The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-03-30

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pressed state of the value of almost every
description of property in the nation.
which has, on an average, sunk not less
than 80 per cent within few years. 1t is
most painful for me to dwell on the gloom
of this picture, but 1 have exaggerated
nothing. Perfect fidelity to the original
would have authorized me to throw on
deeper and darker hues."
Colonel Thomas III. Benton's description
of the same period is well worthy to be
noted:
''No price for property or produces; no
sales but those of the sheriff and the mar
shall; no purchasers at execution sales but
the creditor or some hoarder of money; no
employment for industry; no demand for
labor; no sale for the products of the farm;
no sound of the hammer but that of the
auctioneer knocking down pr operty. Stop
laws, property laws, replevin laws, stay
laws, loan Office lawsuits was the bust
ness of the legislatures in three-fourths of
the states OF Jhe Union. Distress the
universal CRY of the people; relief the uni
versal demand Numbered at the doors of
all legislatures, state and federal"
Protective Act of 1924
No relief came until the protective act of
1924. Among those who voted for that
much needed measure were such well
known Democrats as Andrew jackson,
senator from Tennessee; Thomas H. Ben
ton, senator from Missouri; Martin Van
Buren,, senator from New York; James
Buchanan, a representative from Penn
sylvania; Richard M. Johnson, senator
from Kentucky; Louis McLain, represen-
tative from Maryland; General Sam Hous-
ton, a representative from Tennessee and
afterward senator from Texas. 1t will be
observed that in this group are three Dem
ocratic statesmen who subsequently be-
came president of the United States, as
well as one that became vice president,
Richard M. johnson of Kentucky. All
gave their ardent support to this protective
tariff measure, and there was as yet no
sectionalism manifest in our industrial
legislation.
In 1928 the tariff was still further in
creased. Again most of these same dis
tinguished Democrats, including Silas
Wright of New York, one of the ablest
leaders of that party in the country, voted
for it. The names of no fewer than five
gentlemen who subsequently became
president are recorded in the yeas and
nays on the passage of this bill. Martin
Van Buren,, William Henry Harrison and
James Buchanan voted for it, and John
Tyler and James K. Polk against it.
Compromise of 1888.
But the change of position of Mr. Cal
houn and his followers eventually found
expression in the compromise tariff of 1888.
This continued in force for about 10 years,
and while it Gained the excitement in the
South occasioned by the notification cpl
sode of 1882, is at length produced the
great financial crisis of 1887, period of
distress almost equal to that which pre-
coded the enactment of the tariff of 1924.
Many of our older citizens recall with
shudder the hardships and privations
which were endured throughout the coun-
try from 1887 to 1912. They justly attri-
buted the prevailing distress to the tariff
OF 1888, and, when opportunity came, as it
did in 1910, they overthrow and drove from
power in all branches of the government
the party responsible for it.
The Tariff of 1912
AS result of this great revolution on
August 80, 1S42, President Tyler reluct-
antly gave his assent to another great pro-
tective law, known as the tariff of 1912. 1t
passed the house Of representatives on
July 16, by the narrow margin of four
votes-yeas 116, nays 112. 1t included
among its supporters such able leaders as
Garrett Davis of Kentuc y, Willard Fill
more of New York, Thomas Morris and
Nathaniel Pendelton of Ohio, and Richard
w. Thompson OF Indiana. 1t passed the
senate by the bare majority of but single
vote-yeas "a, nays %. Among it's most
active supporters were such men as
Richard H. Bayard, James Buchanan,
Rufus Choate, John J. Crittenden,
William L. Dayton and Silas Wright.
This law raised the country from the
depths of financial deprivation and dis
tress to condition of confidence and
prosperity such as it had not known since
the repeal of the tariff of 1925 So well
recognized was this fact, and so widely
popular was the new law, that in the pres
idential election of 1914, the Democrats in
the close Northern states were as earnest
and outspoken advocates of protective
tariff as the supporters of Mr.. Clay.
Tariff of 1857.
Mr.. Mckinley then went on to give the
history of the repeal of this tariff in 1S46
and the appeal to the country in 1S4S,
when it was repudiated by the people in
the election of General Taylor to the presi-
dency. He then continued
Still the Wing victory was not suffi-
GENTLY decisive to secure change in the
tariff and other questions crowded to the
front and imperatively claimed public at
tention. So it tran pired that there was
no further legislation on the subject until
the enactment known as the tariff of 1857.
By this law the duties were reduced to a
lower point than they had been at any
time since the war of 1872 The direct re-
suit of it's passage was the disastrous fin
ancial panic which soon after swept over
the country and Frustrated every depart
ment of business, involving alike all our
agricultural, commercial and manufacture
ing interests.
This was the last tariff legislation pre-
ceding the secession of the Southern
states and brings this review to period
within the recollection of many of NV
hearers. 1t will be seen that in the early
days of the country the tariff was not
only not sectional question, but had
among its frmest supporters the leading
statesmen of the South. Then this cues
ton was as broad as our country and as
national as our flag. May we not conf
IDENTIFY hope that it will be again so held in
the near future?
Is history worth nothing? Are expert
ence and its lessons to be forgotten? Are
the teachings of the past to count for
naught? Is the national distress, business