The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-09-01

pay. While / am on this subject Of the la
boring man let me call your attention to
something else They say that the tariff
does not raise prices. Well, II IL does not
raise prices. would like TO know why the
manufacturers, or so many Of them, are ia
favor Of IT, Do they want high tariff to
lower pricesl Laughter and applause.
There are instances In which high tariff
has lowered prices for special and peculiar
reasons, but as general rule as have
already shown you by what read from
Mr.. Adams report and from other authori-
ties, the tariff increases the price. II It
did not increase the price you may be sure
that manufacturers and monopolsts would
not want IL, and If II does not increase tho
price, pray what Is the protectioni Where
does that come int They are so much
afraid of our getting things cheaper in this
country than they can be manufactured
here by reason of the pauper labor, as they
call 1t, Of Europe. Well, II the tariff docs
not increase the price of tho articles
which we buy and which are manufactured
here, whore is tho protection to the Ameri-
can manufacturer, and how, If the price is
not raised, eau they pay better wages to
the laborer! But there Is one class of la
borers that l want to call your atten-
t!on to especially. There Is one class of
laborers who have been, according to the
claims Of the Abolitionists and Republic.
ans their especial wards, who have been
especially under their guardianship and
for whose interests they feel the most pc
culiar and earnest solicitude. These are
the negroes. The result of the war was to
free about four million of negroes, and am
very glad they were freed. They have in
creased now TO be about six or seven mil
lion. Now, how do those negroes make
their livinga A great many of them go to
town and pursue any kind of handicraft
they can. They go into domestic service,
black shoes, shave faces, or do other
things of that kind. But the country ne
gro makes what he gets by cultivating the
earth throughout the whole South. How
does he cultivate iti He either has bought
some land-and some of them have bought
q good deal-or he rents land Whether
he cultivate his own land or whether he
rents 1t, the crop he gets from it is the re-
for his toll. That crop in the
main consists Of cotton, some corn, some
little wheat, but mainly of cotton. Now,
how can the high protective tariff benefit
that negro. He raises cotton and has for
his share OF the crop four or five balls each
year. There is no tariff on cotton, gentle
men. 1t comes in as free as air. The price
of cotton, therefore, is not raised, as they
say, or lessened by this tariff tax, and yet
this is all the negro has for his labor. He
can not get cent more for his cotton by
reason of any high protective tariff, and
he doesn't get u cent less. He has to sell
it at the price fixed in the foreign market,
the price made in Liverpool or London,
which places the price upon cotton export
ed from the United States. 1t is there
that the price of his cotton is fixed and for
that price he has to sell it, tariff or no tar
iff. How is it on the other hand! Although
he is living in pretty warm climate, the ne
gro wants to be decent and comfortable, and
he wants his wife and children to be COM
Portable. They need clothing as well as
other people, but upon every thing the
negro buys to clothe himself, to clothe his
wife and his little pickaninnies he is taxed
by the high protective tariff and is CON-
pelled to pay higher price than he other
wise would have to pay, so that so far as
he is concerned there can be no pretense
whatever that the tariff is any thing but
an unmitigated injury to him. He has
nothing to sell which is benefited by it.
He performs no labor that by any kind Of
can be shown to be benefited by
it. Ho sells his cotton at price fixed in
foreign country, because he can not sell it
for any other price, and upon every thing
he consumes, every thing he purchases for
his consumption, he has to pay an increased
price, and is thereby injured. Now, do
think our abolition friends especially ought
to take this into their most careful consid-
GRAFTON. They say that they freed the
negro from slavery. am willing to grant
them all tho credit, although there might
be something said about who did it. Per-
haps 1900, 900 Democratic soldiers in the
army might have had something to do with
it, But give them all they claim. Do they
mean after giving him freedom to make
him slave by compelling him to pay high
or prices upon every thing he has to use,
not for his own benefit, but for the benefit
Of somebody elsea Is it not enough that
they made him slave by requiring him to
vote for them and swear not to vote for
Democrats Isn't that enough9 Must they
also take all his little earnings by compell-
ing him to pay for every thing he wears
and every thing his wife and children wear
more than he ought to be required to payl
PROTECTED AND UNPROTECTED LABOR
Now, my friends, while am on this sub
ect OF the laboring man, let me speak of
American labor as compared with the
aber of other countries. 1t is true that in
America the laboring man generally re-
,eives more wages in money than they do
N foreign lands, but by no manner Of
means to the extent that you may suppose
rom hearing so much said about it, For
Instance, let me give you the following
,acts: According to the last census Great
Britain had population of 401 to the
square mile, and the average wages paid
vas 97as cents per day. New England has
To v,,i1n hn
wages are $l.O2 per day; about cents
more than in England. Ohio has eighty
20 the square mile, and the average wages
ire S1.06 day. Colorado has two to the
square mile, and wages in that State aver
age Sl.45 day. The entire United States,
lot including the Territories and the Dis
;rict Of Columbia, has twenty-four to the
square mile, and the average wages are
II. 12 per day. What fact docs this estab-
ish! Docs 1t not prove that the more
iense the population the greater the COM
petition among wage-earners and the lower
,he wages, and the reverse proposition,
he less competition among wage-earners
he higher the wagesl No man can deny
hat. who has any regard for truth.
That Is 1t. Now, my friends, you
lear great deal said about the
,anper labor of England, especially be-
,ause our chief imports are from Great
Britain, that is England, Ireland and Scot
and, and yet you see in that most prosper
,us State of Massachusetts, the greatest
State of the country, the
averages are only about four cents more
han they are in England. But If you take
he purchasing power into account, as you
must do, the wages are just Us high in
England Us they are in Massachusetts. "a
gentleman on the platform: "Higher."l
lon't know but what they are. They are
IS high, certainly because in order to as
certain how much a man is obtaining by
lis labor, how much his earnings tend to