Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-09-19
BUCRANAK's MESSAGE.


Our esteemed contemporary, the New
port Observer, has undertaken by means
OF special message OF President Buchan-
an to Congress In 1857 TO convince its
readers that We were mistaken in declar-
ing the period OF twenty years prior to
the Civil War, the golden age OF the
nations trade and business" The OBJ
s,rver could not have been more rash than
it Is and should not have attempted to
prove In this way something that neither
1t nor any Other newspaper 'of It's charac-
ter and standing can maintain,
In the first place the Observer should
understand that It cannot take the year
1857 as a sample Of the period We have
mentioned, any more than it could ex-
pect US to take the year 1873 as a sample
of those that have past since the war.
The year 1857 was an unusual one; prices
were enormously nigh, business in a
chaotic state, failures iHnumersble were
t he order Of the day and people suffered
accordingly. 1t was IN reference &c
this particular time aud 10 these
particular occurrences that the President
alluded when he sent 10 Congress the
special message to which the Observer
refers. The times leading up 70 the
financial disaster Of those days were de-
clsred to have Deen the most promising
and brilliant the country had ever seen.
The financial difficulties commenced in
Europe and how the Observer makes out
that the lack Of tariff caused disaster
here We fancy even the Observer will have
difficulty to explain.
But " nat is the truth about this period
in reference TO the nations trade and
business 50 far as the cost OF necessa-
ries are concerned We have succeeded in
worsting the Providence News, and now
we will proceed TO 90 the same, in regard
to "trade and business" with the New
port Obs, s,rver. During the period OF
lsio-'6O We increased our imports three
times the amount We did during the last
decade, and while we Increased our
exports s2lO,Oo0OOo, our exports during
the last ten years have fallen Of
s30,0O00O0. During the same period oui
foreign merchant marine increased l $50, -.
600 tons, while at the present time it hai
20 fallen away under the fostering care o
protection that tooay it represents Dul
100000 tons-not so much by GO, 900 tom
as the country gained during the days o.
the country's progress before the war, no
to say anything about what the foreign
tonnage of the country was at that time
During that period, too, the relative in
crease in wages was also greater THAI
during the last decade. The increase DC
operative in all kinds OF manufacturin
business was seven fold greater than be
tween the period OF ten years last past
We may take into consideration, too, ou
commerce Of today as compared wit
then, aud, with all our boasted protectiy
tariff, IL hasn't increased as compare
per capita one iota. Beside all this, dui
ing that period we were importing largol
each year, showing that we were maxim
money and being paid for our freight
but during the last thr,
years our exports have lsrgel
exceeded our imports, showing that II
foreigner was getting the advantage
our goods and our money.
These are facts ia regard to our trad
and commerce that the Observer cannC
deny and which utterly destroys the dar
ger alarm arguments in which it is er
----1r
gagged. II the Observer wishes to convinC