HICKORY, N. C., SEPTEMBER 1, 18.88.
his hcuse, or on his back ; you will
see that this tax falls with crushing
weight upon every farmer in the
land. But, the Radical will tell him
that be must pay this tribute to A’s
factory, B's mill or C’s furnace in
order that they may create for him a
home market. They tell him to hold
on, this thing will come out ail right.
It is. a little hard on you farmers
now, but it is the making of the
home market, and of the infant in
dustries, This argument strikes us
as being funny. In fuel, it reminds
us of a joke which sounds a little
like Vance, but whether it comes
from Senator Vance or Judge Gilmer
illustrates the point. A boy took
his daddy out to help train his dog
to be a bear dog. The old man
acted as the bear; the puppy got
him by the nose and was giving him
fits, when he shouted to the boy,
“help! come take him off.” “Ob,”
said, the boy, “daddy hold on, stand
it I it is hard on you, but it is the
making of the pup.”
The farmers of this country are
not asking for any such customers,
realizing that this luxury is too ex
pensive and that a man who digs his
dollars out of the ground cannot af
ford to pay such an extravagant price
for a “home market.”
The manufacturers seem to forget
that the farmers are as good and
regular customers of theirs as they
are of the farmers. It seems to have
been forgotten that the husbandman
stands pre-eminently the lord of cre
ation, that in no human presence
should be cringe, to no human call
ing should he pay tribute.
“Agriculture can live without man
ufacturers, but manufacturers cannot
live without agriculture.” The far
mer asks no tariff protection, but he
is asking in thundering tones for
•.Equal rights to all, special privi
leges to none.” Some of the advo
cates of protection sneer at the ef
forts of farmers and their friends to
secure reform in our tariff system,
and they go so far as to say too
much is raised, let the fields grow
up in virgin forests. Let us see if
any other class deserves more consid
eration or more relief than the one
engaged in agriculture? Our far
mers control the largest landed in
terest in the world, and their posses
sions should be the pride and glory
of our Government. They are en
gaged in the oldest and largest in
dustry of. our country. Fifty-two
per cent, of our population are con
nected with \h«m and are dependent
on them at the same time they fur
nish food for our whole population
and send abroad seven-eights of our
entire exports. “An agriculture is
the basis of all wealth, private and
public.” Farm life is more inde
pendent, is better calculated to make
good men and good women, than
those reared in any other station.
Better soldiers are found on the farm
in time of war and better citizens in
time of peace It is a nursery for
big brained, broad-minded, large-
souled men and true-hearted, pure-
souled women. Yet there is now,
and has been in the past, distress
and hard times among the agricultu
ral classes of this country. Many of
our substantial farmers have gone to
(the towns to engage in trade. There
is.to-day no such prosperity among
the planters of this country as there
should be. Go. to your court houses
and look over tho black mortgages
that cover everything from the farm,
with its mansion, “to the skillet on
. the dirt hearth of the cabin.” Amer
ican - farmers live harder, practice
more rigid economy, have fewer of
The luxuries, work more hours
per day and are more troubled to
make tongue and buckle meet than
any other class of our people. They
work in all kinds of weather from
early morn to dewy eve, and for
what? For money your answer.
Money is the reward of labor and
sweetens toil. But what has become
af the fruits of the labor of 8,000,000
of American farmers? Statistics
of the farm show that the values of
farm property have increased less
proportionately during the high tar
iff period than during the low tariff
period. They also show that the
mortgages on farm property from
1860 to 1880 (the high tariff period)
has equalled the increased value of
this property during that period.
This is alarming. What has become
of the profits of this great industry ?
They have been swallowed up by the
monopolists. They have been ab
sorbed in high prices resulting from
high duties. These manufacturers
have been haording their millions at
the expense of the farmer. Who are
the millionaires? Are they found
among the tillers of the soil? No,
they consist of such iron kings as
Carnegie, who have made $25,000,-
*000 under a protective tariff, and
who would continue to enrich them-
.selves and make each a Croesus by-
making the farmer and laboring man
ficers and walks hr free, in open com
petition wit'll American -labor which
the Radicals preterd.to protect. A
bolder,: barer, more transparent rue-
text than this was never invented to
cover u^a-scheine of spoliation. The
monopolist gefs his labor like the
railroad king in the open markets of
the country and as cheap as possible.
Mr. Mills makes it clear. He
says, “I want to show that none of
these tariff rates go to the laborer the
road is blocked/they cannot pass the
pockets ofthe manufacturer. Take
a pair of five-pound blankets. The
whole cost as stated by the manufac
turer is $2.51. The labor cost he
paid for making them is 35 cents.
The present tariff is $190. Now
here is $1.55 in this taiiff. over and
above the entire labor cost of these
blankets. It goes into the manufac
turer’s pocket. The poor fellow who
made the blankets got 35 cents and
the manufacturer kept the $1.90.”
We will go a step farther—the chilly
winds of winter begin to blow, this
same laborer who made this pair of
5-pound blankets, goes to the mer
chant, who is the tax-gatherer in
disguise, and buys the identical pair
of blankets paying the manufacturer
his $1.90. “Protection?” Protecting
a man by robbing him of his labor
and taking money out of his pocket.
This illustrates the sham character
of the whole business. For under
the canting cry of protection the
American people have been robbed
out of one of their dearest rights and
from the farmers and laborers of this
country has been wrung enough to
make every one of them rich. These
four words “Home market,”—“pan,
per labor” have cost the tax-payers
of the United States hundreds of
millions of dollars.
ACCUMULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF
WEALTH.
The third and last theory of pro
tection is that this country has
grown rich from protection. It is
tH.e that our country has made won
derful strides in improvement and
wealth in the last 20 years but it has
not been because of the tariff but in
spite of it. And it. has been at a
fearful cost to the great body of
American people. The accumula
tian has put be»n of a uniform char
acter. Hundreds have grown to be
millionaires while tens of thousands
have become paupers. We have
accumulated wealth at a rapid rate
in every decade since the birth of the
Republic regardless of the state of
the tariff, but never before in thehis-
tory of this Nation have the lines of
demarkation between wealth and
poverty been so wide and distinct as
now. It isa well known fact that the
fertility of Ancient Egypt with its
consequent wealth and civilization
was due to the annual inundation of
the river Nile, and that the Egyptians
attributed this overflow to the benign
influence of the Dog Star Sirius. Ob
serving that the appearance of the
Dog Star above the .Egyptian hori
zon and the annual effluxion of the
Nile were coincident, they imputed
the rising of the river to the influ
ence of the star. Reasoning in this
manner the Republicans will tell you
that the growth of this country is
due to the tariff. But the logic
which leads them to this conclusion
is an “anachronism.” It has no rela
tion to this era. It should be re
membered that there is no country
on the globe which has the resources,
the facilities, the opportunities, and
the possibilities of ours, that our
people are brave and energetic, that
each son “is a peer of the realm and a
prince of the blood,” that we have
the most fertile lands of the world
which are freely given away for
homesteads, that here we have free
speech, free press, free religion, free
suffrage ana free, trade among, the
States and that ours is the leading
nation in education, in inventions, in
transportation and in agriculture.
We are rich in spite of the tariff and
woe betide the day when the people
of the United States come to relieve
th at *Co ogress can legislate them in
to wealth. No principle of political
economy is so well established as
this, that v alues cannot be created by
statute, but that legislation can and
does effect the distribution of wealth.
PROTECTION UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
The Republican party in its last
convention went farther than it had
over dared to go before and, ignoring
the constitution of the United States
declared for “protection for protec
tion’s sake.” The constitution pro
vides for the levying of taxes to de
fray the expenses of the Government
bat beyond that it does not go. The
fundamental principle of American
institutions is the greatest good to
the greatest number. This is a car
dinal principle of Democracy, but
the protectionist will tell you that
this theory has been explored and
that it should read the greatest good
rich by t ie process ? Why should
we let so many of our fertile acres lie
barren, work our factories on half
time, “allow our furnaces to grow
cold order bond," while our u.^
chanics are clamoring for work and
the nations of the world are simply
waiting for us to come and trade with
them? These, are the questions
which press upon every farmer in
the land and upon every manufactu
rer who is not so fortunate to be j
combined in a trust. England is the |
pet aversion of the average Republi
can and is denounced on all occa
sions. Yet England buys more than
half of all the cotton raised iu the
States and more than one half of all
our breadstuff's that are exported.
We have nothing to fear frem Eng
land but she has much to fear from
us and knows it. An English States
man speaking of the tariff in our
country, points to the United States
as the great industrial nation of the
future, and exclaims “Luckily her
protective policy is an incubus upon
her industry and gives us in Eng
land breathing time to prepare for
the coming struggle.” England
knows that if we unshackle the en
terprise .of our people, we willTegain
the commercial supremacy we once
enjoyed when the. American flag was
a familiar sight upon ad the waters
of the globe and in the harbors of the
world. No people can be great who
•do not “go down to sea in ships.”
Every people must trade abroad.
Every individual is dependent on
some other. If be be a poor man the
sail and steam of traffic is in perpet
ual unrest to relieve bis wants. If
he be a rich man his Brazilliun dia
monds must be cut in Europe. The
spires to flavor Iris food must come
from the caravans of the east. His
cigar is from Cuba and Sumatra, his
rum from the Indies, his wine from
Champagne. China gives him tea
and Java coffee.- ' He will have his
clothes in spite of laws from the
looms of England and France, and
his wife her silks and satins from
Lyons, and her ribbons from Baris.
The Democratic party looks forward
to the time when our Navy shall be
again the pet of the nation—when
this grand Republic shall rule the
markets of the globe anti initialing
the j^opbest show herself t« be
“queen of the world and child of the
skies.”
PAUPER LABOR OF EUROPE.
The terms “home market” and
“pauper labor” are synonomous, that
is they mean about the same thing.
The former is used to deceive the
farmer and the latter the working
man. If protection protects the la
borer and gives him 'higher wages,
then in the name of heaven what has
produced all this trouble and tur
moil in the land ? The fact is this,
wages aie a matter entirely irrele
vant to the discussion of tariff', de
pending upon the laws of supply and
demand. If The tariff regulates
wages How is it that the wages of
the different States of the Union are
different while the tariff is all *he
same from Maine to California?
How is that.Russia with a very high
tariff pays lower wages than free
trade England ? France and Ger
many have the protective system and
the wages are lower than in England
where free trade obtains. Senator
Vance tells us that “labor was high
er here than in Europe before we
had a tariff, and whilst Europe was
highly protected, it was higher when
our first tariff of 8 per cent, was in
force it has continued so ever since
without the least regard to the state
of the tariff.” The efficiency of la
bor is. as every one knows, an impor
tant factor to be considered relative
to the question of wages. Now the
productive capacity of labor in our
factories is estimated to be from one
and a half to twice that of European
labor. No class except the farmers
have been so deluded and humbug
ged as have be^n the working-men
of this country, 1 by the manufactur
ers who have continually demanded
a high tariff for the benefit, and in
the name of American labor, but
who have always coolly pocketed the
receipts and left the poor laborer
to take cure of him self, thus-proving
that “the first refuge of scoundrels
is in patriotism.” The product of
labor is protected but there is no
tariff on labor. Mr. Perkins, of
Kansas, in discussing this point on
the floor of the House, says: “But,
if the law is really intended to pro
tect the one eight of our labor,
those employed in the favored in
dustries it is very curious that some
direct and practical step has not
been taken to effect the alleged pur
pose. If these gentlemen mean
what they say, why have they not
passed a law to prohibit the impor
tation of foreign labor?” As it is
the imported pauper labor of the
world comes to the port of New York,
bids good morning to the custom of ¬
each a Lazarus We commend the
brain that by industry and manage
ment accumulates wealth. “But
when bad men conspire good men
must combine.” Men count their
millions now who a few years ago
could not count their thousands,
lu the very nature of things it ap-I
pears that this condition of affairs
must be abnormal. It is true that
men may start even in a race and
some will shoot ahead and distance
others in reaching the goal, but we
do not believe that any raker can
reach the end before the others take
the first step if all bad a fair start
and an equal showing. The Demo
cratic party advocates the God-given
doctrine, -Render therefore to ail
their dues,” and protests against
placing upon the farmer boy a sad
die weighted down with the weights
of protection and taxation, while the
son of the manufacturer shall have 1
all the advantages that Radicnl inge
nuity can devise and run the race
without saddle or weights. “L ve-
and let live”—give them all a fair
start, and then no matter which one
outruns let/him claim the prize and
receive that which he has fairly won.
If the farmer could find a home mar
ket for all his products it might make |
a difference, but in the very nature
of things, this is also impossible.
The farms of the nine manufacturing
States produce more than is consumed
in those Slates. Therefore the far
mers of the South and West must
sell their products in the unprotected
markets of the world. Why the far
mer should be compelled to sell his
products at the real market value
and the manufacturer be privileged
to-sell his at 17 per cent, above its
value cannot be satisfactorily ex
plained by any man. An Irishman,
coming to this country in winter was!
attacked by a dog, and on stooping
down to pick up a stone to defend
himself, he found it frozen to the
ground. He said to his companion,
“this is a strange country, where the
dogs are let loose and the rocks are
tied to the ground” So the farmer
can say this must be a strange coun
try where everything he buys is taxed
and everything he has to sell must
be sold free. This class legislation
which discriminates against farmers
and enables other i»tere#ts ts absorb
an undue amount of their wealth lias
at last induced a very large portion
of the farmers to organize in associa
tions tor their own protection. The
Farmers’ Alliance is one of them and
the Grange is another, and it is well
that the farmers have been aroused
and are organizing to protect them
selves from the evils of this ungodly
tariff. And it will be well indeed
for the opponents of reform to be
ware and not to further provoke the
suffering classes by resisting the
moderate demands of the Mills Bill.
The ballot is yet stronger than gold,
and if the people through agitation
ever become well acquainted with
Mr. Tariff they will sweep from the
Statute Book every trace of his class
legislation, heretofore obtained
through Congressional favortism.
OVER-PRODUCTION CALLS FOR EXTENDED
MARKETS.
If a protective policy favors one
class, and it must be admitted that
it does, then all will seek that class
and the result is over-production.
While, if the law would leave them
to themselves, they would seek those
occupations iu which they were best
qualified and thus diversify labor.
The avenues of wealth should be
open to all but no man or set of men
have a right to be legislated into
wealth. It is not more protection,
but more customers that is the cry
ing want of American producers of
all classes. The sole dependance
of the American farmers for a market
for their surplus, ■which amounts to
$500,000,000 worth a year, is foieign
nations towards whom our Chinese
wall of protection is a declaration of
war. The manufacturers of this
country have glutted our markets by
over-production, but they do not as
the farmer, seek relief in the markets
of the world. The usual course is
tocombine competitors into a trust
or syndicate, or pool, and then
hold up the price and limit pro
duction. The smad manufacturer
who happens to be left out of the
combine is ruined. He cannot stand
the pressure, and goes under. They
carry oppression into their own
camp, monopolizing monopolies. Car
home market has becomea home mo
nopoly cornered and controlled by
trusts and other agencies. Soon,
very soon, we will be compelled to
seek foreign markets or else over
production will cause the monopolies
to die of "reed. Shall the United
States witn its mighty bound of na
ture and giant industries decline to
compete for supremacy in the marts
of mankind, “and continue forever to
trade among ourselves under the in-
sawe delusion that we are growing
to the whole number. Why they ar-
: gue from this standpoint we are una
ble to see, as the result of this tariff is
the greatest good to the least num
ber and the least good to the great
est number. It has been decided by
the United States Supreme courts ip
the case of the Loan Association auk
Topeka that protection is robbery.
Speaking of the taxing power, Justice
Miller says, “This power can as read-
; by be employed against one class and
in favor of another so as to ruin the
one class and give unlimited wealth
and prosperity to the other, if there
be no implied limitation of the uses
for which the power may be exer
cised. To lay with one hand the
power of the Government on the
property of the citizen and with the
other to bestow it upon favored indi
viduals to aid private enterprise and
to build up private fortunes is none
the less robbery because it is done
under the forms of law and called
taxation.” This is the clear and for
cible language of the highest tribu
nal iu the land. In the light of this
decision no man with a particle of
reasoning in Iris composition can say
that protection is anything'else but
robbery. Nor does the Republican
party say that it is anything else. It
says “The Constitution be hanged.”
TAX REFORM AND THE SOUTH.
The Republicans nform us that
the President's Message bodes no
good to the South. On thecontrary
it gives her joyful assurance of the
dawn of a better day. It comes to
her “as a glory beaming star” from
the dark clouds of reconstruction
and class legislation. The South
does not ^sk for help. She only
asks to be relieved of oppression.
Tariff reform .tells her that the raw
materials which lie in rich and varied
profusion at our feet will invite and
welcome idle capital which seeks in
vestment. The labor of the world
could not dig up our coal and iron
ore in 500 years. We have a practi
cal monopoly' of cotton, a staple
which clothes two thirds of (be hu
man race and the South knows and
the Yankee manufacturer realizes
that with anything like “fair trade,”
New England cannot buy our cotton,
manufacture it 1200 miles away, pay
two transportations, and sell it in
competition with the mills beside the
cotton fields. The President assures
the South that the distinctions and
partialities of the present tariff" shall
be leveled and that the mighty pos-
i
ample opportunity; for expansion,
It also sets before her the rainbow
of commercial promise, “with its
wing on earth and its wring on the
sea.” The eyes of the world are fixed
upon this higly favored land, and all
people are learning of our well-nigh
boundless, but until recently almost
hidden wealth. The capitalists, the
men of industry, energy and enter
prise, the sturdy farmer and ambi
tious youth, are all coming among
us to find a welcome and enjoy with
us the advantages a/d blessings
which a Divine Providence has so
lavishly bestowed upon us.
The South has ever protested
against this tribute exacted from her
people to enrich citizens of the North
and East, and has done and is doing
solid work towards speeding the day
of tariff reform which will free her
from unjust and obstructive laws.
She hails the on-coming of fair trade.
Her loins are girt for a new and un
fettered race. Already beneath her
feet she feels the stir of a marvelous
life. And North Caroline with char
ity and with courage is calling upon
the Democracy within her borders to
rally, to unite and help settle'this
great question which involves the
very life of every interest iu the
State and in the Union. Will the
“third party,” in whose ranks are
found a few cf the best men in the
State, forget the issues, cease to
cherish liberty as well, and throw
the Government into the hands of a
race marked as distinct from the
white race, and which has not the
experience nor the capacity for the
responsibilities of self government ?
Let every true Democrat rally
around the standard of his party and
if there is any real or imaginary-
clash among classes or between men
in this State, let them be buried in
concessions in order that we may
present a solid line of battle to the
enemy and prevent the deplorable
and blighting results of tariff oppres
sion and negro supremacy. These
great vital issues will never be over
looked by this people. But North
Carolina, looking forward to a career
full of the promises of prosperity
and wealth under tax reform, will on
the Ides of November give a major
ity of 30,000 strong for the Standard
Bearers of Democracy, the champi
ons of the people, and against the
greed of monopoly and the leaders
of oppression.