Huntsville gazette., 1894-01-20
TARIFF AT THE SOUTH.

New Conditions.
LOUISVILLE. Ky. Jan. 15.-The Louis
vile Commercial, to-day publishes
the following interview with Gov. Nc
kinlcy, given reporter who went to
| Columbus to ask the governors views
on the tariff question as affecting the
| south
Gov. Mckinley, will you tell me
what the Wilson bill means to the
south?" asked the Commercials repre-
| sentative.
The Wilson bill, said the governor,
lis the assertion of the policy of the
old south, and an utter disregard of
the policy of the new south, with its
what Buchanan left us. | don't be-
lieve any southerner wants to go back
to that, do you?
The same industrial methods that
answered thirty years ago will not
serve now, and just 50 the legislation
of thirty years ago does not meet the
requirements of the south of to-day.
But" said the governor, with great
earnestness, this is not a sectional
| question. 1t is not a question of north
and south: it is a question of patriot
ism, and a question of enlightened
sclf-interest. of national and individual
prosperity. The south needs protec-
| tion just AS the north needs it, but it is
| even more important to the south. just
now, than to any other section, be-
| cause of the natural conditions existing
| there. Its natural resources are just
beginning to be developed, and need
thc encouragement of the same pro-
tcctive system that has stimulated the
growth of our northern and eastern
states.
The act of 1890 was just to the
south. 1t was a recognition of the in
dustrial activity of the preceding ten
| years in the south, and the results n
| this section under the operation of the
protective tariff of this act, have just
| fed the hopes of the trainers of the
bill. The southern states did not helI
to make the majority in congress that
passed that bill, but the protective
| system is founded upon national
| policy and the interests of the south
were as carefully protected as those of
| any northern republican state.
There were people who said: Let
| the Louisiana sugar industry 60 But
| we said: No; we will take off the
| duty, but we will give them a bounty
that will be equivalent to the protec-
ton of the duty We had to intro
| duce, practically, new feature in our
| legislation, a bounty, and we did it for
the protection of the sugar industry of
| Louisiana and other states"
Governor" the reporter said, tell
me why you took the tariff off sugar,
and substituted the bounty?"
Because the sugar duty was a
revenue duty" was the prompt re-
| sponse; and in a revenue duty, the
consumer pays the tax. A small part
| of the sugar consumed in this country
was produced here; we were paying
| in the added cost of our sugar, $50, ,000,-
! 600 year that we did not need over
revenues, and we thought it batter to
| save this to the consumers, give the
| producer a bounty of nine, ten, eleven
or twelve millions year, and realize a
net saving of say, $4,000, 900 20 our
people.
There are some points, continued
| the governor, that have been covered
time and again, but which, cannot be
kept too prominently before the peo-
| pie now, when they are all thinking
with such terrible earnestness on this
subject of the tariff. 1t is claimed
that the low tariff period of 1s46 to
/ f II - Il
necessary to keep the facts in mind.
Show the artificial stimulus to values
| of war, famine abroad, and the dis
covery of gold, and then look at the
course of values when normal condi-
tions were restored under this same
| law tariff.
This is no time for the discussion of
| this question from partisan sta nd
| point It is not time for theories,
but for work and wages. The people
Of this country are face to face with
the problem of preserving their prop
| ertv, of having work that will furnish
| them the means of support.
''One phase of the question is that Of
the interests of American labor.
| AIt bHt idDcl III hiCh VI WIS NOuh
try too well paid?
Il do not think that the condition Of
American labor is too high for the nat
ural conditions of this country.
know it is not.
The better paid the labor, the bet
ter our civilizations. The best Amer
lean citizen is the man who is getting
good days wages for a good day g
| work; who has the comforts and re-
finements of life. | do not believe
that the best results are to be obtained
from starving men.
Il do not believe that the wages of
American labor are too high, and ! am
against any policy which proposes to
reduce them There is nothing in the
trade promise that the increased
importation of foreign made goods will
increase the demand for American Ia
Dor or give steadier employment TO our
people. You can't buy abroad and still
make the same articles in the same
quantity at home, and if You don't
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