The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-07-22

tion covering period of sixteen months
and conducted with scrupulous impair
tiality, reports over the signatures Of its
Democratic as well as Republican men,
bers, that the retail prices of 2l5 necs-
saries Of life were 81 per cent. lower q
year after the new tariff had gone into
effect than they We're at any time dur
ing the year previous to its passage.
and that the same necessaries were
84 per cent. lower year and
eight months after the tariff became
operative than at the time the act was
made law. And further, that the wages
of labor during the first year of the Nc
Kinley tariff rose quarters of per
cent. on an average and stood n per
cent. higher in this country than in
Great Britain.
These are not glittering generalities.
They are not iridescent dreams. They
are hard, solid facts and figures, the
granite foundation upon which the Re-
publican party is builded. Under the
tariff the cost Of living is lower, not
higher. Under the tariff wages are ris-
ing. This is not Republican testimony
alone. The foremost free traders in the
country attest it. This is how the
tariff system is ruthlessly" wringing
blood from the plain people" to build
cup the fortunes of those for whose
benefit this injustice is perpetuated."
What is the tariff doing for the plain
people9 Forty years ago when we de-
pepended npon foreign countries for our
manufactured goods, ninety per cent. of
the commodities used were made abroad.
Protection has changed all this and
now not much above four per cent. of
our manufactured goods come from
across seas. Have things become dearer
to the consumer because Of the policy of
building up manufactures in this coun-
try? On the contrary home competition
has brought down prices all along the
line, and to-day most Of the manufac-
tured articles bought by workingmen
who are receiving u per cent. higher
wages than they would receive in Great
Britain are being sold in our shops as
cheap as they can be bought in the
shops of England.
This applies to cotton goods Of all
descriptions to all sorts Of household
furniture, to the clock on the wall, the
watch in the pocket, to boots and shoes,
to the hat on ones head, to all sorts Of
woodenware, to carts, carriages, harness
and all kinds of agricultural tools and
machinery. It applies to all manner Of
edge tools and to most cutlery, crockery,
glass and tinware, and to pots, kettles
and pans. In some instances these
things are much cheaper even than they
are in England. And as to food, whether
bread, meat, vegetables or fruit, IL is
cheaper here and more abundant than
in any country of Europe.
Repeal your protective system"
says the free trader, addressing the
American workingman, "buy British
goods at less price than you pay for
American goods. and you will become
rich and prosperous. Under the pro-
tective system you are being robbed"
What are the facts? Nothing could be
more false than the claim that the
duty is tax which comes out Of the
BY far the greater part of
the revenue collected on importations is
the toll paid by the people of other
for the admission of their
goods. English manufacturers admit
that the tariff comes out Of their pock-
cts and their bitter hate of Mckinley
ism" is proof Of their assertion.
To introduce the system proposed by
the free trader would be to break down
our home market in favor of Great
Britain. 1t would close our mills and
throw thousands out of work. 1t would
destroy our manufactures to check the
industrial decline of England. The
cause Of protection is the cause of the
plain people. 1t affects the great masses.
1t is thing to study in the light of