The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-01-30
H VS.. Low TARIFF.
For si4 9 tive Years it Has Been a Pc.
litical Sbby--A Reduction of the
Tariff Will Do No Good Unless
Other Legislation Goes Along
With It,

living issue for the last IS years. A
discussion of its merits and demerits
has created more excitement and en-
gendered more strife than any other
| question that ever come before the peO
pie, excepting the question of abolition
that rent the country in 81. 1t has, at
| all times, been sectional in it's career.
| and as such has been no small factor in
dividing the North and South From
| our earliest recollection, we have been
taught by our politicians that high
protective tariff was detrimental to the
prosperity of the South; that it was in
| consequence of import upon foreign
production that the farmer, the me-
| chanic, and wage Garner paid high
prices for daily consumption. What
ever may be the truth respecting the
| advantage conferred upon factory lords
b! the tariff, it is perceptible to all
who have investigated the situation
that the prosperity of not only the
South, but all other countries, depends
upon a substantial home market as
sisted by a sufficient amount Of cur
rency to meet the demands of exchange
upon all occasions, 1t has heretofore
been claimed by the Democratic party
that protection was a fraul, while it
has ever been maintained by the Re
publican party that high tariff was
essential to the preservation OF home
industry. I haven't the ability to enter
into discussion as 60 what should be
the regulation Of trade between this
and other countries. Such an under.
taking would battle the understanding
of anyone whose knowledge of manu-
featuring is confined alone to the South
absolute free trade, or even a tariff for
revenue only, would be as dangerous
as tariff completely declaring every
thing from the American ports. An
opportunity to procure the necessities
of life at least cost ia the object of all
economic people,. To the thoughtful
observer it is plain that great inequali
ties exist. The price OF every thing tie
farmer buys is far in excess of what he
has to sell. This creates ruin and de-
spair, and he is interested to know the
cause of such misfortune. He is in
formed by the merchant when he
! purchases an article, that the dearness
of that necessity is in consequence of
the tariff. His politician tells him that
the great difference between a pound
of raw cotton and q pound Of cotton
shirting is regulated by the tariff; he
! tells him if there were no tariff, If free
trade obtained between this country
and England, verythiDg would be
cheaper.
Yes, they have had the impudence to
offer US this sort of reasoning, still you
older ones remember, prior to the war,
every thing you bought from the store
that was made abroad, you paid a high
price for it. In 1851 the Morrill, tariff
was enacted, and by it's inauguration
the imports of England greatly fell off,
and to-day, in the midst of all the
Democratic nowling about the injustice
of high protective tariff, that Unre-
! futable fact stares us in the face that
everything, with but few exceptions,
cost us less than when made In foreign
lands. But, says the free trader, free
competition would still cheaper every
thing. How could that bet Would
the monopoliEers, who have grown
rich and powerful by their unrelenting
operations, relax their iron grasp upon
the commodities of the country, or
would the market be established then
in England as it is now in America by
trusts and combinesl If the tenor OF
mems actions were controlled by the
influences of equity, prices might be
reduced by a reduction of the tariff.
Cotton is produced in the South as
cheap as any other part of the world.
It gets in the hands of the spectators
and enhances enormously in price be
fore purchased by the consumer.
Wheat is produced in the West for one
cent a pound. 1t, too, gets IN the hands
of the mlddleman, and goes through
channel of speculation until it sells Tor
twice as much as the producer received.
The people of the South and West are
confronted with this condition, nor Is
it in any way effected by tariff
To aomit that foreign manufactures
can be obtained cheaper than home
production. is to confess that 1t Is In
consequence of cheap labor at starva-
tion wages. The supporters OF free
trade stand confronted with more than
one fact that makes stale their argu-