Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-04-14
BYvuAr ON THE Tariff.
Extract From the Indiana Consressinan's
Great Speech at Atlanta.

pete with labor they compete Win prou-
iicts and keep down prices to fair proht'
Labor completes with labor. II manu-.
facturer in this country has in his employ
a thousand skilled workmen who have no
competition in their line, he Is forced TO
puy the most liberal wages, and II ne conf
petes in the open market he must 90 SO ~
fair prices-the labor thus employed re-
celyes the highest wages-not only the
highest wages. which is to their advhntase
as producers but as consumers they pur-
chase the results of their toll at the lowest
price. . |
This may not suit the manufacturer it |
would be to his interest to pay the lowest |
wages and sell Mt the highest price. He |
approaches his workmen and says; MY |
interest is your interest: You are compet-
ing the products of cheap foreign labor;
let us get a prohibitory tax on the foreign
article. They will then be excluded from
the home market, and | can then get bet
ter prices and afford to pay you better
wages The workmen readily assent,
they Join their employer, they secure the
enactment of law fixing prohibltory
duty; the foreign goods are excluded, the
domestic manufacturers form combine
and put up prices, but wages remain the
same. 1t now takes more to buy than
| formerly, but that is not all. The laborer
| of Europe is no longer able to exchange
the products of his toll with our producers
|
| They emigrate to America and apply 10
| our manufacturers for work at less wages
| than our operatives are receiving Com
| petition in labor now becomes active, re-
| duction instead of an increase is the result;
as producers they get less, as consumers
they pay more, but the profits OF the
| manufacturer have been largely increased
Here is the great evil of restriction
| upon trade, it rebounds upon the produc-
ing classes with disastrous effects it Grip.
| pies the domestic marke. instead OF
developing it, and concentrates all the
wealth produced into the hands OF the
capitalist. Wages being reduced, the con
sumption of the necessaries of life must
inevitably be reduced. No laborer CON
sumes more than his earnings. Give TO q
wage-worker 81 day, and he lives upon II
he is compelled to, it is the extent OF his
income. Give to him So per day, and he
lives Just twice as well; he consumes that
much more. Give TO him So day, and he
lives still better, his children go to school
better clothed, his wife to church i'll a
better gown, he resides in a better house
furnished with more comforts, and sup
plies his table with better food; but at the
end OF the year he has saved very little, II
anything. Consumption is limited only by
tine ability of the consumer, and, there
fore, you cannot restrict trade without re-
ducing consumption and thus, in two
fold sense, increase the surplus of the
domestic supply and force down prices.
'Bastiat, in his 'Sophisms of Protection,
says:
since the increase and reduction of duty
S have been accompanied by results 80 diherent
from what Ind been expected, fail OF prices
: frequently succeeding the lncrease OF the tariff
and rise sometimes following reduction o.
duty, 1t has become necessary for politics.
economy 10 attempt the explanation OF Pho
/ nomenon which 80 overihrows received ideas
for, whatever may he snid science Is simply q
o faithful expo ition and "a true explanation O
) facts.
II ',rhis phenomenon may be explained
r BY one circumstance which should never
: be lost sight of. II is that there are tive
e causes for high prices, aud not one merely
l. The same is true of low prices One Of tht
t best-establishcd principles of politica
# economy is that price is determined by Tn,
i law of supply and demand. The price, il
then affected by two conditions de
&c inand and the supply. These conditions
Z. are necessarily subject to variations. Tn
If relations of demand TO supply may be ex
i actly counterbalanced, or may be greatly
ID disproportionate, and the variations o
l. price are almost nterminabe
g. Prices rise either on account of aug
,r nented demand or diminished supply
III They fall by reason of an augmentation o
r the supply or dminution OF the demand
n Consequently there are two kinds Of deal
ness and two kinds of cheapness, Their
is bad dearness, which results from
diminution Of the supply, as this implie
scarcity and prvation. There is goo
ID dearness, that which results from an il
g. crease or demand; for this indicates til
augmentation of the general wealth
There is also b good cheapness, resultin
!: from abundance. And there is baneft
y, cheapness, such as results from the cessi
~ ton Of demand theinabilityof consumer
ID topurehase.
u, at the same time both the dearness and Ii
g, g, cheapness which are of Il bad natare, a ba
a. dearness resulting from a diminution {
- supply tthis, indeed, is its avowed obiee
~ and o bad cheapness resulting from
III diminution of the demand, because itgiv'
y. y, false direction to capital and labor al
II, overwhelms consumers with taxes and r
~ strietions.
nd No one can successfully controyert II
tut correctness of this statement. Apply it
ie our conditions to-day and the cause of OF
he distreSses is plainly visible. Instead of
mi tariff which would compensate our man
of faciurers for any disadvantages i'll the ca
Of Of production we have had one TO restri
he trade. We cannot exclude the products
our customers for cotton and other pro
Nv. ucts without crippling their ability to pu
as chase from ns-if they cannot sell th
his cannot buy,
to THE theory advanced that We can S,
to without buying is too absurd TO merit
,nt answer. The trade Of the world is nothil
rem Dut an exchange OF products, NO count
ago Traces or can trade on any other pas
in Money simply represents production, al
ine its only value is in that fact. You mig
hle be loaded down with gold, but if You cou
cen not exchange il for something to eat or
will wear, something 10 add TO your comic
ger your convenience or your pleasure,
CO. would be valueless to you and you woI
ass cast il from you as freely as If it We
IAN pebbles or stones. We as a nation, by n
son of our great resources, can col
nearer living, III acivilized state, upon {
the own productions than any other nation
ago the world and, besides, we produce NJ
md one.third and near one-half of the Worl
tbs. supply Of gold and silver, and yet if
ack had paid money for what we bought
10 1858 and lo1 il would have taken all I
iere gold, all the silver and all the pal
800 money we had in circulation.
we We purchased Of other countries to I
Sew extent uf 81, 5Y3, 924, 30, while our ent
I'M. circulation was only Sl,6ls i39, 3l9, If
Gle cannot pay money without bankrupt
tier ourselves IN two years how can we exp
ID 10 those countries that have no mountains
lilies gold and silver TO do sO3 II is not our g
and silver mines that enable us TO TIT
nlle with the people of other countries but
bile cotton fields, orr wheat fields, and our S
nent plus of provisions. The market for til
lich is IN the densely populated and evil
,ond countries Of Europe, aid not in the "
wing forests of South Americu and every I
,avv vision that we enact that reduces IL
wifi ability To purchase our surplus diininis
/ 10 the demand, lowers the price, and cripI
they the domestic market American ma
ern facturcrs and their labor can sell to Am
been can farmers ana Their labor only to
q on extent of their purchases from them.
burg agricuturists and those supported by IL
Ii be cannot buy more than any class or loca