Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1892-11-04


luth or other points which will give
employment and food to thousands OF
laborers, or will it not2 Will it aid in
the development Of our agriculture or
will it depress it? Will it make their
wages higher or lower? These are some
of the questions involved in this con-
troversy which you are to decide in the
coming presidential election. In max
ing up your verdict it is proper to con-
slider what has been the effect OF this
tariff policy for the. last thirty years
and it's probable future as foreshadowed
by the past.
Notwithstanding the waste OF nine
thousand millions of dollars by the civil
war and the destruction and disabling
of million and a half of human beings
by the same great calamity, today
we are by far the most prosperous peo-
pie in the world. The best fed, the best
clothed, the best housed and the best
educated. We have increased our pop
ulation from $1,000, 600 of people in
1860 to 95,O0O,OO0 of people in 1890.
"During the same period we have in
creased our wealth from SIG, 200, OOO,-
900 of dollars to sos, OOO, 900, 900. By
means of improved machinery and
methods of farming, We have increased
our agricultural productions from ST.
zoo, 900, O0Oin1859 to 81, 900, 600, 900
in 1891. The production of our manu-
factories have in the meantime increas-
ed in many directions, nearly thou
sandfold, and the wages of our laboring
people have increased nearly 40 per
cent. Surely it cannot be bad policy,
that in. a test OF over thirty years
brings about such condition of pros
perity as this. But, notN outstanding,
it has made us the most prosperous
people on earth, yet the Democratic
party numbering in it's ranks nearly
half the voters in the United States,
demand the abolition of the system and
desire to establish in it's stead the
thrice tried, and to this country always
calamitous, policy of free trade.
"This is the main issue thatconfronts
usin this campaign. In order to deal
Understandings with the question OF
free trade and protection, we must first
of all ascertain what is our full meas
ure of the natural resources, both above
and beneath the soil, and we should
have a clear comprehension Of all the
bearings OF those questions upon the
social condition of our whole people.
''To any person who takes the pains
to investigate the subject, it will be
found to be true, that the value of
nearly every manufactured article is
made up almost entirely of the amount
OF labor expended in it's production.
The test the great army OF workers
should apply to any party platform is
this: Does the party you represent
favor the imposition on all imported
manufactured goods, of such tariff as
will bring the price up to what the same
article would cost if manufactured here
by American workingmen, receiving
such wages as they are accustomed to
receive? No free trade tariff, or tariff
for revenue only, can stand the test.
We have here in abundance thed labor
and capital needed to develop all our.
great natural resources.
"The application Of labor to the
stores of wealth hidden in the mine, in
the forest, in the quarry, and latent in
the soil, are the sources OF our pros
perity as a people. But our mines and
qnarries would beidle, and undeveloped,
and our manufactures transported to
other lands, under the doctrine OF free
trade, unless the wages of our laboring
people were reduced to correspond with
the wages paid the oppressed and toll.
ing millions of the old world. There.
fore this truth cannot be too strongly
emphasized, that the necessity for pro
tective duties on foreign manufactured
goods, rests mainly in the fact that The
wages paid workingmen in America ART
on an average at least, about 20. pei
cent. higher than is paid in European
countries. .-->
"But our opponents say that pro
lection only benefits the manufacturers
and secondly, that it creates monop
olies. IS.
! "Now wish to examine each of thes
statements fairly and honestly and se
if they are true. 80.
PROJECTIONS FRUITS,
It Brings Direct Benefit to All the Ia
borers and Producers Of America.
''To the first statement, that pro
tective duties only benefit the manu-
facturers. There are more than 5, OOO
!. 600 workingmen in this United States
the best paid, the best fed, the bes
clothed and the best educated OF any il
the world, together with more thai
5000, 600 wives and children dependel,
: upon them, that give the direct lie Z
~ Tho $40 fon,onf Tint nrnfocfi0n mi