The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-02-02

committee are so eager to ::have in ex-
change for our own. Mulhall gives GER
tain statistics which will serve to make
the comparison clear. On page 365 of his
Dictionary OF Statistics he says the
total yearlyproducts OF the the manufacturers ma
which the United States produces 49,
900, 600. I do not vouch, nor can body
vouch, for these figures, but the proper
tion of one-third to two-thirds nobody
can fairly dispute. We produce one-thlrd
and the rest of the world, England in
cluded, two-thirds.
"The population of the world is !, QUO,
900, 900, of which we have 10,00O.O0O
which leaves 1, 43O, 900, 600 for the rest of
mankind. We use all our manufactures,
or the equivalent of them. Hence we are
eu uaI to one-half the whole globe out
side of ourselves, England included and,
compared as a market with the rest OF
the world, our population is equal to
Il 5, 600, 900.
Il repeat, as compared with England
herself as market, our people are
equivalent to O0,000.O00. AS compared
with the rest of the,world, England IN
cluded, we are equal as market TO 7l5,-
900, 900. These figures more than Justify
the adjectiyes of the Englishman, and
the cold facts of mathematics surpass
the spasms of rhetoric.
Instead of increasing this market by
leaving it to the steady increase of wages
which the figures of the Aldrich report
SO conclusively show, and which have
not only received the sanction OF the
member from New York, the secretary OF
the treasury and the Democratic bureau
of statistics, but the sanction of every
body who hears me, our committee pro
pose to lower wages and SO lessen the
market and then divide that market
with somebody else, and al on the
chance of getting the markets of the
world.
"Who have these markets of the world
now? There is hardly spot on the globe
where three generations of Engllshmen,
Frenchmen or Germans have not been
camped in possession of every avenue OF
trade. Do you suppose that with ma
chinery
Nearly as Good as Ours
and wages at one-half, these men are 60
ing to surrender to us the markets of the
world?
"Why, the every duties you keep on
show that you do not believe it. 1t we
can not, without duties hold our own
markets, how shall we pay freight, the
expense of introducing goods. and meet
but IOE6lSllcI WACIC hC ltSSo'
"To add to the interesting impossible
ties of this contention, the orators on the
other side say they are going to maintain
| wages How can that be possible? All
things sell at the cost of production. 1t
the difference between cost OF production
here and cost of production in England
be not equaIized by the duty, then our
| cost of production must go down or we
must.go out Therefore our labor, the
great component part of cost of produc-
| ton, must go down also.
| eff you say this will come out of the
profits then profits will be lessened in
every occupation, for your own political
economists teach you that the profits in
| protected Industries can never be greater
than in other occupations, and will not
| long consent to be less. Let it be noised
| abroad that any occupation is making
| big profits and straightway it will be
| swamped with competitors, so that over
profit is the sure precursor of no profits
at all.
"On the question of the
Constitutionality of Tariff Taxation
I shall spend no time. have not. been
here as long as / have without learning
| that sconstitutionaIity' and 'unconstitu-
tionality' on the other side of the
chamber are mere phrases, and that
when gentleman of the other side, with
| swelling voice, denounces the tariff as
| unconstitutional he merely means that
| he does not like it. Inasmuch as nobody
! in a hundred years has even asked the
| Supreme court to pass on that question,
! it seems hardly worth while to discuss
| it. If the father of his country fresh
| from the convention. in signing the first
| tariff tax bill signed an unconstitutional
| act, the gentleman from Georgia Mr..
| Turner) and the whole Democratic party
are better than George Washington-a
thing not hitherto charged upon them.
But do not the people. pay the tariff
| taxes, and do they not go into the
pockets of the monopolists? Do you be-
| lieve the consumer pays the tax or the
foreigner? Well I am going to be perfect
! IL frank about that, and answer, some
| times one and sometimes the other, and
| sometimes both. The first thing the
| foreigner does when d tariff tax is laid is
| to see. if he can get into our market with
not reduce his prices. II he cannot he
looks over his margin of profit and sees
if he can, by abatin1g some part OF these
| profits, get his goods in. So far as he
does abate them he pays the tax. So far
| as he does not, the rest of the tax is paid
| by the consumer.
| "If the foreigner pays all the tax, then
| within the limit Where MS goodS can
c,.culate there may be protection OF
there may not. If after paying the whole
tax he still has margin of profit to
sacrifice in the industrial war, there will
be no protection, or very limited protec
| ton. But if there be only slight mar
| gin which he can not sacrifice without
rendering the market worthless, ther
there will be competition the same az
if he manufactured here. In the latter
case he at least can not shut up oul
factories.
ain these cases the prices will not be
raised. But where the consumer pays
any part of the tax by SO much is thu
| price raised. This is the general rule
but often it does not work So After thu
act of 1880 large importations in antici
patton of large profits, anticipations
frustrated by the Barring failure panic
made great changes in the case. Many
prices did not rise at all, and yet man
ufacturers, knowing that there would b
certainty at least that they could no
be badly under sold, began work.
at often happens that men will begir
manufacturing under tariff that doe
not raise prices because they know tina
such tariff will prevent them from go
ing down. 1t is not enough to have good
in the natural mark et at price which