The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-06-25
GOOD FOR ALL

The Manu. MI TN 10
or FEW.
The following communication from C.
Campbell. OF Dallas. Texas, appeared in
the New York Tribune:
win the Hon. K O. Horr please answer
the following inquiries:
L Where Is the justice in compelling the
81, 0CO, 900 inhabitants Of the United States
20 pay an abnormal high price for their
goods in order to protect Tor rather enrich
the people engaged in manufacturing. who
constitute only q small psr cent. Of the popu-
lationy
pei mo by this tariff law 70 buy my goods
from an American when | can buy them
from foreigner for a les prices Why does
not the Government protect me as well as
the manufacturers?
Ex.Congressman Horr made the fol-
lowing reply in the Tribune to Mr..
Campbell's queries:
/. It would most surely be unjust and
wrong to frame the iEws 50 as to compel
64, 900, 900 people to pay an exorbitant
price for goods for the purpose Of maxi
ing a few men rich who manufacture
such goods. do not suppose there Is u
man in the world who will deny that
proposition. The fact that Mr., Camp
bell could ask such a question shows that
he has never informed himself even con-
corning the elementary principles OF
protective tariff.
JUST WHAT THE BENEFITS ARE.
His question assumes, il tariff is
levied on any class of goods and tAeir
manufacture is thereby secured in the
United States, that such law will re-
suit in increasing the price of such goods.
He should know that what he is claim,
ing to be true is not fact at all. Every
protectionist will tell him that in the
ease of manufactured goods. without
exception, we always cheaper SUCH goods
for the people who consume them in the
United States by making them here. |
defy Mr.. Campbell, or any one else, to
name an instance where such has not been
the result. Understand me, challenge
them to name an instance where the pro-
ductlon of large quantity Of any kind
Of goods here in the United States has
not resulted in lowering the price of
those goods so that the %, 900, 900 peo-
pie in the United States could purchase
them great deal cheaper than they ever
had previous to building up the industry
in this county.
MIR. Campbell's question assumes that
tariff is levied for the purpose of pro-
tecting and making rich few mannfac-
turers. This is not true. The main
purpose in levying duty is to enable
our manufacturers to pay better wages to
the men employed in making goods in
the United States, far better wages thap
are paid anywhere else in the world.
They are doing this.
also challenge contradiction of an
other statement. Several millions oil
people in the United States are laboring
In the production of protected goods.
These people get never less than seventy
per cent. more than the same kind OF la
Dor gets in the Old World. In many
cases they are getting twice as much,
three times as much, and in some in
stances four times rs much, as is paid
for the same kind of work elsewhere on
the face of the earth. The tariff is levied
to protect this enormous army of work.
ing people. andS mot for the purpose OF
benefting the fewA This fact has been
stated over and over again, and proved
in thousand instances within the last
thirty years. Is it not true2 Why,
then, should this correspondent so frame
his question as to take for granted one
of the most barefaced misstatements that
the free traders of the country have
been repeating during the years gone by
Under our form of civilization people
who labor with thei.. hands for a living
get better wages than are paid in any OF
the manufacturing centres OF the Old
World. Hence our laboring people are
able to live on a higher plane. They
are enabled to consume more Of the ne
cessities of life and TO enjoy very much
more Of the comforts of life than the
same class Of people on the other side of
the ocean. The protective system recog.
nizes this fact; and our laws are SO
shaped as to enable our people to main
tain this high standard of labor, and at
the same time to manufacture in this
country. Our markets are by far the
best markets on the face of the earth.
That is simply so, because the mass of
our people get these high wages and so
ere able to purchase and consume vast
amounts of goods. Experience has shown
us that if We levy duties so as to give
our own manufacturers control of our
own markets they will, by the division
of labor, by the marvellous ingenuity of
our people, and by the cheapening process
which attends constant operation and
competition, be able to pay these high
wages, and, at the same time, furnish
goods cheaper than ever before, and
cheaper than they would be now If we
were not producing them in this couu-
try. 1t such has been the result. SUBJ
init that such laws have been for the
benefit of the Ga 900, 900 people, which
include both the laboring man and our
manufacturers. assert again that such
has been the case in every instance
within my knowledge for the last thirty