Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-14
The War Tariff Protectfosa&sts 'vs.
Facts.

The War Tariff PrOteCtfO7a4stS 'vs.
Facts.
In his celebrated message OF the 9th OF
November last, Mr.. cleveland, while OBJ
jecting to the continuance OF an exorbi-
tant war tariff, which piled up an enor-
NOUS surplus in the treasury Of the
United States, thus cramping business
and minifying values, said that, call it
by what name you pleased, it was neces-
sary to impose duties on foreign manu-
factures as long as we had to -raisereve-
nue. for the maintenance of the Govern
ment, the payment of the interest on the
National debt and the pensions of the
soldier, and he clearly said that these
duties should be so laid as to protect the
American workingman. Mr.. Cleveland
and the Democratic party have shown
by act and utterance, and no man has
shown it more clearly than Mr.. Roger @.
Mills, that they believe in SO imposingthe
duties required for the necessities of the
government as to afford Incidental pro-
lection. They are in favor of protection
but not of excessive protection. They
are not in favor OF free trade but OF that
freer trade which will really invigorate
and expand our manufactures.
A lot of college dilettanti or doctrin-
aires insist upon free trade. The Demo
cratic party does not. 1t simply realizes
certain truths knowledge of which is
spreading rapidly amongst the masses.
The Democrat does not go as far al the
doctrinaires. He stops at the point of
common sense. He plants himself on
the approved ground occupied by Jefer-
son and Jackson. He calls for reduction
in the excessive tariff rates inherited
from the war, and he is thus in precisely
the attitude assumed by both of the
great national parties in 1884, and re-
affirmed by the Democratic party in
1888.
He recognizes facts and cheerfully de-
.scends into the arena of argument.
When are workingmen most prosper
ous? In good times. When are times
good? When trade is good and business
active.
What is necessary to make trade good
and business active? An ample market.
What is meant by an ample market?
One that will take up all that we can
produce on our farms or in our shops,
except what we need for home consump-
tion. Have we such a market now?
No, we have not, for every year there is
q surplus of our products unsold. Or
else, in order to prevent the accumula-
ton of such surplus our mills shut down
or run short handed, and thus instead of
getting rid Of our surplus by selling it, we
cut it off by limiting production. And
limiting production means a stagnant
trade, dull times, and low wages or no
wages at all for the workingman.
What hinders US from having an
ample market? The war protectionists,
in their wisdom insist in shutting US up
to the Home market. How do they ac-
complish this? In several ways. For
instance, they tax the raw material which
our manufacturers use, and thus make it
difficult, and in some cases impossible,
for the manufacturers to compete in for
eign markets with the manufacturers of
other nations, who get their raw ma
terial untaxed. Wool pays duty of ten
cents a pound. and We export about
$5O0,000 of woolen goods annually.
Whereas we export SIS 100000 worth
of cotton manufacture; there is no duty
on raw cotton. So with leather manu-
factures. We export 10000, 900 worth
of them; there is no tax on hides.
This tax on raw materials, then, is one
of the greatest obstacles to our getting
into the markets of the world.
The whole trouble is that the boasted
Home Market isn't big enough, and yet
our war protectionists want to shut US up
to that, so that we may grow rich by swap
ping jackets with one another. There
are plenty of people to buy all we have to
sell, if we could only get to them. But
eur silly war tariff laws stand in the way.