The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-07-01

cations ne W. tauSnt - Oxxo1u NM
self and sent his sons thither. His great
plantation touched tidewater. and ships
straight from London dropped anchor
there. bringing madame's taffeta and
masters broadcloth straight from British
looms, while tobacco and produce went
In exchange. England was nearer than
New York in point of time and reached
with less discomfort. Slave labor was
cheap, the soil rich, the acres broad.
The produce of the land brought a
reasonably stable price, the instinct of
the day was to get as much Of
foreign goods for the money as possible.
Manufactures at home meant intelli-
gent labor, and it was the maxim of the
slaveholding oligarchy that it was a
crime to teach black men to read. SO
the Democrats of 1928 forget the teaching
of the Democrats of 1896. They claimed
for slavery the sanction of heaven where
Jefferson had condemned it and where
jefferson had wished to encourage
native industries, they finally forced
upon the country the free trade tariff of
1S46-the infamous act born Of deceit
and treachery. For "Polk, Dallas and
the tariff Of 1S42" had been the Demo-
cratic cry, and Polk was unknown and
Dallas Pennsylvania protection
ist. 1t was not the last time
that free traders won by lying.
From 1900 to 1s46 is a long jump.
Let us bridge it briefly. The tariffs of
1916, 1924 and 1928 were all protective,
the latter raising as great an outcry in
its time as did the Mckinley tariff. 1t
was this tariff of 1928 that gave birth to
John G. Calhoun's South Carolina Ex-
position which taught that the South
must ever be for free trade because it
must ever remain an agricultural COM
munity by reason of its "soil, climate,
habits and peculiar (slave) labor"
The tariff Of 1892 was good-natured
attempt, in which Wings joined, to re-
duce the revenue. Any one who can re-
member precisely similar attempt ten
years back doesn't need to be told it was
a failure. The protective tariffs of 1916
and 1924 were followed by prosperity.
Tariff reduction in 1882 brought panic
within four years, eliminating in 1887.
The protectionist tariff of 1s42 brought
order out of chaos, but 1s46 dashed
hopes to the ground and ruined for the
time the fabric of industrial wealth.
That tariff of 1s46 was terror. 1t
was accompanied by the war with Mex
ico-all piece of the same policy de-
signed to add more southern States to
vote for free trade and slavery. Then
it was that free soup houses had to be
in New York city, and mis-
cry like that of to-day in Wales was
known for the first ime In PROVIDENCE
also there were soup houses, where
honest men struggled for food to keep
from starving. The filling up of the
cove was begun to find little work for
empty hands and labor was the cheapest
going.
The discovery of gold alleviated mat
ters somewhat, but real prosperity the
northeast never knew again until after
the slave power had been forever broken
and the Morrill, tariff, adopted by the
first Republican congress in 1861, had
done its blessed work. Since then we
have had one unsatisfactory tariff re-
vision, one admirable protective act
the Mckinley bill-and several attempts
On the part Of the old slave-holding ele-
ment to ruin where it cannot rule by
knocking down the tall chimneys.
From the first, free trade and slavery
have been twin issues in this country.
The modern type of the old dough
face" is the mugwump, who, because
he has an invested income, like Goldman,
Or is in the transatlantic trade, like
Carl Schurz, or deals in imported goods
which he wishes to cheaper, would join
hands with Georgia and South Carolina
to ruin RHODE ISLAND and Massachu-
setts.