The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1891-12-05
The Sub-Treasury and other
Matters.
CONTINUED.
CONTINUED.

oPSh Wy Wy SofiuR lIi0h Vu wv WA
sions, | had proposed to discuss these
matters before the Parish Union.
and though some assent was ex.
pressed, the time was not given me;
kbat as am one Of the irrepressibles,
1 intend to be heard if the people
will read, / do not claim to belong
TO either the brain or sineW Of the
land, but as an American citizen /
am entitled to ahearing.
The tariff, is one of the day. /
can not discuss it at length, as an
elaboration of any portion of my
argument is foreign to my purpose,
it would also take time, and some
extra study to gather statistics and
other figures. Throughout the
course OF my argument, ! shall treat
all subjects 10 the abst' act.
It would require q little meta
physical reasoning to make.th farm
ers believe that any tariff that savors
of protection, rebounds to their bene.
fit. I think I said in my first Of
these series of articles, if not |
will say it here; that the more goods
we buy from foreign nations, the
more we will sell to them, then ifby
a reduction Of the import duties, or
even by absolute free trade, we force
numerous members OF the other in
dustrial classes into the fields. there
BY increasing our farming products;
we stimulate manufacturing in other
portions of the globe, this stimulus
will operate to contract the farming
industry in those parts of the world,
ard increase the demand for our pro-
ducts. giving usif not a monopoly, a
reciprocal stimulus to . speciality.
We have shown you how th%e.revenne
could be raised irrespective Of tariff;
il remains now to be whom, that the
operators in factories. derive noreai
benefit from protection, that the
capitalist, save the little that goes to
the government, is the only benefi-
cary, and that they could compete
to some extent. with outside capital,
under absolute free trade; if not 10
all the various branches OF manufac-
turing, at least in some. The sup
ply Of coal il England the greatest
manufacturing country in the world.
il I have been told growing scarcer
every day, and this must, and will,
Ia time increase the COST of mining
and manufacturing. In the United
States new fields are being. cnntlnu'
ally opened, and the amoant 1T iron
ore is in superahundance. We find
too, that under the rebate system.
which To all intents and purposes is
placing our factories on a free trade
basis, that we are able. aud compete
in a measurable degree with Eng
land, particularly in farming imple-
ments, where tie United States
really excels, thanks to Yankee
genius. So much being literally free
trade so far as American exports are
concerned, proves conclusively thai
they could. and do make money, and
would most individually, when wages
are a little lower, as they certainly
would be under free trade. That it
is further untrue, that foreigners
who bring merchandise to this coun-
try, pay the duties as the price they
receive are exactly on a par with
prices the world over, otherwise they
would not bring them here; that it
is untrue that the importer pays 1t,
as he adds it to the selling price,
but that it is. strictly trne, that the
consumer alone pays. Yes, we the
"Clod Hopper The bone and sineW
of the people, with whom may be
included the Drawn and muscle of
others who belong to the labor ese
ment.
To emphasize the wrong the fac
tory hand is to a very slight extent
if at all benefited, since the money
he receives only has The purchasing
power that less money w'uld have
under a more equitable system; and
admitting for the sake Of argument,
that under free trade he would be
slightly the loser, can anybody deny
that be is better paid than the yer
age farmer, the poor devil who
works for fifty or sixty cents a day.
or say seventy cents, and finds his