Show A TARIFF TOPIC j 1 0 0 the 1 grea 0 of contention in in the democratic convention as in in the democratic coil counsel nela baw elsewhere bert the tariff question W I 1 seems lo 10 6 be e an enigma which might tax even the ingenuity of the mythical oedipus who succeeded in ill solving the riddle of the sphinx our stat statesmen esme n W wh ach creif v biem idt el pygmy generation find the tariff question almost as bard hard to settle as the 11 mormon question A babel confusion loli on this matter has marked the first sess session ion of the congress and benefited nobody but the wastepaper dealers in the form of the tons ot rhetorical rubbish swept out of the halls balls ofin of congress gress r 1 I in in th e bushel baskets of the Congress congressional iona I 1 record r and 1 other ather printed superfluities es aa 1 while no man can deny that from froin the standpoint of pure theory and absolute universal justice free fice trade is as correct and essential between the nations ot the world asit is between our states and ries it would be felly folly at the pree pres ent stage of our economical and commercial deveno development me antto to intro duce duee it our conditions are no more ripe for it than are the minds of a majority of the people there must bellome be flome me re revenue ve i nu i e ere created t for the carrying on of the government and some protection must be thrown home industries against the formidable com competition petit ddn of U the foreign cheap labor both of these ends are most conveniently or least inconveniently reached by the imposition si it 1 on of a certain amount of duties bovo n imports from froni abbood this ed by every clear sighted observer othe natural order of things but in the application of this abstract general principle to con n divida al cases there have ban been a goo good d many mistakes made gross injustice characterizes many bithe of the provisions of the existing existing g tariff and evident inequalities exist in a good many instances also ir irs refutable facts and infallible fig urea ures prove that the object of the tariff has not been accomplished that ea even the very evil sought to eradicate by the imposition ono of facer a certain rate of duty on a certain article haa has been increased thereby this airsie Pale patently nili exemplified in the item of sugar the ta tariff rifT on imports jm of tuat article is i nearly per ce cent m n t This should p prove 1 l 0 ve a pro T lection especially and primarily to the Lotti louisiana planters who therefore would reasonably be expected te keep up abair a lair rate of wages for their laborers this howe v er does not appears to bo be the case the P planters have ave resolved to tb reduce the wages of their hands bands an average of 25 per cent which is amount to 2000 per a annum taken out of i the m mouths buths of the poor withheld held from the huts of the humble to help heig adorn odor I 1 a the mari mansions of the millionaires does then the high sugar tariff protect the laborer on I 1 the sugar suga ir plantation but more still does that high duty encourage 1 the production of 1 tha the saccharine ebba ri ne com commodity kodity let figures answer whereas in 1861 we wo produced f tons of sugar the 3 un t in 1882 was likewise the production of molasses fell off from nearly gallons in 1861 to in the last named year how d did id the exorbitant tax encourage honie ua of that article which in america has become a necessity whilo in europe itis yet alamed as a luxury let tho the candid reader answer the query for himself and there is yet a third fact con neca with this matter mattar which we recommend to the quiet reflection of oatha etva arrant af protection protectionist ista i in stead of diminishing the importation of the foreign article which is one of bibos of eo iso called protective tariff tho the high du duty ty decma ems to have operated as a very aidee 1861 the imports imparts of foreign sugar have more than doubled notwithstanding tb the e chinese wall of tariff we are afraid q that inethia instance ii ell 11 lie alleged e far arial ri ff 1 b va i ed WI q akChin efi wall laor n ne bensfi it ins opened brea cheso the enemy which it was intended to keep keel out this single illustration while not thought to be an argument for abao I 1 u to free et is j of a sort to point out the necessity of a N ilak reasonable rational afo that almost intractable incubus the tariff efty rr fl |