Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-09-22
THE AMERICAN TARIFF.
Ex-Judge Altgeld, Of Chicago, on
the Leading Issue.
A Lengthy and Able Address by the iii.
nois Democratic Candidate for
&c vernor-Efect of High
Duties on Wages.

The presidential campaign was
opened in Illinois by democratic
rally at Joliet on September IL. In the
evening there was a grand parade OF
democratic marching clubs, after
which the throngs of people present
assembled before the courthouse and
listened to an eloquent address By ex
Judge J. P. Altgeld. of Chicago, the
democratic candidate for gubernatorial
honors- In speaking on the tariff ne
said:
In every country OF the old world where the
so-called pauper labor exists, where the laborei
has been reduced to the condition of slave
without even a master to give him decen,
burial when he dies. they have high pro
tective tariff and have had for centuries and
the conditions which the tariff has created in
this country-that is, the concentration OF
wealth into a few hands, tie building up of a
few at the expense Of tie many-grew up there
while they had high protective tariff. England
had high protective tariff about forty years
ago. and had one for centuries, and it was dur
ing the time that England had q nigh protective
tarin that the unequal conditions that still eX-
ist there-tha. is, the concentration OF great
wealth in a few hands and the impoverishment
Of the many-grew up.
While wages are still low in England they
have doubled since she wiped out her tarif-in
her population has doubled, wages have doub-
led her trade with foreign nations has in
creased five fold. her manufacturing and COM
niercial affairs have increased more than five
fold, ard the moral. political and intellectual
condition of her people has greatly improved.
IN fact, the greatness of Great Britain can al
most be said to have begun with the abolition
Of her tariff. Her industries a. once became
diversified, the energies of her people bounded
out along almost every line of human erdeavo-.
and even those protected interests. which had
had kind OF dollhouse existence and had al
ways been looking to the government for help.
just as some young men who are excessively
assisted by kind father and who consequent
ly never become seifreliant but are always in
distress and always calling for more help:
these interests. thrown out on their own re-
sources and compelled to study the conditions
which are necessary to success soon had q
natural growth, acquired strength and a
prosperity which they never could have done
under tariff
at is a further noticeable fact IN all other
countries of the world where they have high
protective tariff lit is the rich, the privileged
classes who are interested in maintaining 1t. In
none of them does il help the laborer. because
the laborer s wages have long been at the star
walton point long been to the lowest point pos
sibie without compelling him TO so 10 the poor
house.
I'm this countr we have had tariff legislation
for about a century. 1t is not necessary here to
name the different tariff acts and the rates they
impose. During the first half century what was
then called a high tariff alternated with a rev.
enue tariff. 1 wish, however to call attention
to the fact that what was during the first sixty
years of our career considered a high tariff. and
sufficient to protect American industries, was
not equal to one-third Of the present tariff.
In other words those who have been advocat-
ing the principle Of protection have found
themselves obliged to raise the tariff every
time that they had it in their power They now
have tariff that is nearly four times what it
was deemed necessary when they started; that
is nearly double what it was even during the
war of the rebellion, when they enacted what
was considered excessively high tariff in
order to raise revenue for the governmental
tariff which they then declared to be simply a
war tariff and which should be reduced when
the war was over. but which, instead Of re-
ducing, they have constantly increased. Under
the act of 1888 they very greatly increased the
war tax, and under the Mckinley act they again
increased the tariff duties of 1888 by average
of nearly 40 per cent. so that to-day we have
an average tariff rate of over SO per cent, or
about four times what they deemed necessary
when they started in to protect infant indus
tries and build up manufacturing interests a
century ago. II this is any criterion then if the
republican party again rcvises the tariff it will
nearly double it. for every successive increase
since the war has been very large
I'm cortrad5 tinctica to this let me call at
tenticn for = moment to the last so-called reve-
nuc. free trade tariff, enacted in 1886 and in
force for upward OF ten years to near the out
break OF the war Il vas known Is the Walker
tariff because framed il accordance with the
views of Robert J. Walker. " no was a member
OF the cabinet This tariff abolished the high
duties which then existed ana imposed only
moderate duties to secure revenue for the treas
ury. Il was enacted in 1916, and notwithstand-
ing that the wings wen 4 victory u. 1873 and had
possession of the government they did not dis
turb 1t. And in commenting upon this Fact Mr.
Blaine in his Twenty Years in Congress says:
The tariff Of 1916 yielding abundant rev
enue and the business of the country in
condition at the time the admins
tration of Gen Taylor was organized. Money
became very abundant, large enterprises were
undertaken, speculation was prevalent. and for
a considerable period the prosperity of the
was general ard apparently genuine.
The principles embodied in the tariff of 1876
seemed for the time to be 50 entirely indicated
and approved that resistance 20 il ceased rot
only among the people but among the protection
economists and even among the manufacturers
to a large extent. So general was the acau-
cscence that in 1855 protective tariff was not
suggested or even limited By any of tie three
parties which presented presidential candi-
dates Certainly this cannot be said TO be the
Judgment of q biased man. And il is fact that
during this period not only did the ulanufactur-
erS who had formerly been protected prosper
but there was general prosperity throughout
the country. All industries thrved. agriculture
prospered. the business Of the country pros
pered, and it was during TINS comparatively
short period that We built up the greatest com
merce then on earth. Mr.. Bla;ne tells us that
our tonnage exceeded that OF any other nation
On the globe There was not a sea in the world
upon which ship could float but VIVA. ii had
upon ii American ships laden with American
products and aying the American flag. 1t was
during this period that our industries became
diversified they never had before, and tina.
DUR country developed 50 as to enable il to sue
cope with the great civil war. The
avowed object and principle of the tariff IN this
country for thirty-fve years has been to keep
out foreign competition on what was styled
pauper- made goods and to enable the manutac-
turer to pay higher wages to his men. In fact.
the advocates of the tariff have been enabled to
keep in power almost solely through the cry Of
protection of American labor.
This had a beautiful sound. and shall
presently see that il has turned out to be a
cruel deception. by means Of which both the
laborer and the farmer have been robbed OF
their substance. The first effect Of the tariff is
to enable the manufacturer to sell his goods At
higher prices than he could have If there was
more competition: in fact, If this were not the
object and effect there would be no use in hav-
ing it But it is not only the theoretical but it
IS found to be the practical effect Of it 1t is
true that for awhile there were men who argued
that the importer paid this tax levied by the
government and that the consumer did not
pay it.
has so low an estimate of public intelligence as
10 still claim that There are many articles.
for instance. plate glass. upon which the duty
IS in the neighborhood of 40 per cent, depend
ing somewhat upon the size Of the pieces II a
nan brings 81. 900 worth Of it over before he can
and it he must pay Il 100 tax to the govern
nent Now. II it were true that the importer
DAVIS tax and consumer does not. and