The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-17

not heard of the tariff? There comes float7 ing down through memorys halls visions
 of robber barons, pirates all, who taxed
 against his will the importer of goods
 wares and merchandise all the business
 would stand, always bearing in mind that
 he must not "lSill the goose that laid the
 golden egg'-that the. business must not l be taxed out of existence.
 Who does not recall discussions in rela-
 ton to specific and ad valorem duties; of imposts schedules, rates and percentages how these words were spoken in bated
 breath or in tones that would have driven a Bengal tiger to his den-how the poor old decrepit tariff was bounded up the l alleys and byways and down the hedges, do we not all remember?
 Thene has always been something mag ical in the mystic. Webster when first in Congress spoke in thunder tones in favor 1 Of free trade; the New England people then had swarms of sailing craft-then they were carrying our excess productions Ito other lands. Calhoun with dishevelled hair; in dulcet tones explained to Con- gress that protection to our infant indus tries would build up our country.
 When Whitney invented. the cotton gin
 the southland soon became the principal I exporting section and New England then utilized her water powers and com l menced manufacturing the cotton the l south produced. As if by magic. Webster l became a protectionist, and Calhoun I free trader. It was ever thus. Hancock
 was nearly correct when he said 'fThe
 tariff is a local issue" Had he said that Il 1t is personal issue he would have told l the whole truth. .a
 The clarion call to duty to the party or l country when tariff was the only motto on the. party flag has not only been heard in our own country, but in all civilized lands.
 In our own country the Walker tariff 1 asliding downward scale of taxation-is the only one that has harmonized the peo- l pie as the Hon. oscar Underwood has
 the discordant elements in his party, and AIr. Blaine referring to that law said I that it was so satisfactory that merchants l and miners, farmers and laborers, pro- l ducers and politicians. were so well l pleased with it that politicians could not muster a corporal's guard to listen to Il them if they advocated a change, and that prosperity, such as hitherto had not been known, was in every section of our fair I land.
 Why our modern statesmen have not
 seized upon the idea-whv they have not re-emboded it into law-we do not know.
 A thorough search of the patent office
 veals the fact that the central idea was
 not patented; had it been, long since it
 would have. expired.
 1 To tell the story of the tariff, freed from
 technical terms, to give facts and not preachments is the object in view in pre- l senting this article
 First of all I will lay down a proposi- ton that most of my readers will at first l feel inclined to controvert: it is this. Dur ing the first half century of our national existence manufacturing was far more 1 general than now. Tariff experts would 1 say that the percentage of manufacturers compared with the total population was vastly greater than now.
 Take the census reports, and the com mercial and state reports of A. D. 1S00 and you will find that at least 80 per cent of the total population lived in the ruraf districts-that they either owned or aided 1 in tilling the land. Doctors, lawyers and merchants were largely interested in 1 farming. Was farming carried on then IS | it is now? On the contrary, nearly every planter or farmer was a manufacturers and Mir Thomas, in his own resume of the then existing conditions, concludes after carefully examining all the evidence that more than 70 per cent of the families in l our country were engaged as principals | or assistants in manufacturing.
 The mansion or farm houses were nearly all manufacturing establishments Little brooks that now by reason of timber de- l structon go almost or entirely dry in 1 summer, then had mills or factories on them, and the remains of dams on our water courses prove this proposition. Farmers and tenants had cards for card | ing cotton, wool and flax. Cotton, cotton and wool; flax, flax and wool were com ! bined used singly-for the people then spun the thread used in making garments They spun the warp and wool for cloth l for dresses, for mems apparel, for bed l linen as well as table linen, cordage l twine, carpets and clothing-al produced and manufactured at home. Local tan neries made the hides of animals into 1 leather for shoes, harness and saddles and these were all manufactured locally All farming implements, wagons, carts, vehicles of all kinds were made at the cross road factory. The seed from flax was used for making oil to mix with local 1 pigments to make paint Where there was an abundance of oak cooperage factories | fourished. Grist mills on the larger creeks ground the wheat grown into four which was packed into barrels and hauled /, to water transportation. Country mer- chants were pork packers-and they used barrels made of oak slaves, so did dis | tillers and cider manufacturers. Syrup was made from the sap of the then abund- 1 ant maple, and later on sugar cane and | sorghum were added to the list. Brick l and pottery plants were operated where clays were found suitable for such pro- 1 duction. Nails and hardware furnishings l rifles and gun powder, tailoring and shoe l making, blacksmithing and wagon mali- 1 ing were local industries in the north; | in the south every planter had a series of factories on his plantation, and every nail l for shingling, siding and finishing Mon- tecello and Montpelier was made by hand in the home factory owned by Thomas Jefferson Iron furnaces with a capacity from two to five tons per day were oper- ated where iron ores were found-water power furnishing the blast and charcoal 1 the fuel. Bloomeries were operated by bars and local founderies made the pots and kettles used in kitchens as well as the shot and shell for war.
 At that time the "home market was at home." Salt was made wherever saline wells were found--in short the people then I were mainly engaged in tilling the soil, in
 manufacturing the products of the coun- try and in merchandising. Banks and tsteam engines were then rarer than total eclipses of the sun
 Recalling the conditions that existed
 when the early tariff laws were enacted, it does not require @ statesman to show
 that they were primarily enacted for pro-
 ducing revenues. Whatever of incidental
 protection to the then infant industries
 was for the benefit of the tiller of the
 soil who operated factories as side lines.
 Our labor was the then pauper labor"
 or slave labor. and their product was used
 to supply the home demand Then, too, the merchant borrowed money of the