The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-11-27
McCuIloch on the Tariff.

In answer TO request from the REFORM
club Of New York for an address on the
tariff, ex-Secy. HUGH McCULLocH has
written strong letter in which he pre-
sents the argument against high protection
very tersely and effectively. He declares
that "what our manufacturers as well as
our farmers need is an increase in the for
eign demand for their productions" and
adds that eff there is any way by which
this can be secured other than by reform
OF the tariff, which stands in the way OF
international trade, it has not yet been
made public"
AS to the effect of the tariff on wages he
says:
Wages are lower in Great Britain than in the
United States, viz: because labor is less effect
i've in the former than in the latter. BY this
mean that laborers do not accomplish as much
in the same time in Great Britain, as they do in
the United States. l do not speak of other
European countries because | know but little
in this respect about them. No American who
has spent considerable time in England, has
failed to discover that it requires more men and
women 10 do the same amount of work in that
country than his own. speak advisedly when
/ say that nearly twice as many servants are
required to do the necessary work in house
in London, as are required in New York. The
same is true in regard to ell kinds of manual
labor.
Estimating by what it accomplishes there is
very little difference in the price of labor in
the United States and Great Britain. Wher-
ever | went in the latter country noticed the
same sluggish movements of the laborers-on
the great landed estates, in shops, in factories,
upon the docks. The late Mr.. GRIswOLD of
New York, was strongly impressed by what he
witnessed in this respect When he was in
Ia of
time in their shpyards and in the last CONVEX
sation which l had with him in London he
said that after close observation of the manner
in which work was done in those yards, he had
come 10 the conclusion that if the foreign ma
terials which are needed in ship-huilding were
freed from duties, ships could be built as
cheaply in the United States as in England or
Scotland. English and Scotch workmen are
paid less per day than we should have to pay;
but they don't DO as much as we should re-
quire. Either the climate or beer makes them
sluggish. Besides" said he Eve should do
scores of things by machinery that they do by
hands"
The protection tariff can no longer be de-
Tended on the ground that wages are lower in
Great Britain than In the United States. which
is not only the most productive but the most
inviting OF countries, with doors wide open to
all Corners II labor was not more efficient
here than in other countries the foreign labor
ers who are every year coming by thousands
~
clear that all the great industrial interests in
the United States greatly in need of a freer
trade with other nations, and that this can only
be brought about by radical change in our
financial policy.
Mr.. MCCULLoCH congratulatestheR Reform
club upon the progress which tariff reform
is making. but warns it that ''the protect
i've interests are strong in wealth, If not in
numbers; that, having controlled the econ
omic policy of the government for nearly
quarter of century and been enriched
by it, they will not yield that control with
out severe contest. If, however," he
adds, "such associations as yours do their
full duty; if the great body of fair-minded
people, especially the farmers, are made to
understand to what extent the many are
taxed for the benefit of the few; how
preiudical the tariff is to all our
great interests, especially farming inter
ests, which underlie all other interests,
the result of the contest will not be long
doubtful" He concludes by expressing
his constantly increasing faith in the doc
trine that, as a rule taxes should be i'm
posed for revenue only"
Mr.. MCCULLoCH was an old "Henry
Clay whig" He was one of the founders
of the republican party. He was for many
years manager of the Indiana state bank,
an institution that played conspicuous
and honorable part in developing the re-
sources of this state. He was the first
comptroller of the currency, and as such,
organized our national banking system,
and first put our greenback currency into
circulation. He was secretary of the
treasury in the cabinets of Presidents
LINCOLN, JOHNSON and ARTHUR. Although
over eighty years of age, Mr.. MCCULLoCH
is to-day as clear and vigorous in intellect
as when in his prime. His judgment is
not clouded by political ambition or per-
sonal interest. His words, therefore,
which express the results OF long expert
ence in affairs, large observation and close
study of financial and economical ques-
tons, ought to-and they will-have great
influence with his countrymen.