The Coconino weekly sun., 1893-10-05
Tile TARIFF HEARINGS.
Testimony That Is Condemnatory of Tar
 in Reform.


 in Reform.
 The best essays on political economy which have been written for many a day arc the luminous reports of the tariff hearings furnished by our Wash ington bureau. These reports are un- pretentious, and do not attempt to analyze causes and effects in an acade- mic way; but they contain faithful reproduction of the statements of fact made by business men respecting the course of prices and the present indus trial condition ot the country. Tho witnesses are not theorists bent either uron justifying or controverting cam paign platforms and arguments, They are plain business men who know what are the facts respecting the industries with which they are identified. With one consent they have borne testimony to the general paralysis of business caused by uncertainty respecting tho tariff policy of the country, With few exceptions they unite in declaring that confidence can be restored and pros pcrity be rCCaincd if congress will de- fer the revision of the tariff and spcedi- ly announce it's intentions.
 Representatives of the iron and steel industries, in which four hundred and fifty thousand men are ordinarily cm- ployed, were heard They gave a lucid account of the deplOraGle condition of their trade. After thirty years of un- broken progress and prosperity mines have been closed, furnaces and mills have ceased operation, and tens of thousands of worllmcn have been thrown out of employment. The main cause of this industrial catastrophe has been the menace of radical changes in the tariff. If this were removed, there would bc general revival of business, factories and mines would be operated on full time and thousands of idle work men would be prohtably employed. That is the testimony of representa- tivcS of nearly every other industry who have been questioned by the com mittce on ways and means
 The democratic members have at tempted without avail to confuse these witnesses. They have sought to wiring from them admissions that consumers were burdeued by protection, that for ciCners could not pay duties when their goods were shut out, and that with free raw materials American manu- facturcrS ought to be satisfied with hcayy reductions of the tariff These practical business men have not al- lowed themselves to be eutangled by hypothetical questions and free-trade pol,Eics. They have known the facts about their own business and have stated them with clearness and preci- sion. They have cOntendcd that con suIcrs have not been burdencd since prices have been lowered by compcti tiOn; that foreigners have not been shut out since impOrtations have Stead- fly increased and were never greater than during the year following the pas Sage of the Mckinley act, and that free raw materials, while they would de- StrJy many great industries. would not compensate manufacturers for the re- ductions of duties and the disturbance and uncertainty caused by prolonged | tariff agitation.
 When Mir. Golden was advocating free trade in England fifty years ago his great argument was that prices would be chcapened, and that the working classes would be fully em- pIoyed at higher wages. The tariff hearings are demonstrating that both | of these objects have been secured in l the United States under protection. | Prices have been lowered decade after l decade in consequence of industrial | competition, and all sorts and condi- | tions of men have been working at the | best wages paid anywhere in the world What, then, has the frce-trader 1 to offer to the American people? Even if he could guarantee a further cheap | ening of prices, it would be no more than has been accomplished under pro- lection; and of what advantage would | the reduction be if the great body of workers were unemployed and unable l to buy at any prce? The revenue re- former does not venture to assume that | wages will be higher or work more constant than in 1892, the last year of republican prosperity and hope. He cannot do this when the mere menace of his activity has thrown thousands of workmen out of employment-N. Y.