Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-07-31
NATIONS CAPITAL.
Despite The Heat The Senate
Keeps At the Tariff.
Foolish falk Concerning the Lodge Bill
By a Yifsinian.

IWiiau IAN VvuIcIuiD6 INC louSc Dill
By a Yirsinian.
secy Windoms Circular to Custom
Otficiais- Presidential Nominations.
,. wAsHIseToS, July 80 The resolution
q offered yesterday in the Senate fixing the
daily b 1ar Of meeii1s at 10 O'Clock \. VI ),
was taken up aad agreed to.
The tariff bill being taken up, Morrill,
addressed the Senate. He said hi, country
: had Tia ore iron a,d coal--why should ii
. annually send abroad SIS Coo, 900 in gold
: Tor tia. He had 40 idea thxt an increased
/ duty would cause much If any increase in
d the cost Of sheet tin. He felt assured that
in no loug time after the la~ took effect
tin would be much loser in price than il
ever had been Protection would serve. IS
in the case of Bes.emer steel, to cheaper
, the article vastly. Referring to the ssser
ton in Voorhees, speech that no war ,aIes
!, on sny of the great staples of human neces-
sity had ever been repealed or lowered,
Morrill, said that the Senator ought not to
have given his name TO such a misre presen-
ta,ion Of facts.
lI There was general reduction in 1870
, when there was rev classification of the
ia &c La s,.a al a removal of the duties
on tea aud coffee By adding to the free
list Of last year the articles the pending bill
has placed on the free list, about half the
importations from foreign countries will be
absolutely free from all customs duties
That meant that dutisbIe importati ,ns be
; diminished from sts5 900 900 TO s376. .000.
900 aud those on the free list increased
to ss65 900 TAO. If the rate of duty GOV.
cred the entire imporia.ions. the average
rate would be 2T per cent. As there was
50 large an amount of importstions exempt
from duty, il was necessary to impose high
dutie, ON articles of luxury and foreign !
fashions that required skilled labor and
were Consumed BY those able to support /
the burden.
A high as the customs dnties appeared |
they had not, and would not shut out for /
eign merchandise of nations where lab
commanded much less wages than in the /
| nited States. nor would they shut out the |
fact that American people never obtained 4
general merchandise at less cost than now.
rhe i'll nstured Recommendations of Ameri
eau manufacturers by orstoricsl free trad
ers Indicated that they preferred prosperity
of the foreign manufacturer to that of
| their own countryman, and they you'd
compel the latter to manufacture As cheap
| Iy rs any foreigner and pay no higher
wages, or abandon the business.
The real purpose was finally to break
down and degrade the present scale of
wages of American workmen. He quoted
from Sir Charles Dilkes' Problems of
Great Britain as to the wages of Canada.
Australia and United States; and said il,
was q sober historical testimony of an
English free trader of American wsgs
one hundred per cent higher. and for less
time than in Great Britain; then followed
4 difference much greater when contrssted
with the wages current on the continent of
Europe. The leverage that lifted up pr
lection was not really n demand of the manu-
| facturers but of their workmep.
| Morrill, said there was glut of msin-
| formation disseminated on the subject of
agricultural depression and conceslment
of the fact that the prices Of farm product'
are depressed throughout the world. The
only possible remedy within reach of the
American farmer, is positive protection
against foreign competition, and such en-
coursgement to other avocstiuns as would
increase the consumers of their products
| He asserted that in 1888, had it not been
! for the duty Of 20 cents a bushel on wheat
| that the wheat of India would have snatched
the market Of New York from Wisconsin
as we'll as from all other Wesctn States.
| There were some pessimsts morrill,
said who croaked about hard times and
ignored general property everywhere ap
parent He admitted the present condition
of the farmers Was not as good as i, ought
to be. Il was said by such pnssimists that
the farmers were oppressed by vast in
crease Of mortgages. That certainly il.
| not true in older states where whatever
mortgages existed and are held largely by
| other farmers. Bulk mortgages are due
especially in younger states from Young
men Just setting out in life, who had not
sufficient capital to pay cash down for fair
! sized farm
| Farm mortgages and indebtedness hsd
been grossly exaggerated. He understood
! that the census reports would show that
the farm mortgages of Kansas and Maine
were less than quarter the amount repr'
| ser ted. The charges that Ameriesn farm
ers were hugely in debt, or more so than
the farmers Of any other country. vas
Qro.. c,lumny. Markets which could no,
be found abroad had to be made a, home,
and could only be msde by protection
| Whatever products could be made by
machinery might sometime fnd market
abroad: for cattle, wool, wheat and corn
not made by machinery a greater market
would have to be created for such pol
nets BY greater diversity of industrial EN-
| rlovmeuts with the abounling m neral re-
sources of the United States the tack did
not sppesr difficult
| Il has bsen seriously contended he said.
| hv free traders that duties upon ssricnitu-
| raj produces are merely nominal and of no
account. To refute that prevsricsting pre-
tention it vas necessary to present the eI
act amount of agricultural products import
ed from tansda from 1850 to 1859 incln-
| sive. The amount was sl92 ,3s3,21l in
| cluding $50 $50, 900 worth of breadTuff..
Sl9 600, 600 worth of eggs 1900 600
bushels of potatoes. l6 600 coo pound. of
wool, three and one half million pounds Of .
tobacco, ! oC0 coo bushels beans and pea..
ard lC5 0o90G0 bushels of barley malt.
Could it be supposed that our American
farmers would be Indifferent about pro,ec-
ton against the iufuI OF all tbsss srticlesT .
II was the wish of the people Of the /
/ United States to trest her neiQhtors with .
great csur .esy and Kindness, hut so long p ;
IT, latt 'r treated Americans orl} as neigh |
bors in Law, they could not be permitted to .
enrich themselTes by putting their bsrds |
ihNp AHe hHttEftAa IHtseAs NHtHtNtr 'frF /
blessed and when they would not permi, /
Americans TO come within three miles Of
their shares TO fsh or get bait and when I
they seemed almost ready toilet slip the /
dcgs Of war" and were calling for ,he navy |
of Great Britain to protect their pirsticsl /
feet in Behring Sea.
I 10 deny that the American farmers have |
not hsd and oild no, have any protection /
by tariff duties upon agricultural imports-
,ioas, was an untru;h of gigantic propor-
tons Merrill said be did not know of an
article, that received tariff protection
for a Eumhsr of years that was
net nov ssli at less price thar before pro
tected. in the general reduction Of prices
Of manufactured goods throughout the
world, the potent factors we're the large
amount Of American products and invsn-
tons to which American genius had given
birth Morrill, said that adding free sugar
To the breakfast table presented = stronger
case than tea and coffee presented in 1872
for Ike treatment
4 Every dollar of duty came out of the
poor ~ well IS out of the rich If the
: revenue from suzar is over SO. 900 go
it could be prudeniiy done without and the
duty should be removed without be station
The aversga annual consumption of sngar
4 over 80 Foands per capita, and estimating
the the duty At cents per pound. removal
of duty would be . saving Of o. year for
every family Of i've persons Besides that
il, ty bounty. the United States could (as
: done b. several European countries sup