ntelligence.

_Question_. Does the protective tariff cheapen the prices of
commodities to the laboring man?

_Answer_. In this there are involved two questions. If the tariff
is so low that the foreign article is imported, of course this
tariff is added to the cost and must be paid by the consumer; but
if the protective tariff is so high that the importer cannot pay
it, and as a consequence the article is produced in America, then
it depends largely upon competition whether the full amount of the
tariff will be added to the article. As a rule, competition will
settle that question in America, and the article will be sold as
cheaply as the producers can afford.

For instance: If there is a tariff, we will say of fifty cents on
a pair of shoes, and this tariff is so low that the foreign article
can afford to pay it, then that tariff, of course, must be paid by
the consumer. But suppose the tariff was five dollars on a pair
of shoes--that is to say, absolutely prohibitory--does any man in
his senses say that five dollars would be added to each pair of
American shoes? Of course, the statement is the answer.

I think it is the duty of the laboring man in this country, first,
thoroughly to post himself upon these great questions, to endeavor
to understand his own interest as well as the interest of his
country, and if he does, I believe he will arrive at the conclusion
that it is far better to have the country filled with manufacturers
than to be employed simply in the raising of raw material. I think
he will come to the conclusion that we had better have skilled
labor here, and that it is better to pay for it than not to have
it. I think he will find that it is better for America to be
substantially independent of the rest of the world. I think he
will conclude that nothing is more desirable than the development
of American brain, and that nothing better can be raised than great
and splendid men and women. I think he will conclude that the
cloud coming from the factories, from the great stacks and chimneys,
is the cloud on which will be seen, and always seen, the bow of
American promise.

_Question_. What have you to say about tariff reform?

_Answer_. I have this to say: That the tariff is for the most
part the result of compromises--that is, one State wishing to have
something protected agrees to protect something else in some other
State, so that, as a matter of fact, many things are protected that