The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-08-10

America gains everything. Take the case
of carpets one of the most marked in
creases under the new law. We advanced
the tariff on wool, which lies at the founda-
ton of the carpet industry, to protect the
wool-growers of the country. We advanced
the tariff on carpets, the finished prod uct,
to compensate the manufacturer for the in
creased duty on WOOL and yet to-day the
prices are no higher than they were before
the enactment Of the new law. 1t is true
prices went up on carpets Immediately after
the passage of the law, but these prices
were speculative rather than real. But to-
day there is no line of carpets that you can
not buy as cheaply as you could prior to
October 6, $780, and as to ingram and other
lower grades of carpets, they are even
cheaper now than then. SO that the in
creased protection that we give to the wool
grower, and which he required as a de-
Tense against ruinous competition from
abroad, has cost the American consumer
nothing, and to the wool.grower and farmer
has been positive benefit"
Mr.. Mckinley next referred to the claim
that the tariff hurt our foreign trade and
shut us out of foreign markets, and gave the
statistics showing heavy increase in such
trade during the last fiscal year and par
ticularly heavy increase Of exports, to prove
the contrary. Passing to the subject as
touching the farmer, he proceeded " The
agriculturists of this country do not want
do not raise their own food, and whom they
can supply Every farmer would rather
have a factory for his neighbor than another
farmer. Every factory that is built up in
creases the farmers customers, the value Of
his product and the value Of his land. Ev-
cry factory that is broken down dimin.
ishes the farmers customers, the value of
his product and the value OF his land, and
increases his competitors. If the working
men OF this country cannot get employment
in the factories, they must seek it elsewhere
They cannot find it in other mechanical
pursuits, so they must go to the land. There
every man can 90 when he cannot find work
at his accustomed occupation, and when he
goes there he takes out of the ground liv-
ing and he is no longer the consumer Of your
products, but produces for himself and be-
comes competitor of yours instead of a
customer of yours as he is to-day. Every
new industry increases the farmers home
market and furnishes him what he most
wants-profitable customers. 1t is no fault
of the new tariff law if the farmers of the
United States do not supply every agricul-
tural want of our entire population. We
framed that law to give them this market |;
and we framed that law not only to give the
exclusive control of this market, but to en-
courage Industries which would increase
the consumers by increasing the factories
and the demand for labor therein. Every
product of the farm is protected by the new
law directly and by the maintenance OF our
thousands of great enterprises indirectly
secures for the farmer the best market in
the world for his products.
Thirty years of protection has brought
us to the first rank in agriculture, in mining
and in manufacturing development. We
lead all nations in these three great depart
ments of industry. We have outstripped
even the United Kingdom, which had CEN
turtles the start of us. Her fiscal policy for
fifty years has been the free trade revenue
tariff policy of the democrats; ours the
protective tariff policy of the republicans.
Tried by any test, measured by any STAN
dard. we lead all the rest of the world.
Protection has vindicated ITSELF