Year: 1866

SPEECH OF Mr.. WILSON.


We call attention to the able speech OF Hon.
J. F. WILSON, member of Congress from this
District, delivered recently in the House and
in support of permitting negroes IN the Dis-
trict of Columbia to vote.


PLAIN TRUTHS or COMMOH sENsE.


We took occasion some time since in our
advocacy ofthe policy of establishing and en-
couraging manufactures in our midst, to as.
sert that the Western producer bore the bur-
den Of transporting his produce to the Eastern
or European market, and of bringing back
the manufactured goods required for bis own
consumption. In response our contemporary
denied our position and insisted that it was
universally admitted principle that the con-
sumner paid the cost Of transportation. And
Of consequence, that the Western man had a
great advantage in the transaction as it cost
very little for the transportation of manufac-
tured goods, while it cost great deal to pay
for the transportation of beef, pork and grain
We replied to this by facts patent to the OBJ
servation and rational comprehension Of every
one, showing from the course of business,
that our farmers in Iowa do not realize the
price paid in the market, but price less than
that by the cost Of transportation, including
commissions, storage, &C.; and that the con
sumers in Iowa do not get their dry goods,
&C., at the prices at the manufactory, but at
the prices here, which include likewise the
cost Of transportation, &c.


Then we inferred that if the distance be-
tween the producers and consumers-the far
mers and manufactures, could be annihilated
and they brought together side by side here
in the valley of the Mississippi, it would work
q saving to both parties and promote the
general prosperity.


Now if there be any flaw in our argument,
when brought to the test of facts and every
day observation and experience of common
people, we cannot discover it; or if there be
any word uttered by us, in distinct advocacy
of the doctrine of protection we can
not find that word after diligent search
The truth is our positions, our facts and
our arguments were alike unanswerable
and our contemporary was forced to re-
sort 10 the weak device Of appealing to
party and local prejudice by calling to his aid
the cabahstic phrase of g Protective Tariff. "
After which he seeks in abundance of words
to modify and mystify his erroneous positions
and involve the whole matter in such mud
die that his readers will fail 70 ahprehend the
foil extent of his discontinue.


Now out of all this muddle we distinguish
two distinct assertions, which we propose to
consider in order TO elucdate the matter, and
remove all doubt or confusion which he may
have succeeded in creating. Cur cotempora
~ asserts, first, that " The price Of an article
strictly speaking, is its value at the point of
production. Af


Now, strictly speaking, for all practical pur-
poses that proposition IS mere theoretical
aummery. The practical truth with which we
of the West have to do is what our products
will bring in the great manufacturing marts
where we ms people buy and sell. And the
people Of Iowa have to pay the cost of TAX
ing their produce to those markets and bring
ing their manufactured articles here, just as
certainly as the farmer twenty miles back in
tie country las to near the burden Cf hauling
his produce to Keokuk and hauling home
again the dry goods, groceries and ag-
ricutural implements he purchases here,
in this respect the people of Iowa bear
precisely the same relation to the great
commercial and manufacturing marts Of
the East and of Europe that the farmers in
the vicinity do to Keokuk. The reason and
the fact is identical in the two cases, both are
at the expense Of getting their produce to
market and getting their purchases of manu-
factured articles home again. Hence it fol-
lows that tue neaLer TO market and the less
expense in getting there, the higher the price !
and therefore the price of an article at the
point of production depends entirely on its
market value in the mart Of demand where it
is bought and sold. In view of these incon-
testible truths, it follows that the proposition
of our contemporary that "the price of an ar
ticle is its vaue at the point Of production, y
IS tor ali practical purposes a mere absurdity.
Many articles not worth IA red " at the
point of production bear q high price at the
great central marts of demand.


Now, in the light afthe foregoing plain and
palpahle propositions, consider the fnlloxina
which we quote from our ootsmporAry


1T will be noticed that in all It's attempts at
argument and illustration, the GATE CRY esti-
mates the price Of all the articles which enter
into the exchange of products, at the rates
which they bear in the Eastern market. For
the purpose of proving that the Western farm
er pays transportation on the cloth Of the New
England msnutacturer, the cost of the cloth
at the manufacturing mart is its prizes. Then
for the purpose Of proving that the Western
farmer also pays transportation on the grain
which he exchanges for the cloth, the principle
or rule Of fixing the price is changed.


No, we don't change the place at all, the
price, as we have insisted, is fixed in the
great msrts of commerce for the products of
the West and the manufactures of the East
and Of Europe, and we Of the West have te
take our products to market and bring our
purchases home, just - the farmer takes his
corn, or the farmers wife her butter and
eggs 70 ''to~n," and bring hash It their own
proper COST and charges, the salt, calico and
other staples or ''notions'' they may have
purchased for their own use.





THE Memphis Arou says a perfect OF; /!
demic Of gpeiBx for deb4 has broke, -
among the people Of the neishborinr COUNTIES
in Tennessee. We presume it is the same
case. or snnn will be. IN Miasissinni. ana