£tate Ofollcgp of Agriculture &t (Hotnell Umueraitg Strata, ». $. Slibraru. Cornell University Library HF 1755.S55 Speech of Thomas G. Shearman, at Des Moi 3 1924 013 921 238 wis FREE TRADE: The Road to Temperance and Prosperity for all Classes. Speech by Thomas G. Shearman, At Des Moines, Iowa, October 2, 1883. "•i»> Ladies and Gen v 4en : I have not come to this State to i'e the interest of any political party or to advocate the election any particular man. I have always been • a Republican. I was inember of the first Republican organization ever formed in my '•n or county ; and from that time to this have always voted in main the Republican ticket, with that liberal correction as to ies which every sensible man will exercise. Even at the last Iction, when, three-fourths of the Republicans in my electoral ftrict refused to vote for the Republican candidate for governor, ited for him I have always been and still am a member of the iijblican party, «Wi-' e holding myself entirely free to oppose it n it is /wrong. 'W hen the Republican, party was formed in 1,6 I was a protectionist, and so remained for years ; but it was '^.inctly agreed at the formation of the party that protectionists ,1 free traders should enter it with perfect liberty of the action, that neither sir, ml /'lid be bound to surrender their own views, that point. ^^ republicanism not protectionism. [The Republican Nat : onal Convention of 1856 said nothing in its \ form about the tariff ; and the Republican House of Represent- ees in < 185 7 enacted t.ie lowest;- tariff, and the one most nearly Broaching free trade, that ever Existed in the life time of any one present. In i86p ge majority of Republicans- in Congress ed for a higher tariff, "" 'k 'ar 1 "' richt to do; and in )i the Morrill tariff was enacted ; but no attempt was made then [Hong afterwards to force Republicans in general to accept the fetrine of protection. In 1866, 1870 and 1872, many of the pngest Republicans in the country openly denounced the system jrotection in Congress ; and some of the ablest speeches in op- ition to high protective theories were made by Senator Grimes [Congressmen Allison and Kasson, of Iowa. The Republican Ite conventions of Iowa for several years in succession repudiated the protective doctrine, and declared in favor of tariff for revenue. I understand that this year the Republican State convention has Tf*" treated from this ground in favor of a tariff for protection ; whi Messrs. Allison, Wilson, and Kasson, who have in former yea made the most convincing expositions of the folly of high protecti tariffs, are now trying to persuade the people of Iowa that all the past declarations were mistaken and their whole political course this respect wrong. I do not recognize the right of any State National convention of the Republican party to la,y down any bin ing rule upon this subject. I intend to maintain the free speech ai thought on this subject which was agreed upon at the formatii of the party. FREE TRADE AND TEMPERANCE. The election in this State appears to involve two issues, those if free trade and temperance. The temperance question is one If great importance ; and the reform which our temperance friends cfc^ sire to accomplish is one that is eminently desirable. I was for- merly a prohibitionist in politics and would be so still, if I believed that the cure for the evils of the liquor traffic could be found in that way ; and although I do not now believe that the remedy is a prac- ticable one, I have certainly not come here for the purpose of speak- ing against prohibition. The evils of intemperance are so enor- mous that I will not quarrel with any one about the means of its cure. Only, when we are asked to treat every other political? issue as inferior to that of the prohibition of intoxicating liquors, we must be permitted to point out that there is a more excellent ■wa?: What is it that gives liquor such a hold upon the comic .unity ajri- enables it to fix such evils upori us ? In other words, why do min generally drink to intoxication ? The great mass of evil caused |y the use of liquor will be found in two classes — one the very rMM» and the other the very poor. The rich are tempted to drink by reaso of luxury and idleness ; and the poor are driven to drink by ther degradation, weariness, and despondency. Whenever the mass o' men are ground down by excessive taxation, low wages, high rent unhealthy tenements and foul air, they always did and always wili drink excessively, no matter what laws you may pass against tut traffic. The old-fashioned doctors, when they found a pati t it bleeding to death, spent, all their energy upon simply stopping ftp flow of blood outsidey Beavijjg the inter^ai injuries, which caused the blood to flow, uncujed, they choked the channel to prevent the blood from flowing out of it, turning it all inward, and shrugged their shoulders when the patient died from internal hemorrhage. 1 The wiser school of doctors strike at the cause of the hemorrhage. They seek to find what it is which makes the blood flow, and are more anxious to cure the cause than they are to stop the effect. I appreciate the vast evils of drunkenness, but I believe it to be a thousand times more important to stop the cause and remove the in- ducements of drunkenness than to try to stop the sale of liquor i without doing anything to remove those causes which drive men a-- all hazards in desperation to seek relief in drink. The ever-widening chasm between rich and poor ; the vast in- crease of low tenement houses ; the dirty and degraded state in which vast multitudes of our laborers now live, and the constant tendency of this class to increase in numbers and to lose hope for better things — this is a state of things which will always encourage Mitemperance more effectually than prohibitory laws can restrain it. TStrike at the root of the disease, and then you can safely attack some of its fruit ; cure the cause of the bleeding, and the blood will soon cease to flow. Now, this question of free trade lies at the very foundation of all the evils which are most palpable in American so- ciety. I do not pretend that the mere adoption of free trade would at once cure every public and social evil. Certainly I do not mean that the mere adoption of a tariff for revenue would have this effect. But I have no doubt whatever that free trade is the first and indis- pensable step towards a reform of our social condition ; and as, unfor- tunately, a tariff for revenue only see~ns to be the only method by which we can gradually approach free trade, and as even this lim- ited measure of relief would be attended with immense benefits, and would really do more for the elevation of the American people than any other measure that stands the least chance of adoption at present, I think that free trade, whether in whole or in part, whether by slow or by quick steps, is the most important question, even in the interest of temperance, which can possibly be made a political issue to-day. AN EASTERN FABLE. Let me tell a little fable : There is a country, of course a Ion a; way off from Iowa, which we will call Mesopotamia. That is a good name, because it is the country where Abraham was born, and which he left to find a better. In Mesopotamia the mass of the people work hard for eleven or twelve hours every day ; they save all they can and yet they never can get on. After twenty years of hard work ft was found that 1,000,000 of the people were no better off at the end than they were at the beginning ; while a little over 1,000 men had been growing rich very fast, until at the end of twenty years rich men owned more than half the property of the whole country. The 1,000,000 workers are naturally discon- tented and are constantly asking, what is the reason of this ? Some wise man told them that it was because the money of the country is too good. They use silver currency in the East, and this wise man told them if they would only use lead instead of silver, all would come out right ; so the people did for a while try lead, but soon found out that things were rapidly growing worse instead of better. Then other wise men told them that all the trouble came from paying debts, and that, if they would only pass a law allowing all debtors to cheat their creditors, everything would be happy. As the million workers all had votes, they began to think of passing such a law. But another wise man quickly suggested to them that in point of fact they were all creditors, and the one thousand rich men were all debtors, inasmuch as very few of the workers obtained their wages until the end of a month after they had done their work, arid therefore any law enabling debtors to cheat creditors would make it only worse for themselves. Then some of the workers clamored to cut down the time of their work to eight hours, or even six hours a day. They triefd this, and found themselves a great deal worse off than they were before, so went back to the old plan. Then others told them that usury was the cause of their difficulty, arid that all they had to do was to pass a law forbidding any man from receiving interest on loans. The people were about to try this, when they found that if such a law were passed, it could not be enforced, and if it could be enforced, the only result would be that no one would lend any money. During all this time everybody knew perfectly well that the Turks, who govern Mesopotamia, visited every house at night several times a year to collect taxes, always waiting until the peo- ple were asleep. The Turkish method of collecting taxes in Mes- opotamia had always been to find out how much a man had saved, and, if he had saved a great deal, to take only a small pro- portion of it ; if he had saved a moderate sum, to take a somewhat larger proportion, but if he had saved but very little, then to take it ail. Thus, if a man-had saved ! $i, 000,000, the Turks would only take $20,000 from him. d If he had saved $20,000, they would take $2,000 ; but if he had saved only $50, the Turks would take every cent. Now, as scarcely one of the 1,000,000 workingmen could ever save more than $50 per year, the Turks regularly carried off in the night the whole of their savings, while as the 1,000 rich men saved from $20,000 *to-$i, 000,000 a year, the Turks only carried off the smaller-portion of their wealth. -Everybody knew this, but then everybody said it was so nice to have their taxes carried off at night when they were asleep, and that it would hurt their feelings so much to have taxes collected in the daytime when they could really see it done, that this method of taxation was quite popular ; and when a few men proposed to change it and have the taxes collected in the day time, each man paying in proportion to his wealth, instead of in proportion to 'his. poverty, all Mesopotamia rose in indignation and swore that the Turkish( them ever do. But you are asked to shut your eyes and to have confidence that this money, which is taken from your pockets by means of a tariff, will come back to you somehow, although no hu- man being can pretend to tell you how. But in the next place the tariff is not a help, but a hindrance to home manufactures. About seven-eighths of all the imported articles on which taxes are laid for the purpose of encouraging man- ufacturing axe themselves materials for manufacturing ; and all these taxes are laid in the first instance by the manufacturers , them- selves, and are a burden instead of a help to them. More than seven-eighths of all the manufacturers in the country are thus in- jured more than they are benefited by the tariff. For they make goods which cannot be made abroad ; arid they have to use foreign materials or materials just like those which are made abroad, the price of which is largely increased by the tariff. They get no gopd from protection, because even if there were no tariff, the kind of goods which they make would not be made in Europe ; and they are enormously injured by it, because they have to pay such heavy prices for their materials that their sales are cut down to one-half from what they ought to be in consequence of their being unable to furnish consumers at moderate prices. The only reason why Jhe tariff has been thought a blessing to manufacturers is that people have come to think that there are no manufacturers other than those who make unfinished materials. People talk of pig iron, bar iron, steel, tin plates, cotton and woolen yarns or cloth, leather, silk, and other things of that kind, as the only manufactures worth talking about. But really these are only half or quarter finished manufac- tures ; they are not of the slightest use until further work has been done upon them, and these are the things upon which duties are collected for the sake of protection, to the injury and often the ruin of builders, furniture makers, stove makers, tailors, dressmakers, milliners, and ojher real manufacturers, without whose labor pig iron, sheet iron, lumber, tin, cotton, woolen and silk goods would be entirely useless. It is no wonder, then, that the growth of manufactures in this country has been hindered, instead of promoted, by high tariffs. Between 1850 and i860, under what the protectionists call British free trade, being the lowest tariff that we have had during my life-time, American manufactures increased at the rate of 85 per cent. Between 1870 and 1880, under the highest tariff that we have ever known, the census returns show an increase in manufactures of on}y 27 per cent. FREE TRADE AND HIGH WAGES. The most monstrous claim which the protectionists now make is that the high tariff is necessary to make high wages. The real effect of every increase of the tariff in the past has always been to reduce wages. There is a natural tendency in this country toward advanc- ing wages ; and if it had not been for our high tariff, that advance would have been very great in late years, in consequence of the de-^ velopment of new fields of industry and new opportunities for th* employment of labor. But in point of fact, the high tariff has had such a depressing influence upon wages that, according to the ad- mission of protectionists themselves, such as John Jarrett, the late president of the Iron Workers' Union, the average wages of all work- men in the highly-protected iron and steel industries are less to-day than they were twenty-three years ago under the free trade tariff of 1857 ; and I have read in protectionist newspapers that the work- man must be prepared to submit to a'further reduction of thirty per cent. In the highly-protected cotton and woolen manufactures, where the duties range from 50 to 120 per cent., all for the good of American labor, wages have been cut down until they are not only lower than they were in i860, but considerably lower than they are in England. In the cotton manufacturing districts the average rate of wages in this country is over twenty per cent, lower than in Eng- land ; the hours of labor are twenty per cent, longer, and the cost of living is fully twenty per cent. more. In the woolen manufacture, protected by an average tax of seventy-five per cent, and on many articles over 100 per cent., the rate of wages in this country for the same number of hours is at least ten per cent, lower than in Eng- land, while the cost of living is fully twenty per cent. more. It is a remarkable fact, however, that this state of things exists only in those branches of manufacturing for the encouragement of which protection is especially maintained. I do not know of any branch of industry, not asking protection, in which the rate of wages is not considerably larger than in England: There is no time now to explain precisely why this is, and it is not necessary ; but it is one of those unhealthy and hateful results of protective tariffs which every one who carefully studies the facts knows will follow, although on the surface it seems the last thing that would be probable. But do you not see every day that the most sickly people are exactly those persons who are perpetually studyifig their health and whose whole lives are devoted to consultations with doctors and examina- tions of their own pulse? Just so it is with manufacturers. When any class of manufacturers begin to depend for their salvation on the tariff, and whenever any class of workmen look to the tariff for the support of their wages, they are the very first to suffer by it. All experfence has shown that wages in every branch of manu- factures have risen more rapidly when so-called protection was taken off than before. Under the low tariff of 1846 wages advanced more rapidly than they ever had done before. Wheteas wages had been stationary in the iron trade under protective tariffs for more than twenty years, they began to rise under the tariff of 1846, and' the clamor of iron manufacturers against that tariff was due as < much to the fact that they were compelled to pay higher wages, without mak- ing greater profits, as to any other cause. The real ground of their complaint was not' that it was less profitable to make iron than be- fore, but that they were obliged to divide these profits with their workmen in a more equitable proportion. A little reflection will show clearly enough why 1 this result always follows the reduction of tariff taxes. Nearly all the manufactured articles imported are used by manufacturers for manufacturing pur- poses. A reduction in cost, produced by lowering the tariff,' enables the great mass of manufacturers to buy- their materials cheaply and increase their sales very largely. Thus increasing their sales, of course they are compelled to employ more workmen, because the number of' workmen is proportioned 1 to the quantity of goods which the employers can sell. A reduction in the tariff, therefore, brings two employers in the field hunting for workmen. An increase ■ in the tariff, by diminishing the amount which the home manufacturer can sell, compels' two workmen to look after one employer. When the tariff goes up, seven-eighths of the manufacturers have to pay an in- creased price for their materials; and as ; they cannot sell" the same quantity of -goods at an equivalent increase in price,' they 1 have' to re- duce their production. Of course, when they do this, they no longer need so many workmen, and therefore discharge them in large numbers, arid down go wages. Reducing the tariff, this - re- duces the cost of materials ; and the same manufacturers increase both their purchases and sales. They can afford to reduce their prices, and so attract a "large • increase of ■ customers. They are obliged to engage more workmen to supply the increased demand for their products ; and so up go wages. 'Within this very *year the truth of this has been proven' by -a sudden reduction ■ of the tax oh tobacco. This- tax °was cut down one-half on the first of May last, and in less than ten days thereafter the tobacco manufacturers were generally compelled to apply one-third of the reduced' tax to the increase of their workingmen's wages' in consequence of the large increase of their own manufacture. THE IRISH QUESTION. The protectionists are showing a wonderful interest in Ireland just now, and are clamorously asserting that all the woes of Ireland have been caused by free trade. Never was more absurd nonsense uttered. The Irish people were ground down by the " protective system " for hundreds of years, until they rose in rebellion against it Hi 1779 ; and they were the first nation in history to demand free trade and to inscribe that motto on their banners. Their manufac- tures were killed by English "protective" laws, and only began to revive after England adopted partial free trade. But since England abolished protection, Irish manufactures have rapidly increased, until now they are far greater than ever before. Ireland has an immense linen manufacture, considerable manufac- tures of mixed woolens, and growing ship yards and machine shops. The wages of Irish workmen in factories have risen ioo to 150 per cent, since free trade was adopted, and the wages of Irish farm la- borers over 400 per cent. In 1844 Daniel O'Connell repeatedly stated that farm laborers were glad to work for 12 cents, and even 8 cents a day. In 1878, bad as the year was, they received 57 cents a day, and now they receive 75 cents, being as much as thousands of work- men in iron, cotton and woolen mills receive in our own favored land. And what does Americnn protection do for Ireland ? It tries to crush every Irish manufacture. It puts a heavy tax on Irish flax, a heavier tax on Irish linen (the principal Irish manufacture), a tax of 80 per cent, on Irish poplins, 100 per cent, on Irish frieze, and over 50 per cent, on even Irish potatoes ! It lets in the product of Chinese cheap labor duty free, but puts the heaviest taxes on all Irish productions. And now the protectionists coolly ask Irishmen to vote for an increase of these taxes on Irish goods, for the very pur- pose of starving out their brothers and sisters who remain behind, and are struggling to make an honest living upon the old sod. No, it is not free trade hat. hurts Ireland. It is rent : it is land- lordism. Not the landlords, as individuals, but the system under which the produce of the land is absorbed by a few. That is the system which earnest Irishmen have been struggling to overthrow ; and it is a system which protective tariffs build up, and which abso- lute free trade would destroy. THE MORAL QUESTION. For my own part, however, I feel so strongly the importance of the moral question which lies at the root of free trade, that it out- weighs all other arguments. In the long run, stealing does not pay, but you do not care whether it pays or not , you do not want to steal. Selfishness and greediness do not pay ; and a protective tariff is but one method by which the rich are enabled to steal from the poor, and by which the selfishness and greediness of one nation are aroused against others. All such passions are unprofitable and disastrous to those who indulge in them ; but no man of honor and self-respect would stoop to discuss the question whether such things paid or did not pay. They are essentially vile and base ; and that is enough for any honest man. The whole system of protection is avowedly one of selfishness and greed. It attempts to keep down the workmen of Europe and prevent them from having high wages, under the pre- tense that if we allow them a chance to work for us wages will be reduced in this country. This pretense is utterly false ; but no self- respecting workman will care whether it is true or false. It is mean, dishonorable, unchristian, and contemptible ; and that ought to be enough for any man. What sort of teaching would you think it if II one should say : " Little boy, it will not pay to slap your mother in the face ; and therefore you should not do it. Children of venerable parents, dependent upon you for support, it will not pay to turn them out into the snow of a winter's night ; and for this reason only you had better endure their presence." While admitting the importance of temperance and of just legislation in behalf of temperance, I do not know and never have heard of any commandment in the Bible or saly precept of the Christian Church, requiring a prohibitory liquor law to be enacted. I do not know that the New Testament plainly for- bids a protective tariff and condemns it as the work of the devil. I know that the teaching of every branch of the Christian Church whether Protestant or Catholic, Episcopal or Presbyterian, condemns the doctrine upon which a protective tariff is founded, as a thing in- fernal. You ask whether the words " protective tariff " are to be found in the Bible. No ; and no more can you find these words : "Thou shalt not spit in thy mother's face." What do you find? "Honor thy father and thy mother." That is enough. And in the same way, every page of the New Testament condemns the spirit which lies at the foundation of " protection." The greatest Being who ever spake in this world said to his disciples, " Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies." And again he said, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the prophets." But he who ad- vocates a protective tariff is worse than the Jews of old. He would teach us to hate not only our enemies, but our neighbors and friends also. His gospel is, " Curse them that bless you ; hate them that do good to you; have no dealings with them that pray for you." For all the hatred of protectionist teachers is directed against Christian nations ; and the more closely any nation is allied to us in religion, the more they strive to poison the minds of our people against it. They pretend sympathy for the Irish, and yet impose an enormous tax upon Irish linen manufactures, which find their best market here and support many hard working Irish men and women ; if they could have their way they would increase this tax ; and they would rejoice to hear that every Irish woman engaged in the flax and linen manu- facture had been starved to death by the withdrawal of American markets. They gloat over exaggerated accounts of the sufferings of foreign workmen, caused by the reduction of American demand for their products. Their avowed intention is to starve the workingmen of England, Ireland, France, Italy, and Germany, into abandonment of their native lands, so as to force them to give up all the associa- tions of their childhood and the homes in which their ancestors for countless generations have lived and loved, and tear them up by the roots in order to plant them here and bring them into more direct competition with American workmen. Is this a system which Christ intended to establish between na- tions, all of which call themselves Christians ? Is this what he meant when, after telling the proud Jew how the hated Samaritan had shown 12 compassion for. a- poor outcast. Jew, he added, "Go thousand ' likewise!" Aie we -Christians when voting for, laws intended,' t , starve and crush our, fellow-Christians in Europe or. Canada? V\$ei might many an intelligent heathen look on with a grin) smile, a no say, "See,, how these. Christians love one another !" I know that this system^ coarsely selfish, and mean as it is, is mistakenly supported by many good and generous men. But, twenty years ago, I knew, many/ good and generous men, who had no hesitation. whatever in stripping a woman, and applying the- knotted, lash, to her; bare body, I^knem many, good and. generous men who. spoke with the most absolute is-" difference, of, tortures worse than death committed upon Christian women. I knew many good and generous men who thought it.per- fectly right to tear r an infant a month, old from, its mother's breast, and sepd the child to orphanage, and the mother to prostitution. Yet all, these things belonged to the devil and his works ; and the whole system of so-called "protection," although covered with a more re- spectable, veil and supported by multitudes of well-meaning Christian - men, has its roots in the same narrow spirit of selfishness which sus- tained slavery, and will I hope, even within my short life time, be banished from this Christian land.