The Portland daily press., 1892-08-03
THOUSANDS HEARD HIN.

Continued From First Page.
| the case of pearl buttons, has there been
| any advance in prices to the actual con-
| sumner, Yet Mr.. Cleveland in his recent
| speech in Rhode Island, said: The
| consumer has found life harder since the
| passage of the new tariff law than be-
| fore.'F That is not true. The consumer
has not found life harder, for the COM
modities which enter into his daily life
| are, in great majority of cases, lower
| than they were before the new tariff law
| went in;o effect. He has had cheaper
| sugar, cheaper clothing, cheaper boots
and shoes and cheaper nails than before.
A careful investigation of prices of
| wooden and cotton goods made in the
city of New York, and embracing over
1000 quotations of articles for compar-
| alive period under the new and old
tariffs, and this made by an expert who
has reported prices for forty years,
shows that in about 50 per cent. OF. all
these quotations and articles there, has
| been an actual decrease in price since
| the new tariff went into effect as COM
pared with the same prices of goods I'M
| der the old tariff. Furthermore, old In
dustries have been stimulated and very
| many new industries started, which are
| now estimated to have given employ
| ment to from 200, 900 to $50, 900 employees,
aud it is a fact well established by re-
ports from all countries that at this time,
while depression and anxiety exist in
| their Industries, there is prosperity in
| the United States alone.
| When the tariff has been increased
| upon foreign article, and it does not in
crease the price to the American con-
sumner, how does the American consum-
mer suffer? He gets the commodity
at as low price as he got it under the
| old tariff, notwithstanding the increase,
gains everything. Take the case Of car
pets-one of the most marked increases
| under the new law We advanced the
tariff on wool, which lies at the foun-
| dation of the carpet industry, to protect
| the wool growers of the country. We
advanced the tariff on carpets, the fin
ished product, to compensate the manu-
facturer for the increased duty on wool,
and yet today 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 specula-
| tive rather than real. But today there is
no line of carpets that you cannot buy as
! cheaply as you could prior to October g.,
1890; and as to ingram and other lower
grades of carpets, they are even. cheaper
| now than then. So that the increased
| 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 far
mer has been positive benefit.
A Revenue Tariff.
| What protection will do and has done,
what Democratic revenue tariff will do
| and has done is not left to speculation.
! Our own history records the story OF
both. From 1S47 to 1861 under free
trade revenue tariff the balance of trade
| against us was more than $431, 000, 900;
| and there were but two years OF the fif-
| teen when the balance of trade was in
| our favor; while from 1876 to 1884,. a
| period of fifteen years, there were but
just two years when the balance of trade
was against us. We were then under
protection thirteen years when the bal
ance aggregated $3.50, AS, 246. Which
| period was the most profitable to the
American people?
1t is maintained by the Democratic
leaders. but rests wholly in assumption,
| that the farmer would be benefited by a
revenue tariff, that his export trade in
| agricultural products would be increased.
| Let us refer again to our own history.
From '46 to 81 during that entire revenue
tariff period, we exported 65,440, 173
bushels of wheat, We exported in a
| single year under protection, that OF
1878, 72,000000 of wheat or 100000
more than the aggregate of the entire fif-
teen years under a revenue tariff, and in
80, 'S1, 'S2, 'S5, 'S7, '91, we exported
more wheat in each of these several
years than we sold abroad in all
| of the years from '46 to '61 under the
Walker free trade tariff of 1916. We ex-
port now in single year more wheat
than was exported from 1890 to 1861, a
period of seventy-one years, more
wheat in single year than in all of the
1 years from Washington to Lincoln. Can
the farmers justly complain of this
showing, and does the tariff reformer ex-
tract any comfort from it?
1 Whether you consult the question OF
domestic trade or foreign trade, prOtec-
ton in our own country has given us the
best results. 1t has given us the largest
activity at home and the largest sale of
our products abroad Protection not
only directly benefits the great indus
tries of the country by making it posi-
BILE to establish them-and thus furnis h
ing employment to labor-but it makes a
demand for our raw materials of every
kind and character, which but for our
manufacturing enterprise at home would
be practically useless and without value.
Farmers and Protection.
Protection is apositive benefit to the
farmers of this country. There is no
class of our fellow citizens more certain
| ly advantaged by the protective tariff
than the farmers of the United States.
1t makes home demand for his prod
ucts, and home consumers are Away bet
ter than foreign consumers because they
are nearer the field of production. They
enable the farmer to dispose of perish
able products at a profit, which it would
be impracticable to ship abroad. 1t
therefore increases to that extent the de-
mands for the products of agriculture,
and widens the uses of the farm. Mil
l Ill. Of hn o4e