St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-15
It Is a Platform in Itself and
Should be Read Carefully
by All.
An Able and Eloquent Plea
for the Farmers Of the
Great West.
The Abuses and Inequalities
of the War Tariff Neatly
DisSected.

fhe privilege of casting their ballots at
The coming election for so able and up
right a man as Hon. o. NJ. Hall, of Red
Wing, for congress. He is a man who,
If elected, will take his place among the
leaders in congress and assist in a meas
nre in dispelling the opinion that
Dnly mediocre men can be sent
10 congress from Minnesota. The
tariff question is the n issue of par
amount importance to every citizen of
this state as well as of the entire West.
Lit is then a most fortunate thing, i'll
deed. that in Mr.. Hall the people of the
Third district have a man WHO'S on
their side of this great question and
fully able to make himself felt Oh the
floor of the house. The speech which
Mir. Hall delivered at Shakopee last
Thursday, on accepting the Democratic
nomination for congress, is such an ad-
mirable production, and so clearly and
fully sets forth the arguments for tariff
reduction. that the GLOBE takes pleas
IRE in publishing it. 1t should be read
by every voter in the Third district.
Here it is:
1.-The existing tariff is a masterpiece
of injustice, inequality and false pre-
lenses" Originally imposed as a eve
nue. measure for war purposes, it has
ever since been maintained and repeat
edly increased under the speciouS
theory of protection to home industries.
L have never met an intelligent advO-
cate of protective tariff who was not
also a free trader, who did not regard
the tariff as a temporary eXpedient for
the development of industries, and n
to be wholly abandoned as soon as they
had grown to be self-supportIng.
For thirty years the various industries
of our country have enjoyed the foster
ing care of the highest protection
known in our history. 1t is n of the
confessions OF the Mckinley bill that
they are now in such languishing con-
ditiOn as to necessitate all immediate
increase of the tariff taxes.
If it be true that these favored indus
tries, so long and so heavily protected
ID the past. are now so feeble as to re-
Iuire additional support. how many
generations OF men must be born, taxed
and buried, how many ages must elapse,
before they become strong enough to
support themselves?
Is this boosted American system so
s%neHyating and self-destTuctive that its
Deneficiaries reel and Stagger under
its stimulating influence, like the
irunkard in the gutter. for more of that
Of which they have already had too
much?
Are Our manufacturers a tribe of pau
pers to be fed at the public cost, and do
their appetlteS increase as their bodies
Are fattened by the nations bounty?
If such is the result of thirty years
uninterrupted trial of the theory of pro-
tectiOn-lf this temporary expedient is
20 become a permanent and eyer-in-
.reasing tax, it is time that the theory
should be abandoned and the costly eX-
pertinent cease.
Elizabeth of England rewarded her
favorlteS by granting to them the eX-
elusive privilege of selling certain COM
mOditieS-rightS of monopoly they were
called. To one she gave the sole right
Of selling salt, to another starch. to an
other soap, 10 another playing cards,
and so on through the list of vendible
articles. She gave them control of the
markets, protected them from COMPETE
ton, and enabled them to sell their
goods AT prices fixed by themselves.
What Else Than a Monopoly
does Il tariff give to Carnegie on his
steel, to Butler on his bunting, to the
salt, glass. copper, wooden and other
protective favorites?
The exclusion of competition is the
creation OF monopoly. This is the mean
ing and effect of our tariff. By closing
Dur markets to the competitive markets
Df other nations it compelS our people to
purchase whatever they use from our
home producers at prices limited only by
the wants of the purchaser and the Gu
pidity of the seller. 1t gives to the lat
ter exclusive control of the home mar
ket. No patent of monopoly stamped
with the regal signet of Queen Bess con-
terred a more exclusive right of picking
the pockets of the people than our tariff
laws have bestowed upon their favorite
beneficiaries.
They h We indeed stimulated the in
crease and development of many indus
tries, but 1t has been an abnormal and
nnwholesome growth. The enormous
profits realized, the fabulous dividends
paid IN the earlier years of the tariff by
industries thus favored and privileged,
led to a corresponding increase in the
number Of establishments and the GUAM
hty of products. The time soon came
when manufacturers were brought
face to face with the ominouS fact of
Dver-production. They were making
more goods than the people of this
country would buy. The home market
was glutted. They cound not dispose
Of their surplus products abroad, be-
cause the same laws which protected
them gave protection also to the
producers from whom they bought Their
new materials. With a taxed plant,
taxed machinery, taxed fuel and taXed
raw materials. the cost of production
was so great that they could not com.
pete i'll the Worlds market with the un-
taxed product of other nations.
Then came that decline i'll prices, thai
closing out OF accumulated stocks at E
sacrifice, which is heralded as one OF
The ultimate blessings of protection
I The era Of hard times was upon US
Manufacturing had ceased to be profit
able. PRODUCTION was curtailed, mer
were thrown out of employment, mills
were shut down. wages we're reduced
strikes and lockouts followed. 1t be.
came a question of the
Survival of the Stronger.
The smaller and weaker producers
were driven 10 the wall; under the
sheriff's hammer their abandoned shops
passed into the hands of their Weather
rivals.
Then came the pool" and the sscom
bine," eliminating i'll the mightiest OF
protectors mo~nstrosities = the trust
Under these new methods of business
recuperation began. The industrie:
were said to have been revived-granteC
new lease of life. Revived by curtall
ing production to the limited home de
mand; revived by closing some plant.
ond running others on short time ant
with a smaller force; revived by reduc
ing the wages and shortening the EN-
ployment of their employees, by sup
planting the home laborerS with pauper.
imported from China and Italy.
Such has been the history of Ameri
ian industries during thirty years O
high tariffs. The shores of protection
are strewn with the wrecks and debris
Of the industries it assumed to protect
1t is only by means of the combine
and the trust" preventing growth an(
restricting productions to the Limited
demand of the. home market, that thest
industries are now profitable. TN,
small manufacturer, the little country
shop. the local enterprise, once thu
pride and strength OF the nation, hav,
been forced to the wall. The grea
manufacturers alone survive. Confined
by the tariff to the home market, the!