Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-09-29
THE AMERICAN TARIFF.
Ex-Judge Altgeld, Of Chicago, on
the Leading Issue.
A Lengthy and Able Address by the ILL.,
nois Democratic Candidate for
GOvernor-Efect of High
Duties on Wages.


opened in Illinois by a democratic
rally at Joliet on September Is. In the
evening there was grand parade OF
democratic marching clubs, after
which the throngs of people present
assem- bled 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 he
said:
"In every country of the old world where the
So-called pauper labor exists, where the laborer
has been reduced to the condition of slave
without even master to give him decent
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 few hands, the building up of a
few at the expense of the 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 a high protective
tariff that the unequal conditions that still ex-
list there-that is, the concentration of great
wealth in 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 tariff-in
fact, since the abolition of the tariff in England
her population has doubled, wages have doub-
led her trade with foreign nations has in
creased five fold, her manufacturing and COM
mefcial affairs have increased more than five
fold, and the moral, political and intellectual
condition of her people has greatly improved.
In fact, the greatness of Great Britain al
most be said to have begun with the abolition
of her tariff Her industries at once became
diversified, the energies of her people bounded
out along almost every line of human endeavor
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
~ never become self-reliant, but are always in
distress and always causng for more help;
these interests, thrown out their own re-
sources and compelled to study the conditions
which are necessary to success, had a
natural growth, acquired strength and a
prosperity which they never could have done
under tariff.
SIT 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 main tanning it. In
none of them does it help the laborer. because
the laborec's wages have long been at the star
walton point; long been to the lowest point pos
sible without compelling him to go 10 the poor
house.
SIN this country 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 high tariff alternated with a rev.
enue tarin. 1 wish, however, TO call attention
to the fact that what was during the first sixty
years of our career considered 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 an 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 tho
war tax, and under the Mckinley act they again
increased the tariff duties of 1883 by an average
of nearly 40 per cent, so that to-day we have
an average tariff rate of over 60 per cent, or
about ksAr times what they deemed necessary
when they started in to protect infant indus
tries and build up manufacturing interests q
century ago. If this is any criterion then If the
republican party again revises the tariff it will
nearly double 1T, for every successive increase
since the war has been very large
In contradis tinction to this let me call at
tention for moment to the last so-called reve-
nue., or tree trade tariff, enacted in 1885, and in
force for upward of ten years to near the out
break OF the war. 1t was known as the Walker
tariff because framed in accordance with the
views of Robert J. Walker, who was a member
OF the cabinet This tariff abolished the high
duties which then existed and imposed only
moderate duties TO secure revenue for the treas
ury. 1t was enacted in 1916, and notwithstand-
ing that the wings won a victory in 1913 and had
possess on OF the government they did not dis
turb il. kli in commenting upon this fact Mr.
Blaine in his Twenty Years in Congress- SAYS:
The ';;rn OF lS4S was yielding abundant rev.
enL- and the business OF the country was in
flour shing condition at the time the admins
trat.on of Gen. Taylor was organized. Money
bee anne very abundant, large enterprises were
undertaken, speculation was prevalent, and for
a considerable period the prosperity of the
country was general and apparently genuine
The principles embodied in the tariff of 1916
seemed for the time to be so entirely indicated
and approved that resistance to it ceased not
only among the people but among the protection
economists and even among the manufacturers
to q large extent. So general was the acoui-
escence that in 1885 protective tariff was not
suggested or even limited by any of the three
parties which presented presidential candi-
dates Certainly this cannot be said to be the
judgment of a biased man. And it is a fact that
during this period not only did the manufactur-
ers who mad formerly Been protected prosper
but there was general prosperity throughout
the country. All indus tries thrived, Agriculture
prospered, the business of the country pros
pered, and 1t was during this comparatively
short period that we built up the greatest com
Ekerce then on earth. Mr.. Blaine tells us that
or tonnage exceeded that of any other nation
on the globe There was not sea in the world
upon which ship could float but what il had
upon ii American ships laden with American
products and flying the American flag. 1t was
during this period that our industries became
diversified as they never had before, and tina.
our country developed so as to enable it to sue
cessfully cope with the great civil war The
avowed object and principle of the tariff in this
country for thirty-five years has been to keep
out foreign competition on what was STYLED
paupermade goods and to enable the manufac-
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 q beautiful sound and we shall
presently see that it has turned out to be =
cruel deception, by means of which both the
laoorer 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 rrces than he could have IL there was
more competition; in fact, if this were not (he
OBJECT and effect there would be no use in hay
ing it. But IL is not only the theoretical but it
Is found to be the practical effect of it. II 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.
1t is rare that we now meet with man who
mas so @w an estimate of public intelligence as
10 still claim that. There are MANY articles
Tor 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
man brings s., 900 worth of it over before he can
land 1t he must pay Il 400 tax to the govern
ment Now, If il were true that the importer
pays the tax and the consumer does not and
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