The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1893-12-08
IDLE TALES RBFUTBD,
MN. HARrER TALKS VIGOROUSLY
or THE TARIFF.
Wilson nm Forcrnnner OF Pros
perity Despite the NvnfIs Of Hish
ProtectIonists - Confluence OF
the business world.

Boston. Mass. December lover one
/ hundred members attended the monthly
dinner OF the New England Tarln Reform
League at the United States hotel Hen
iry J.. Pierce, vice president presided.
In his opening address Vice President
ttsieroe said that the obligation to reform
the tarlr placed upon the democratic par
4 ~ hy the election OF 1892 was just MS bind
\ ing today as ever and must be fulfilled.
He introduced the speaker OF the
! evening, Congressman Michael y. Har-
4 ter Of Ohio who was received with
great enthusiasm. 8Ir. Harter spoke for
over an hour on the present situation.
MIR. Herter congratulated the country
upon the recent action OF congress IN
providing for return TO currency
based upon a gold standard, by virtue OF
which action. continuing, he said:
We now possess IN q greater measure
than ever the confidence of the CONNER
clai world beyond our shores. Sensible
men, however, Impatient with the waste
fpl, selfish and dishonest principles OF
class legislation fniseiy called pro-
lection, realize that we could, II neces-
sary, 80 on for thirty Years longer under
its burdens and endure its drawbacks far
better than we could sustain ourselves
for thirty Nays under the ruin which free
HllNtI NOild flttNc MTpuSHNs
Referring 20 the tarlfr legislation now
proposed by the ways and means COM
mittee, the speaker said;
The situation requires OF US unswerying
support OF tariff reform. The condition
~ the agricultural class maSing up, AS
u does. 40 per cent OF our population, and
furnishing the basis OF all our prosperity.
The great consuming masses, who may
be said to embrace the entire, nation
were never In more need Of relief than
now. Labor In ali our history has never
been so poorly provided with employment.
While manufacturers, having outgrown
The conditions placed upon our shops. and
factories. have reached a point where,
without substantial reductions In tariff
taxation. p,Oiitable continuance OF opera
ton by many ls Impossible,
FALSE CRY or THE PROTECTION
ISy
The high tariff advocate says he fears
the result 10 labor. Does he not know
thar labor IS now I'm proportion TO what
il produces) the poorest paid and the
most irregularly employed IN the world7
l mean among the great manufacturing
nations. Does he not know that the shoe
factory workman OF New England does
not get ope-tenth MS much for his prouuct
MS the hand-woris shoemaker OF france
does Tor hisg HAS lie yst'ro learn that
the factory hand in all the cotton mills
In the United States produces each yard
Of cloth 81 q smaller labor cost Than
with her ~ to " cents per day labor, can
boast or? The recent strike ut the wooden
mills in Rhode Island shows that the
American WeaEers work for wages over
70 per cent lever than the weavers. in
lfudaersGeln, England, and besides nave
much less constant employment " u
possible that 1t has not vet reaehed the
Of the partisan OF high
taxes that we export TO all parts OF The
worla locomotives, sewing machines, az
rlcnitnral inducements and w 4. l1, -
lion OF which our highest paid american
labor Is employed?
Has Il not attracted HIS intelligent no
tice that today, hampereh as we are by
tariff taxes. We are. nevertheless, selling
pig Iron in Tennessee at $l.s6 per ton low
CT than II can be bought ~ the, cheapest
market IN Great britain Only last week
i3eaaemer irc.. sold in t'ittshulB within o
cents per ION OF the lowest rate IN Eng
land, aud whenever our steel rail makers
care TO do so they can compete success
fully in the world 3 markets with lsnRlailu5
Belgium and Germany. II the feuhed be-
liaver n the necessity for exesssiya tarif
taxes goes one step farther he viii sec
that, with the 10 cents per ton tax takenoH
iron orc. we can produce eteei rails ana
Pig IRON All niong our Eastern coast az
added saying on fuel which free trade IN
coni viii bring, we shall gs,o1 open up to
the American manufacturers aud 70 the
American workman an era OF profit and a
tier eyes Allied az they have been with
protection phaff and dust Tor SO many
years phere II not q solitary article on
which the wilson bin reduces the rate or
taxation but which II still leaYes With a
larger amount cf protection than the
actual differences between the american
and foreign cost OF labor used IN making
IL That IS m that was demanded III the
platform upon which Mr., Harrison VAS
PROSPERITY rs IN SIGHT
~ I{c 81
but am quito willing to as
sumo the risk, ana tonight when my good
friend, Governor Mckinley. is dsmalIy
ram and croaking about the
future, I declare 1t TO be my conviction
that every effect and result of the reduc-
ton of tariff taxation now aboat to be
made VIII prove advantageous to The
c9rutiy. and mat these advantages VIII
be SO rnnspieuous that from this time on
the deinA4d viii not be Tor tha restoration
of hlgn taxes, bill init congress Will be
Urged 10 make more REDUCTIONS IN number
anu larger ones in amount,
We may Juase the Iuture By the past.
and ] Wish every American would make
n.fnself familiar with the froe trade strpg
gle ~ i1AEl1ldl Wllicn extended from lh1e
70 1876 and III results. Within the two
Years after the great reform look place |
these who feared and opposed Is moss
were the eager advocates 81 stdi greater |
changes hi the direction ii free trace III /
1888 and 1910 aa honest and iree earHeaf
men 90 ever bteashed predicted ruin to |
British labor from sne coinpesiden ~ the
nannar labor q France and Germany 4et !
within two Setfs after the tatafi tnxeA
were taken on British exports " mana
taftured goods 90 germany and France /
lner ssssed very heayliy aud the wages ~ /
lengiiNh WefitinEmeu adgancea nstefd |
hay have continued 70 advance, ana have /
y even y, tor the prisfes time gone buck
projections In leRe than thirty yhara ~ +