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Show UK I Ki ns OK THE TARIFF. I ! .Voiik- years affo, when our present pres-ent I. .ril l' laws were established, a v, tvc of protest arose from the dt3-, Meriting faction. It. v.:is slated that an increased tar-' iff would unreasonably raise commo-d.ty commo-d.ty prices and that, by doing away .i!h e(,!ii'et ition, it would measurably measur-ably lower the efficiency of industry. 11 v.'Jia predicted that our prospcr-i'y prospcr-i'y would be seriously injured and ;h,j'. those with money would get riore and those who had little would l.r.ve lev. The tariff seems to have operated just opposite from this. Prices of .-rtieles on the free list have, on the average, increased more than the i riee". of ::riicles coming under the tariff provisions. The efficiency of industry has ,','reutly increased and the productive power of each worker is greater than ever before. We are living in the most prosperous prosper-ous era in our history, with leas poverty pov-erty and generally better prospects for the future than we have ever known. Our industrial workers are the best paid in the world, and they have the highest standards of living. Agriculture Agri-culture is rapidly being placed on a sounder and more profitable basis and farmers realize that a lower tariff would ruin, rather than benefit them. Taking everything into consideration, considera-tion, the recprd we have made since the war is not of the sort to encourage encour-age free trade sentiment. |