The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-02-06

Anu ltrSt oil cream nhd hDnOylow;
An AN thoMSn you,rIOnly SIX. wei play
TINT ain lust az young rs YOu-
ue!gh.ho, my VRlcnllNGl
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COBDESrAND CHEAP BREAD.
Ills Crusnl0 Not lilo tho Ono of To-day.
Some Facts Ut History.
From The Sftcrh OF Hon ThOadI u. Red on he
lFti'oh TGrg MAJ n he HOuts february /.
Was tho crusade tho same rs Ia waged
liero to-day? Arc tho Gentlcmen OF tho
ways AMI means committee legitimate
successors Of Bright mud Golden and
tho Anti.Corn Law LoagueP Not tho
least in tho world. That was fight by
tho manufacturers. This Is fight
against tile manufacturers. Tho manu-.
lecturers then dcSircd no protection
whatever. Turn over this hi. volume
OF, CoDdcn's speeches until you como TO
the twentieth speech, sGvon Years after
he began you will not iin1 ono ullusion
to protective duties TO manufacturers.
and even in tho twentieth speech they
arc only alluded to to reitGrnte tho dec.
larNiion made in 1858, when tho Corn
Law League began, that all duties wore
TO DO abolished.
What Cobdon was fighting was the
odious law enacted 10 enhance the price
Of bread, not for tho benefit OF tho
farmer but for tho nristocrutic ownor OF
land. Workin.men were clamoring for
increase oil pHy. Tho manufacturers
knew TINT tho decrease OF the prico OF
wheat was tho equivalent OF higher pay.
Men do not work for money; they work
ior'moMey's worth. | have said tic corn
law was M odioul law. 1t was more
than that; in Its workings 1t deprived
tho poor OF food aud put tho enhanced
price into tho pockets Of those who
toilcd not nor spun. Had that enhanced
price gone TO tho farmers and farm
Iaborcrs it might have been defended
to-day oil tho ground that it was Il lair
means of distribution among tho farm.
ers OF their share Of the wonderful gains
OF the earlier manufacturing. But rs it
was, no moro unjust law was ever al.
tackled. u.l Is
Meantime what was tho attitude OF
tho manufacturers as to their protective
duties? Why, by tho mid Of those pro.
tective duties and the inventions they
led to they had grown so powerful, had
machinery so superior, and tho factory
system SO firmly established they could
hold their own markets, beyond camor
or dispute, with duties or without. No
nation with capital ia great and ma.
chincry rs useful and productive, aud
OF skilled workmen lower by more than
onc-third, hung threatening over. its
border. Its machinery,wns SO superior
that even the low wages OF other couu-
tries could not affect it.
E. Not only were these manufacturers in
condition to permit tho duties to BIZ
taken oil, but they know it themselves.
Not only did they know it, but they
avowcd it; not only did they know il,
but they avowed it; not in corner. but
to parliament itself. lhave here Han
sard for Feb. s, lSi2.-tvol. GO, p. 1888,
where the Marquis Of Landowne pre-
sents tho petition OF the wooden manu-
iacturers Of England asking that all du.
tics BIO abolished, including their own,
but especially tho corn laws.
On page 1877 OF tho same volume Lord
Brougham declared that prior to that
time he had "laid upon the table Il pc,
tition from persons authorized by all
the great manufacturing bodies OF the
kingdom. They prayed ior the repeal
OF every duty levied under the pre-.
tense OF protection" am using tho
very language OF Lord Brougham.
This, then, was fight made by the
manufacturers rfor the manufacturers
against the aristacratic land owners
over the question OF cheap food in NJ,
island that could not produce supply
for its workingmen. Tho men who
made tho fight were not lphilanthro-
pists or saints. They were good, hon
est, selfish men, struggling for their
own interests, and never lost sight OF
them. Down to their latest day ,hev
resisted lesser hours of labor and wcre
deaf to all improvements which led to
the elevation OF tho working classes.
They held firmly to the doctrine that
"as wages fall profits rise"
To sum this NIL up, England, when it
became Tree trade, was n workshop
wherein was manufactured the raw ma
tcrial OF the rest OF tho world. OF raw
material it herself had none. Its coal
and iron aud the invention OF the steam
engine had developed its manufactures
so out OF proportion to tho wages OF the
workmen that it must have larger
market. At thattime the only idea OF q
larger market was ono that mad moro
consumers. The notion that the mar
ket could BIO enlarged by those who
were already consumers had not enter.
cd into the popular thought, yet its
workmen were clamoring for moro pay.
Tariff had already ceased to DO protcc.
ton, except on corn, and not on that in
any true protective sense. It was only
tax like that on sugar. 1t made food
dearcr.
s Repeal OF the corn laws meant IN in
crease of real wages. Repeal OF tariff
on manufactures meant nothing. Tho
whole crusade OF 1870 WINS for free food,
and Cobden nowhere says anything
else. Protection, in our modern sense,
is never mentioned in any ono OF his
FREQ trade speeches. After this review
OF tho story OF England's change will
any man dare say that he finds therein
any Justification for tho present deed OF
,;oIanco " hirh 10 m llnI tho \Vilsor hill .