the ends of
tobacco. 1t had little sulphur in it, and n little
water in it, and little lime in il, and IL was put
| on the free list. The bin made the farmers wool
free, but made him pay 40 per cent for the shears
with which he clipped his sheep. The sheep
bell, the golden-shod shepherd from Massachu-
| sets Russell would know what ne meant 1t
| was a bell that was put around the neck Of the
sheep TO inform the shepherd of his hocks. The
| hill mazda glppn hall6 tiutfallQ nj Is cent. an
| valorem. Why, the sheep would be ashamed OF
the gentleman. TEMPLATES We're made free
They were made of 9Ii2 per cent. OF sheet-iron
| and 2ia per cent. tin. The tin-plates were made
free and sheet-iron was dutiable at cents Il
pound. He might spend two hours pointing out
! such Inconsistencies, but he left That for the
| five-minute debates. He gave u few samples
He wanted 10 call attention To another thing
| and that the internal-revenue feature OF the
bill As far the abolition OF the tax on tobacco
| was concerned both parties were in accord, but
this internal-reyenue feature of the bill carefully
provided for the repeal of laws which authorized
| the destruction of the Illicit stills when men
| were found in the very act OF distillation. I'm
der the present law, IL men were found engaged
i'm that the revenue officer was authorized TO de-
| stroy the whole OUTFIT This bill repealed that
| law, and provided that the stills should neither
| be mutiated nor destroyed but DO preserved for
future violations of the law. 1t further
provided in case man was arrested for
Illicit distilling that the Judge should look
| after his well being and comfort while in
prison. That provision did not apply TO any
! other class OF criminals. There was one feature
| on the bill which was not by any means its worst
feature, but which Of itself was enough 10 defeat
the entire measure If there was nothing else in
IT, and that was the substitution of the al va
loren system of assessment for the specific sys
TEN. There was not single nation except En-
| gland, that imposed M valorem rates on import
| ed articles and England had abandoned that
except upon one article, for the reason that there
| can be no honest administration of the revenue
| law as long as the value of the imported article
| is to be left to be ascatained by experts thou
sands OF miles away from the point of produc-
| tion
Passing ON TO a discussion of the general effect
of the protection system on the people, he said
| he cared not whether the present prosperous con-
dition Of the country was the result OF protection
| or not. The fact that that condition had come
with protection ought to make Congress hesitate
| long before it abandoned the system. Gentle
men might try protection by any test. They
might try IL not only by the individual prosperi-
| " of the citizens but by the advance which the
country had made in intelligence and invention
and by any standard it might be tried the pro-
that it surpassed any other. New En-
glands prosperity was due largely TO the
protective tariff. And her prosperity
had been positive benefit to every one of the
$1,000, 900 people of the United States. He cited
statistics to show the large amount OF the farm
consumed in New England, and asked IL New
England was not a better market than Old En-
gland for the people of the United States. Was
not Boston a better consumer than London,
New York than Liverpool, Pittsburgh than Man.
Leicester, Cincinnati than Lincolnshire? The cot
ton production alone that went into New En-
gland in 1886 20 per cent greater than all our
domestic exports TO the United Kingdom. The
Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
had said let New England 60 and let go to
Old England for a market. That was about as
practical as the Democratic party ordinarily got
10 be.
This government was made for Americans
native born and naturalized, and every product
that competed with ours that came into this
country drove just so much American labor out.
Was there to be no limit to these foreign i'm
ports. The United States would have to bring
the cost OF its products down TO that of the
products the other side of the ocean, and
when IL did that under free trade it could limit
Importation but IL could not otherwise. Free
raw material would not do IL. The principal
trammel on the American manufacturer the
high price for labor In the United States, and IL
the Democratic party intended to enable our
manufacturers to compete with foreign manu-
facturers In n neutral market IL could do IL only
In one way, and that was by reducing the scale of
wages in the United States. IL could not be
done in any other way. 1t had been asserted
that the wages OF American labor were not
higher than those of European labor. He
quoted from testimony by workmen ON
both sides OF the Atlantic given
before the Ways and Means Com
mittee in 1886, apologizing that the informa-
ton was not newer, and declaring that the reason
was that in 1883 the workingmen had not been
allowed TO testify before the committed. He
read n letter from Mr.. Barbour of the Barbour
Spinning Company, of Paterson, N j., who was