Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1888-05-26
p.ni,sd Account Of DOngs in City and
Country.
HIGH TARIFF ARGUMENT.
D.otoctiouist Orator Gets Confused
4 with His Figures and puts His
Foot into 1t.

- 4
y, Mighty in debate and an expert
onC ooonomic m science, and when he
u ,o 70 this city last evening to vim
yalilt ,',ato tbe wisdom of our protective
OnIicv. ulJ a large crowd gathered to
Ponr P him. Upwards of two dozen
leading republicans occupied the
stage % as vice-presidents, and the
sreyo s,a9 house was densely packed.
THE same liberal dose of tariff talk
,os dealt out by this speaker as by
his numerous predecessors on the
,lotform 40 his address lasted two
Ennrs. but Mr.. Swift has not the
s,o,Iltv of entertaining an audience
nossessed by Col. Irish, and during
his speech people left their seats IN
croups of ten and a dozen.
He seemed to lack preparation.
He has no understanding of the
laws of trade, and he is so unta-
miliar with the details that he
cannot group classes of facts to-
rother without bringing them into
oollision. In discussing the wool
tariff he declared that re-
moval of the tax on imported
wool would so swamp our
country with this staple from Aus
tralia and South America, that the
sheen industry in this country
would be ruined, and wool raising
among our farmers would become
lost art. Shortly after he ranked
the United States among the great
est wool producers in the world, the
countries above named not exceed
inc us in yield. These statements
evidently fell on his ear as inconsis-
tent. for he made the candid avowal
that he was not an adept in figures,
and if he erred to the extent of a
hundred million, like Rip Van
Winkeps last drink, so trifling a
discrepancy mustn't count. He
gave the value of the wool imports
during one year at $14,OoO,oOO and OF
woolen goods at 26,OOO,OOO and then
figured up how many men this
would employ if the work had been
done in this country. He did not
take into account that we do not
raise wool enough to supply the
home demand, that the woof and
warp in our textile goods need to be
supplied from abroad, and further
that this $40, 10000 worth OF Wools
and woolens was paid for with oul
own commodities, so there was really
no loss of gainful labor.
He told of the warlike armaments
of France, Germany and Russia
each of these powers having a mil
lion men in arms, whose industry
is distracted from the reproductive
forces of the country. According tC
Mr.. Swift's calculation the support
of every male adult costs $l25 a year
which has to come out of his OWL
earningslor the earnings of others
When a factory closes through
excess of production or from othel
causes, the discharged employees. ar
not taken into other industries, but
they first eat up their savings, /
they have any, then they go in deb
to all the tradesmen who will trus
them, and their next resort is Il
sponge on their kinsfolk. Whel
this means of support gives out the.
take TO the road, and he figured ou
there were as many tramps in thi
country, costing the working mem
bers of society $l25 a year each 10
their support, as France or German,
or Russia had soldiers on their arm,
rolls.
The lecturer explained how thi
came about. The facilities OF prC
duction are so greatly extended
during the present day, by tn
adaptation of steam machinery Z
every industrial use, that our mil
and workshops, when in full swing
turn out double the amount of good
that our population can consume
To prevent over stocking, theI
and a glut in the market, our indus
trial facilities are but half employed
and a large share of our workin
men have to resort to vagrancy
get bread.
This is damaging admission
and we believe widely overstates tn
case. The hearer would naturall
say: "If this is the best showin
you can make of the protective sy
tenn, which closes our ports to I'll
foreign merchant and shuts us oI
from the commerce Of the worl'
why not try commercial intercour
for awhile and see if foreign natioi
will not relieve US Of some of Ol
surplus gOOds?N
1t is a mistake ON the part ol II
republican committee, to put fort
Mr. Swift as an exponent OF fina
cial science. There are some su
lects, no doubt, he can intelligent
discuss but his equipment for Il
tariff, or any branch of politics
economy, is very incomplete. 70
Irish goes around winning cor
mendatiOn with his easy nOWif
eloquenoe, and Mr.. Swift follows
refute his alleged s0phlstry an