The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-05

Az to all these articles the price was q matter of
! indifference to the consumer, and the rate of
duty was very much like the price fixed
! by the manUfacturer-that is, much could
! be got This the policy of the present
tariff, and it had operated even better than had
been hoped. The value of such articles i'm port
ed not less than $l20, 000. 900, ana the duties
| collected on them not less than $50, 900. 600
nearly one-haf of the whole amount collected.
It certainly could not be said of these duties
| that they Imposed q burden upon those who
consumed domestic products we'll upon
the Presidents language On the contrary.
these duties bad imposed the chief burdens OF
the taxation upon articles of voluntary luxury,
and had still melted American artists ard me-
chauics to compete in those branches of industry
| with the skilled artisans of Europe and Asia
In this way remarkable progress had been made
tableware ornaments, clothing, decorations and
enameled furniture and a multitude of other
articles of taste and luxury-the work of Amer
lean mechanics-had been brought within the
means of great masses of the American people.
To reduce the duty on these foreign
Snraen sax.ton from asoss who
now bore it willingly to the shoulders of the
people. Another class of duties was on articles
ported the last fiscal year was s112, 900 00O and
the duty paid on them $6S, 000 000 OF those
sums the sugar, rice and fruit imported were
valued at $9l, 900, O0O and paid duty OK $685.
000, 900, more than nine-tenths of all the
taxes levied on food and animals. These ar
ticles entered into the consumption of every
to reduce surplus revenue. what better mode
could be suggested than to repeal one half of
the duty sugar. and thus directly relieve the
people from $28, 250, 900 Of taxes on article in
most general use, and now bearing tax of 8 2
per cent No such suggestion was made oy the
President or the Secretary Of the Treasury, and
he mr. Shermanl did not care to explore the
reasons for their silence. He believed in pro-
tecting all the home industries, without respect
to section to the place or manner OF produc
tion-whether in the farm or in the Workshop
but if protection not the object of the law,
and if surplus revenue was the great evil to be
dealt with why give relief to the people
by reduction OF the tax sugars
The effort to produce sugar in the United States
in quantities at all approaching the demand had
failed, though protected by the highest tariff
rates Still. in view of the hopeful prospects Of
producing sugar from beets and sorghum cane, as
well from sugar cane. ne would not cripple that
industry by reducing protective duties, except
by giving the producers of domestic sugars
bounty equal to the reduction OF duty the
imported article.
But it was not of the duties on food that the
President complained as a vicious, inequitable
and illogical" source Of taxation. The duties of
which he complained were those for the benefit
of manufacturers; and he urged especially
radical reduction OF the duties imposed upon
raw materials used in manufacturers or their
free Importation" The great body of crude
ticles imported which entered into the
processes of domestic industry, to the value of
$106, 000, 900, were now free of duty. Every inn
ported article of that class was unless it COM
peted directly with the development of American
resources. Duties averaging 80 per cent.
at $50 800, 00O and which yielded a revenue
of 49, 500, 900. The chief of them were agricult-
ural products-wool, fax, hemp aud other
textile grasses; hops, bristles and seeds, valued
at $35 600, 900, and yielding revenue of $l0,-
000 000 less than 80 per cent The remainder
was chiefly metals. on ore in pigs, coal and
MARBLE of value of $22 800 900, and yielding 3d.
$50 000 These imports come into direct COM
petition with the productions of nearly 1000, 900
farmers ana a Of hundreds OF thousand
given to the labor and capital employed in min
ing and agricultural industries, was the favorite
point of assault by the President and all free
traders upon the protective policy 1t was the
citadel of the system. The whole depended
upon the principle that it was wise to give, by
tariff laws, to all for ms of American labor, the
degree of projection or advantage which the i'm
position of duties on similar foreign productions
necessarily gave. That had been true in begin
ming of the government and had been recon-
mended by every President from Washington to
Polk. The same rule had been applied
for the benefit of the farmer, the miner,
and furnace owner, well the manufacturer;
and whenever that rule was departed from the
whole system would fail, and properly so.
The principle of protection demanded equality
Of benefits and Of burdens. The object was
protection to labor. not to capital. No reason
could be given why wool should be made free
and wooden goods should be protected. If there
must be cheap wool there must be cheap WOOL
ems; and if the labor of the farmer in producing
the wool was not protected against unequal COM
petition with Australia or Buenos Ayres. then
that of the cloth maker should not be protected
against competition with the looms of Man
chester or Lyons. If there were low duties on
iron ore, there would have to be low duties
iron and steel in all its forms The
farmer performed as valuable labor as
the artisan, and the rights of every
producer should have equal and just con-
sideration, without fear or favcr. And yet the
President has selected that GLASS of productions.
ton, and had especially selected wool as arti-
Gle not to be projected His whole argument
rested on the allegation that the price of wool
was increased to the extent of the duty, and
that, but for the duty, the merchant could buy
this wool cheaper in South America and Aus
tralia. This argument was fallacious because
the destruction of the wool industry in the
United States would at once advance the price
of wool in foreign markets. But, even If the
argument were true. it would apply as well to
all domestic productions and to all mauufact-
ures. Wool was the completed article of the
farmer, just cloth was of the manufacturer,
and as the coat was of the tailor; and the OBJ
lection that the duty on wool raised the price to
the consumer applied as we'll tlf true) to the
duty on cloth and on every article on the tariff
list. The all-suficent answer was that the
duty encouraged the production Of wool, the
manufacture of cloth. and of the infinite variety
of articles produced by American labor Compel
ing with foreign labor. This diversity of pro-
duction Injured to the benefit Of all classes Of
the people alike, and was the secret of the
enormous growth, power and wealth of the Re-
public It had always seemed to him that the
most narrow and selfish notious advanced in
respect TO tariff laws and those to which the
President now lent his name were those made on
behalf of advanced industries, now supported by
duties greater than those on raw materials;
that they must be allowed to purchase their
raw materials in the cheapest markets of the
world; that the mineral treasures in every State
and Territory must be left undeveoped in order
that these advanced industries must have cheap
raw materials He regarded the home produc-
ton of raw materials even of more import
ance than manufactures There was but one
rule which had to be applied to all industries
impartially. and that to give to all forms of
American labor which have to compete with
foreign laborI that fair and reasonable adj |
vantage and protection which would give the |
American producer the home market for home
products.
Turning from raw materials to manufactured,
Mr.. Sherman said that the ports not the |
free list, and not classedlby him Injuries or
raw materials, amounted In value to $218, OO0,- |
600 and paid $84. 600, 900 in duties. These i'm
portations came into direct competition with |
domestic manufactures, which had been mainly |
built up by the announcement Of tariff laws: