LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DaQQ5bfl73E^ <$> »v o . . tO v % A o »J«. °o • v ". "oV <.KVWA> * • • • " . ** 1 4 o * o Sfcfc ■ - ; M : fSmg It V *L»<0 • !V -^ •W ~v . » ■ *** \3 t J> G* V *^T» A •P. .* < * '-.wy .V WwWmto* Sitter* ft TO THK Vermont Journal, Connecticut Courant,N.Y. Tribune, Iron Age, Buffalo Express, North American & United States Gazette, Virginia State Journal, North Carolina Union Banner, Brownlow's Knoxville Whig, S. Carolina Leader, Missouri Democrat, Nemaha Courier, Atchison Free Press, Rocky Mountain News, and San Francisco American Flag, ])V ; D. D. CONE, President OF THE UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION. Eighth Edition, PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON. 1867. I N TRODUCT ION These letters having already appeared in the North American and United States Gazette ; Mi—. )uri Democrat ; Buffalo Expre Connecticut Courant ; Vermont Journal; Iron Age; Virginia S tte Journal; South Carolina Leader; Atchison Free Pre N rth Carolina Union Banner; Brownlow's Knoxville Whig; N :w York Tribune; Nemaha, Kansas, Courier ; Rocky Mountain New - ; San Francisco Flag, and other leading journals, the present publication may, perhaps, be deemed superfluous. There are so many facts, however, embraced in them, that the issue of this edition has been deemed advisable by friends of the industrial interest Among the commendatorv letters received bv the author, are the two following, from E. B. Ward, Esq., President of the American Iron and Steel Association, and Hon. R. E. Trowbridj . member of Congress from Michigan. Detroit, Michigan, March i I . i ■ I). D. CONI , I Deal Si i -Your pamphlet (letters on the tariff i is received. It i;. a compen- dium of well arranged facts favoring protection; and it" generally read, would do >d . Very respectfully, E. B. WARD. House of Representatives, Washington, [uly i , i D. D. Cone, Esq.: Deal ■ — 1 have carefully read your pamphlet, (letters on the subject of American labor, seventh . and have been much gratified with the plain, ■ very able manner in which you treat the subject. I wish a copy of this pamphlet might be placed in the hands of every man in \ t, for it is to the people of that region that this sub ne of vital imp There every clement which enters into the various manufactured articl produced; and why the . e various elements should be tl I four thousand and return to be combined into an article which is to be consumed >>n the luced i> to me incomprehensible. I I n with your good work of calling the public attention to this subject. Yours, truly, R. E. TROWBRIDGE, M. ( i^i?o:>r the A Letter to Hon. B. GRATZ BROWN, United States Senator from Missouri. Washington, Jan. 31, 1867. Sir — The bill to provide increased revenue from imports, and for other purposes, being before the Senate on the 29th instant, you are reported by yesterday's Globe to have said : ' : This question as it stands is. in very truth, a question not so much of protection as it is a question of prohibition. It is to exclude from impor- tation, and thereby to reduce the revenue derived from the tariff; not to increase that revenue by larger collections on imports, thereby to enable us to reduce the taxes on internal productions. ■• I am perfectly familiar with the argument which has been adduced all along, that if voit will only give protection to manufacturers you will thereby build them up ami enable them to reduce the price of those articles which they manufacture ; hut it is a singular characteristic of this whole scheme, as now presented in national legislation, that you find to-day all these manufacturers, which fur twenty years you have been building up, asking higher rates of duly than they did in their infancy. You find the manufacturers that go into all th° uses of domestic life, such as the iron manufacturers, the wool manufacturers, the worsteds ami cottons and chemicals, asking higher rates of prohibitory duty than they have ever asked heretofore. If that is to he the result of a continuation of protection, I think the sooner we get rid of the system the better. At all events, I think it is a very conclusive argument, going to show that their is no truth in what is alleged is its general tenor and effect. •• I think, sir. that a system of prohibition such as we are asked to enact here to-day is neither more nor less than a legalized plunder. It is a wrongful taking out of the pockets of one man to put in the pockets of another. It is making lawful that which every morality condemns as wrongful. It is statutory theft and pillage. That is my judgment ahout the whole prohibitory system. We have just emerged, Mr. President. from a long and exciting conflict, in which we have labored to get rid of one system of oppression We have abolished slavery, in so far as it relates to personal bondage, hut. sir, in my opinion, the measure now before you in its principle, and to a very large extent in its applications, is neither more nor less than the incipient re-establishment of slavery in another share. It is a slavery to capital, a servitude which will be just as onerous, just as trying to this nation, and just as productive of evil consequences to the oppressed classes and sections as ever was any other form or type of slavery." NORTH AMERK AN AND i NITED STATES GAZETTE. Commencing with your first proposition, that the bill now before Congress is of a prohibitory character, you will pardon me for inviting your attention to the following well established facts : Smelted copper, the product of our American mines, pays into the national treasury a tax of three dollars and fifty-five cents per hundred pounds. The bill now before you fixes the tax on the same product from foreign mines, imported to compete with the consumers of American farm products, at only three dollars per hun- dred pounds; thereby giving the foreign product an advantage of fifty-five rents per hundred over our own. A- with copper, so with iron, in its various stages of manufacture. The rates fixed in the bill now before \,,u are actually less than the internal tax, directand indirect, collected on home productioi The American farmer hears cheerfully his share of the burden of tax made necessary by the slave-holders' rebellion. Surelyyou cannot insist that barley, impor- ted into this country, shall pay less than twenty cents per bushel, the rate of tax fixed by the new hill. The average rates of direct and indirect internal tax paid by the wool-growers throughout the United States cannot ho less than the proposed rates in the new hill on foreign grown wool. You certainly cannot for an instant entertain the idea of discriminating againsl the wool-growers of this country, as you will if the hill now before you fails to become a law. You will pardon me for calling your attention to the error you have fallen into in ascribing the pre-ent infla- tions of prices to what you are pleased to term "the result of a continuation of protection." The last repmt of the Secretary of the Treasury shows the balance of trade to have been againsl us to the amount of $100,000,000 during the past fiscal year, and though the country's product of gold has been since NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. 5 1858 not less than $1,100,000,000, it is not probable that the stock of gold and silver in the United States is larger now than eighteen years ago. Our debt to Europe is now estimated by the same authority at not less than $600,000,000. Showing but $100,000,000 invested in railway securities, it leaves an indebtedness of $500,000,000, for which we have nothing to show. In my letter of 24th March last, published in several of our leading journals, I stated that:* "Three million six hundred and eighty-six thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars ($3,686,920) worth of foreign dry goods were thrown iuto the New York market during the week ending the 22d of February. "Fifty-one million seven hundred and seventy-one thousand three hundred and fifty-six (51,771,356,) yards of cotton and woolen cloths, were imported iuto this country from England alone, during the month of November last. "About ninety hundred thousand ($9,000,000) dollars worth of iron and steel was imported into this country, during the year ending the 30th of June last. " A large portion of these goods must be paid for either in gold or U. S'. bonds, at about 25 per cent, below par, and nine per cent, interest. ;< Now, I may be permitted to ask, what part of the gold and bonds that our policy forces us to send these wealthy British man- ufacturers will be paid in turn to American workmen, to be again paid to American farmers for food, and American manufacturers for clothing ? " Great Britain has promised; time and again, to take our grain in full payment for all the goods, wares, and merchandise we purchased of her. But she has not kept her promise in this or any other respect. Whilst pressing her goods upon our market, *Published in the Vermont Journal : Hartford Courant : Buffalo Expri -- Philadelphia North American and United States Gazette ; Virginia State Journal: Charleston, South Carolina, Leader; North Carolina Union Ban- ner; Brownlow's Knoxville Whig; Missouri Democrat; Kansas Courier; Atchison Free Press; Rocky Mountain News, and San Francisco Flag. 6 NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. invading the duties by false ini - and corrupting the venal members of our Government, she bought her breadstuffs chiefly elsewhere She could buy a little cheaper from the Danubian Principalities, where the boors subsisted on black bread and worked for a compensation even lower than that doled onl to British operatives; or from Egypt, where the half-naked fellah gathered luxuriant crops when the Nile fl Is were favorable; or from the fields of little Portugal, whose people have been vassals of England .-'nice the treaty of Methuen, and have been kept in poverty by an abject dependence on British manufacturers •• When it is considered that the American manufacturer is the American farmer's best and only really g 1 custom t. it is readily seen that their interests are identical. When it is considered that from sc\ enty-five to ninety-five per cent, of the cost of Ameri- can manufactured g Is is paid for American labor, to 1"' paid in turn for American fund and clothing, it is difficult to account for the apathy exhibited by many of our members of Congress upon this all important subject. "The effect of this gigantic importation of the products foreign labor, foreign food and capital, is seen by the reports of the Iron and Steel Association at their meeting at Chicago, in May last, and confirmed at their meeting in this city on the 28th of last month. Out of nine blast furnaces in tin STATE OF MISSOURI, making annually about fifty thousand tons when in full blast, only three of them are in operation. Ot' four blast furnaces near Detroit, only one is in operation. Pittsburg has twenty-five rolling mills, with a capacity of producing three hundred thousand tons of finished iron and nails per annum ; only about one-fourth of them are in operation ; only two of the five blast furnaces in the same city being in operation. Reports from New York and other district- represented in the convention showed a similar depressed condition, with hardly an exception. •• A comparison between the two past years shows a decrease ol over thirty per cent in the production of iron in the United States Of 1 18 I'm Hi.-. - and rolling mills reported, only 86 are in opera- tion, leaving 62 of our largest American iron works idle, while the furnaces of Great Britain are all in full blast, thus throwing thousands of American workmen out of employment. NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. 7 '•Let it be remembered in this connection that one hundred thousand employed workmen in the American manufactories furnish a market for more American farm produce than the whole British nation. With our unemployed workmen the case is different ; they crowd other avenues of employment, especially the agricultural, where instead of being purchasers they become competitors." You were, Mr. Senator, for many years, an editor of a leading daily newspaper. In that business you enjoyed an absolute monopoly. By no possible means could a St. Louis newspaper be manufactured in a foreign coun- try to be imported into this. The only competition you had to contend with was at home. The control of the domestic market was thus secured to you beyond peradventure by a law of necessity that can never be repealed. In no possible case could the balance of trade in daily newspapers be against you. Such being the case, did prices advance? On the contrary, the newspaper proprietors of the country being secure from the untaxed competition from abroad, find that the effect of a well regulated home competition is to bring the price of newspapers within the reach of all. But the exclusive monopoly of the home market en- joyed by the newspaper manufactures is not asked for by the manufacturers of any other product. Give them but an equal chance in their own markets with their foreign competitors, like that contemplated in the bill now before Congress, and you can rest assured that a steady home competition will bring prices to the lowest living rates. Mr. Senator — We have just emerged from a long conflict, in which we have, at an expense of five hundred thousand lives, and ten thousand million dollars, abol- ished American slavery. The share you bore in the conflict is one that any man 8 ROBTfl AMERICAN AND DNTTED STATES GAZETTE. may be justly proud of. But the policy you now advo- cate, if fully adopted by our Government, will reduce the laborer in our mines and manufactories to a condition as deplorable as that of the same classes in England, Ireland, or Siberia. It will bring our western farmers into direct compe- tition with the half-naked barbarians of South America. Without disrespect, 1 may say that your policy will, so sure as night follows day, reduce our whole laboring population to a condition of servitude but little better than that from which we have, at so great a cost, but partially rescued the blacks of our country. With great respect, 1 have the honor to remain Your obedient servant, D. 1>. CONE. To Hon. B. Gratz Brown. I. s. s. FROM WASHINGTON. Correspondence Philadelphia North American and U.S. oa/.kttk. Washington, Feb. 1:5, 1867. The lobbies of Congress and the hotels fairly swarm with agents of the British manufacturing interest, who button-hole members al every turn, introducing dissen- sions at every opportunity, and with most devilish assurance sowing falsehood broadcast. These brilliant conversationalists are directing their energies particularly againsl our iron interest. They deeply sympathize with our trans-Mississippi railway enterprises, representing thai those roads are with great difficulty supplied with iron from the distant markets of Philadelphia, New York. St. Louis, Chicago, and Western Pennsylvania, and therefore should he supplied NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. 9 from the more convenient market of Great Britain. It seems almost incredible that such representation should be for one instant entertained, much less believed ; but strange as it may seem, they are actually made the basis of legislation affecting the interests of millions. We are gravely told that English railroad iron can be brought from British ports " all the way to Omaha, Nebraska, by steam vessels ; while American iron must be transported by railroad from the interior of Penn- sylvania to Omaha, at great expense and much delay." Of course these well-paid falsifiers omit to state that iron can be shipped from Pittsburg to Omaha all the way by water, without change of vessels, saving thereby three thousand miles of transportation and two tran- shipments. We are told that a given amount of English iron will pay so much revenue into the national treasury, as though the same amount of American iron would pay less revenue, to say nothing of the entire profit of manufacturing distributed at home instead of abroad. We are supplied with tables showing the-cost of iron in England and Colorado, and the fact that American iron is higher in the latter place than English iron is at home, is urged as a reason why we should adopt a policy that looks to the use of English iron among us altogether. The principal occupation of the free trade agent is to inveigh against what he is pleased to term our protective; or "prohibitory" policy; falsely asserting for the one hundred thousandth time that our present condition is the result of the continuation of a protective policy. Now I don't think space wasted in proving the falsity of such statements. What are the facts of the case? We have not had a protective policy for at least eighteen years past, during which period the real balance of trade with foreign Ill \"l;Tll AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. nations has been against us, <>n an average, of one hundred millions per annum, (s1imi.imiii.ihmi. | This enormous amount represents the sum that we, as a nation, have bought abroad over and above the amounl sold, to be paid for in gold and national not - with interest . It is admitted, that though the products of ( ialifornia gold mines have not been less than xl, 100, 000,00". there is no more gold in the United States at present time than eighteen years ago. To this sum add syniuiiMi.iHHi bonds' indebtedness abroad, contracted during the period, and you have the $1,800,000,000. The following table shows the total low to the capital wealth of the United States, during the past eighteen years, by the exportation of specie and 1 ds, and the increase each year upon capital wealth of 8.5 per cent, compound interest, being the average annual increase of United States wealth from 18.~>0 to lsco. as sriven by the census. CAPITAL u i:ai.i II KACH YEAR. Capit'l wi added each year. L00,< ,000 100,000,000 100,000,000 100,000,000 100,000,1 Inn. 1,000 I 100, 100,1 100,000, NIK,. Inn 000,000 100, ,000 ,000 I'm. 100,000,000 Inn. Pte\ ious capital wealth and m- r thereon. InS 226 353! 492, 642 806 1,175, I 2,121, 2, 109, 2,723, 3,063, - ".tin. ■it:.: 951,412 537,282 902.950 124,357 509,927 608,270 92 1,972 226,905 201,191 < > 7 : ". . i: : • J I otal capital wraith capable ofincrease ea< h year. I'M!. ,111111 208,500,1 326,222,500 1,951,412 592,537,282 7 12,902,950 906,049,700 1,083,063,924 1,275,124,357 1,483 1,709,C08,270 1,954,924,972 2,221,903 l B86.549 1,226,905 3,163,201,191 j. '>:::. - :i j 1,521 Increase upon Total capital cap'l wealth wealth I 8.5 percent. the republic cuh year. each year. I, 17.T-'J.:hh. - 50,365 146,750 77. Ml 1,224 92,1 108,385,570 126,0 - 1 15,316,702 166,168 1 188,792 213,340,356 101 300 245. 159 Ins. 226, 642, 1,175, - 2 I'M J. 7^::. 3,063, '.CM 1-2 924,972 903,594 886 226,905 201,101 o7::. 2:^ ■:\<\<.:.:\ NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. 1 1 RECAPITULATION. Bonds indebtedness contracted during past eighteen years.... $700,000,000 Gold and silver exported same period l,100,000,o cent's. The people engaged in those countries in that occupation must live by it. ami if they cannot live by it at a high price, thev will live by it at a lower price; so that the agricultural interests of this country must' depend for their success upon the markets which we have within our own limits and upon our border.* "There were imported last year eight hundred thousand boxes, forty II K0RTB AMERH AN AND I SITED -I \ 1 BS GAZETTE. thoosand tons, of iron, al a cost of $12,000,000 to the consumers of this country. That mon for the payment of the industry, the manufac- turing skill, the commerce, and all the appurtenances of trade in other countries. I challenge contradiction to the position I take, that the result of this system has so operated to che growth of the manufacturing inter. sts of this country in that respect < and that one article is a represen- tatii i drive out its competition, to occupy its 6eld, and then exl from the consumptive abilities of the country this enormous profit. My experience is that it is far better to do business with, and t<> legislate for a people and among a people that are prosperous, happy, and enjoy life, liberty, and happiness, than it is among a i pie wh i occupy the revi position. "Mr. Pr< it' I can ever see the time when the New England system ■ it' industry becomes the system of every State in the Union, it will be the happiest day of my lit<-: and whatever aid it may be in mypower to give, I shall always be ready to extend, and to dei ote my time and attention t'> that purpose. 1 desire that, because I desire to extend the prosperity of my own State and section, and to introduce that prosperity into every other State nf this Dnion. 1 know the benefit that it confers upon the people in \\ hose limit- those intei i and protected. I know thai ever> interest of that people is made better ; that their morals, their religion, their education, their desire to occupy higher grounds and pi tions in life, everything that goes ti> enoble men and women receivi -tart from these industrial occupations; and it is because of that reason, among others, that 1 would, if it was in my power, push every manul turing and mechanical interest of New England into the western and middle States that they might enjoy the benefits and the strength which th Stat.- are receiving to-day. I desire that New England should introduce her system occupations and businesses that would produce the i 14,000 000 ol goods that are mm brought into this country from abroad. There are fields enough for many New Englands, if properly directed, within this country. If the money which is now permitted to leave our borders were retained in the United State-, there is business enough for many New Englands in the production of articles not now known to our country." 1 have made this extract from Mr. Sprague's spi ''ch, longer, perhaps, than your space will admit, to refute the copperhead Democratic allegation thai New England and Pennsylvania statesmen only desire protection for their own interests, and because he is one of the few members who do no! occupy the floor of Congress for buncombe. yours, as ever, I >. 1 ». I Ione. k— The accuracy of this statement is well established bj English papers, which state that the wheat crop grown in the United K dom will amount to about 144,000,000 bushels. The amount required for consumption during the present 3 ear will be aboul 20 bushels : leaving a deficiency of about 25 per cent., or 56, ,000 bushels, i" be supplied from Egypt, Portugal, Russian possessions, United States, and other wheat-grow ing countries. It ma\ thus be safely calculated that our farmers, if they will sell cheap enough, can furnish Great Britain with about one-fortieth part of the wheat Bherequin NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. 1 ~> FROM WASHINGTON. t orreapondence Philadelphia North American and U. S. Gazette. Washington, July 12, 1866. My letter of .May 19, published in the North Ameri- can 21st same month, characterising Sir Morton Peto " a magnificent pedler," was rather sharply criticised by a few of his admiring friends in this city. I have nothing to take hark, but rather add to his title which should read: "Sir Morton Peto, the magnificent pedler and British dry goods advertising agent."' That Sir Morton should have the proposed addition to his title is fully shown by the following remarks made by Hon. John A. Griswold, on the floor of the House, yesterday : "Now, what I said was, and I repeat it, that the manufacturers of rail- road iron in this country cannot to-day compete with foreign manufacturers. I said further, that a committee had been appointed by the Iron and Steel Association of England to attend to the tariff of this country. I caused to he read at the clerk's desk certain documents, and now, in confirmation, I ask the clerk to read the letter which 1 send tip.'' The clerk read as follows : "United States Consulate, "Tower Building, South Water Street, " Liverpool, April 10, 18G6. " Dear Sir — 1 enclose you the Parliamentary Blue Book on Trade and Navigation. "They are making great efforts on this side to repeal our tariff and admit liritish goods free of duty. If effort and money can accomplish it, you may resl assured that it will he done The work is to be done through the agents of foreign houses in Boston and New York. Their plan is to agitate in the western States and to form free-trade associations all over the country. " If the people were over here, and could see one half that I do, they would open their eyes. No stone will be left unturned to break down our manufactures. Sir Morton Peto has written a book to show that we are only tit in grow produce, and that England should do our manufacturing. This book will lie circulated by the thousands in the western States. ••Yours. &c, Thomas II. Dudley." THE REBEL DEBT. Parties in this city interested in "Confederate secu- rities" express a confident belief that if the Democratic scheme of the incorporation of the Federal and Confed- erate debt fails, some of the Southern State governments I l'> NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. may find it To their interest to pay the indebtedness contracted, in their own defence: or, in plain English, hope that the holders of Confederate bonds will yet realize on them. These financiers will need watching for some time to come. The English, ( lonfederate and 1 democratic scheme for breaking down one free-labor interests, and providing for the payment of the rebel debt, is respectfully com- mended to tli^ attention of loyal voters throughout the Union. TIIK INDIAN QUESTIOH Your yesterday's article upon the proposed change in the Indian Bureau, has created a commotion among the benevolent individuals who endure the task of looking after "destitute Indians." Your suggestion that " we need a system of regulated economy in all departments of government, and to make one dollar everywhere do the duty of two," doesn't meet the views of the Indian Bureau, their plan being to make live dollars do the duty of one, judging from a statement read in the Senate on the 3d inst. by Senator Sherman, which was as follows: "On the Lst of July. L865, when the military authorities ceased to have authority to feed refugee Indians, there was an immense surplus of flour and corn en hand at Fori Gibson amounting to as much as all that has Bince been issued to pauper Indians in that country. These stores the commanding officer al Fort Gibson offered to turn over to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs at $8 50 per barrel for Hour. an. I $2 per bushel tor corn. Instead of making this purchase, the Superintendent went t.> Leavenworth ami entered into contract with McDonald, Fuller & Sells, (the son of the Superintendent, | at $8 per bushel for corn, ami $34 per barrel for flour. This contract was let. as wc arc informed ami believed, without the requi- site advertisement, on the pretence that there was not time to advertise. The most of the Hour furnished under this contract was sent by steamboat from St. Louis, costing the contractors aboul $12 ami the Indian Depart- ment $34 per barrel while a large amount of the flour offered by the War Department to the Interior at $8 per barrel was being -nipped down the Arkansas from Fort Gibson to Little Rock. The corn furnished bj the cont under this contract was part bought from the Indians at $2 per bushel, ami part bought of the militarj authorities at Fort Gibson by one McKee, « ho i- understood t<> have been the agent ami partner of McDonald, Fuller ,\ - i eighteen cents per bushel, ami turned over to the Super- intendent at $8 per bushel. The gross amount of these supplies we are unable to Btate, but are satisfied that it was Beveral hundred thousand dollars; and we have information that it lias all or nearly all been paid." — UI"':\ July •!. NORTH AMERICAN AND UNITED STATES GAZETTE. 17 The above is only a portion of the statement which embraced some twenty similar charges of fraud, filed with the Senate Finance Committee. An appropriation of $500,000 was pushed through Congress in January last to feed destitute Indians in the south-west. Another appropriation of the same size was stuck in at the last minute by Senator Doolittle to the regular Indian Appropriation bill. It has passed the Senate, and now awaits the action of the House. I am informed, by those whose honesty and means of obtaining correct information cannot be doubted, that the Indians for whom these appropriations are made do not get 25 per cent, of the amount, and furthermore, do not need anything. It is high time that this practice at buying flour at $34 per barrel, and giving it to Indians who raise more grain than they can use, was put a stop to. With great respect, D. D. Cone. Note. — While I oppose the appropriation of money for the benefit of contractors, like the above-mentioned, there are a large number of really just Indian claims upou our Treasury that ought to be paid. Some thirty-five years ago the insatiable demands of the slave oligarchy forced the civilized Indians of Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Ten- nessee to sell their lands in those .States — much of them improved farms — and remove to the tract now known as the Indian Territory. Our Government contracted to pay a specified sum for their lands, part of which has been paid, and the funds used by the Indians — Choctaws. Chicasaws, Creeks, and Cherokees — to support their schools, which equal any in the South : but a large portion of the indebtedness has never been paid, appropriations for the purpose having been deferred from year to year. There is no just reason for deferring the payment of this class of really just claims any longer. It is not difficult to discriminate between the just and fraudulent claims: but our Government has, partly through carelessness, and partly through the influence of a most atrocious lobby, paid, for most part, the doubtful claims, leaving the just and undoubted to be deferred from year to year. There is no justice or reason in this. The unbearable exactions of the lobby "Attorneys" should not be complied with: for their influence upon Congress is decidedly on the decline. We should certainly pay the Indians what we honestly owe them — nothing more is required. D. D. C. THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE. MORE ABOUT THE STURDY BEGGARS. Correspondeact- "f tin- N. Y. Trihi st Washington, April 28, isr.0. The appearance of my letter in The Tribune of Janu- ary 30, protesting against the gift-book ami seed man abuse which has crept under the wings of our Govern- ment, created some little commotion among the sturdy beggars; and its publication in The Hartford ( 'mi raid. The Philadelphia North American, The Missouri Demo- crat, The Atchison Free Press, The Colorado News, and The San Francisco Flag, carried consternation into the ranks of the enemy. The abuses nourish, however, and will continue bo to do so long as Congress continues to APPROPRIATE money for the purposes of purchasing seeds, printing books, or making clothing even, for a tree distribution among the thousands ready to take whatever they can gel at others' cost. Several ambitious patriots have expressed a desire for a liberal appropriation for the purpose of erecting a huge < b.veniment newspaper establishment, the productions of which to be distributed, under frank of members, free to whoever might desire a newspaper without the inconvenience of paying for it : another desires a Liberal appropriation to buy up the stock <>( all the Telegraph Companies in the country. NEW YORK TRIBUNE. 19 You have often commented upon the enormous amount of money expended in Government printing ; hundreds of thousands of dollars more than necessity requires. Now, while I am in favor of a judicious expenditure of money in public printing, I am entirely opposed to the publication of expensive books for indiscriminate distri- bution as at present carried on. For instance, the Report of the Census of 1860is published in four volumes, the last volume being now nearly ready for the binder. These volumes cost, so I am informed by the officer in charge at the Interior Department, about $12 each, and are circulated free by the tens of thousands. I have seen these $12 volumes for sale at paper rag stores in this city at seven cents per pound before they had been from the press a month! I may almost say that they went direct from the Government press back to the paper-mill. Millions of dollars of the people's money is thus absolutely thrown away. Another instance is the seedman's division of the Department of Agriculture, the original intention of which was to distribute a few samples of choice seeds of rare production to different parts of the country to introduce and foster the cultivation of new productions, but which has grown into an erroneous abuse, a mere machine for the free distribution of tons and tons of miscellaneous seeds, purchased with the people's money in every direction. I have received 10 packages of these seeds, which I forward to you, as samples, by express, the mails being too much incumbered by franked matter to render it certain you will get them by that conveyance. Though immense amounts have already been dis- tributed, I see that the Department has a "few more left." A morning paper states that: "On Wednesday, about 1 o'clock, the first floor of the agricultural seed-room on F Street, between Sixth ami Seventh, gave way, letting 2 < » NEW FORK TRIBUNE. down aboul three tons of seed to the basement. Mr. McDonald, one of the employees, went down with the floor, and received a few slight bruit The seed being in bags, the damage was only to the building." Aii additional appropriation will doubtless be ncedeil to procure a store-house sufficiently strong to hold the •■ tons of seed' sufficient to supply a constantly increas- ing demand. I am well aware that our present Congress is immaculate ; but it must hear the sole responsibility of these abuses. So long as that body appropriates the people' 8 money for useless expenditure, so long will the money be thus expended. And in this connection would it not be well to remind that body of wise men that the people are patiently waiting for a Blight reduction of the war tax, and a slight increase of import duties on certain productions of foreign labor, foreign food and capital ? D. D. C. FR03f Copperhead, Democratic, and British Interests in the Lobby of Congress— One more blow at the Industrial Interests of the United States— The Grain Interests- Barley and Wheat— The Iron Interest, &c. special correspondence of The Missouri Democrat. Office United Press Association, Washington, April IT, 1866. Editors Missouri Democrat — The combined British Copperhead and " late Confederate" interests, so strongly represented in the lobby of Congress, has made another demand, backed up by the usual arguments, for the destruction of one more branch of our industrial interest.. Not content with oppressing the Agricultural interest of the United States indirectly, by destroying the far- mer's only good customer, the American manufacturer, the copperhead free-traders now seek to undermine the farming interest directly. Some ten years ago, before the cost of the Democratic rebellion made economy with our people a necessity, our government, under a democratic administration, gave, through the ''Recip- rocity Treaty," to Canada, the privilege of supplying the market of this country with nearly all the barley we needed. The abrogation of the " Reciprocity Treaty" places a tax of fifteen cents per bushel on all imported foreign grown unhulled barley, and one cent per pound on the hulled. 22 MISSOl Kl DEMOCB \ T. This small imporl tax od foreigD grown barley is very much less than the direct and indirect tax our American tanners pay for the support of the G-overn- ment, on the same product of American growth. JTel small as this is, the democratic copperhead free-trader is vociferous for its repeal. I have heard it urged here at the Capitol of our country, this seventeenth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, that the fanners of the United States could not supply sufficient barley for the use of the people — that our soil is not suitable — we did not under- stand its cultivation — that a tax of fifteen cents per bushel mi foreign grown imported barley would give the farmers of the United States monopoly — that Cana- dian farmers could grow barley cheaper than Americans, and therefore Congress should admit Canadian barley free of tax. The same copperhead democratic authority also holds that the tax-free and half-naked barbarian of South America can grow wool and furnish wild cattle hides cheaper than the farmers of the United States. Hence it is, that foreign grown wool imported into this country pays a tax of only about three cents per pound, and hides ten per cent, ad valorem : being less than one-fourth the direct and indirect tax paid on the same article of American productions. What 1 have written of the three above named articles applies to a majority , 1866. Correspondence o I the Missoi ai Democeat. It Is to be hoped that Congress will pay due attention to the imperative needs of the industrial interests of the country. If we are to be saved from a financial crash. ten fold worse than that of 1857. prompt and thorough action is requisite. 1 understand certain Western Members of Congress have expressed a determination to oppose any altera- tions in the tariff likely to secure home industry against the effects of foreign competition. Now 1 beg leave to suggest that the "yeas and nays' upon these questions, as they are taken, lie carefully noted and spread before the people : and. further, to assure Western Members of Congress that the market for Western farm produce is not. at the present time, by any means too good, for 1 learn from the Galena (Illinois) (rnzette that corn is again being used as fuel in preference to sending it four thou- sand miles to a foreign market. 1 quote from the Gazette as follows : "We understand thai manj of tin- people of Warren ami other towns, are using corn for fuel. We had a conversation with an intelligent gentleman who has been burning it, and who considers it much cheaper than wood. Ears <>t corn can be bought for ten cents per bushel, by measure, and seventy bushels, worth .-even dollars, will measure a cord. A cord of wood, including sawing, costs nine dollars ami fifty cents, which is two dollars ami fifty cents more than the cosl of corn, besides the tact that corn produces more heat than wood. If these statemi are true i ami we have no reason to doubl them) there is no fuel more economical than corn. The crop "t corn this year is tar beyond the demand." I see by the //■-,/, Agt that the importation of foreign goods into New York alone for some months past, has been at the rate of $ 370,000.000 per annum. I apprehend that if a small moiety of these goods had been manufactured in the United States, [llinois farmers might have done better with their corn than to burn even the smallest part of it. With great respect, 1 >. 1 ». ( !qne. PROM Tlie Iron ^V^'e. Special Correspondence. Washington, February, 18, 1867. In the last Iron Age you announce that : ''The Union Pacific Railroad Company, East Division, disclaim any connection with the movement to induce Congress to rescind the provision of the law requiring the Pacific Railroad to use American iron, considering not only that they are bound in good faith to adhere to this provision of the contract, hut that the English rails now imported to this country arc- not such as they would wish, even if they had power to use them, in the construction of the great continental highway, which, being national in its location and management, should be built exclusively of national materials." You accompany the above statement with the expres- sion of a hope that it might be true. You certainly might, have made the expression much stronger, and gone further, by stating that the managers of the Union Pacific Eastern Division were among the firmest and best friends of the industrial interests of our country, as will be seen by the following petition : To the Finance Committee of the Senate, of the United States : We, the undersigned, respectfully represent — 1. That in our opinion it is highly important for the interests of Ameri- can railroad companies, ami the builders and users of American machinery, thai tin liusiuixx of manufacturing Bessemer steel rails axles, boiler-plate, forgings, Sec, in this country should tie commenced and carried to such an extent that, in one of n-ar with a foreign power or other contingency, we may be capable of supplying our whole domestic demand. •j. That previous to the present extensive preparations in this country for producing Bessemer steel rail.--, forgings, &c, foreign agents charged $150 per ton in gold for the same rails that they reduced to Si 10 per ton in eohl when they became aware that such preparations were being made ; thus showing the necessity lor a home supply, in order thai the foreign article may lie obtained at a reasonable fate. :;. That we are credibly informed that large works for manufacturing Bessemer steel for rails, forgings, &c, are in course of erection at Troy, New York; Harrisburg and Chester, Pennsylvania; Cleveland. Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan: and that capable gentlemen are awaiting the result of the present action on the tariff bill before beginning to build works of the 26 I in: [RON AGE. same kiml already planned, at Motl Haven, New York ; Pittsburgh, Johns- town, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Cincinnati, Ohio; and St. Louis, Missouri; which work.-, if built, will mure than supply the presenl domestic demand. Now . therefore, we respectfully ask that the House bill placing two and a half cents per pound duty on Bteel rails, and three and tour cents per ponnd on other articles of Bessemer steel of more difficult manufacture, be sustained, and that all steel rails contracted tor previous to July 1, 181 be permitted to enter the country at tin- present duty of 45 per rent, ml .1. EDGAR THOMSON, President Pennsylvania Railroad Co.. .\ THOS. A. SCOTT, Via President Pennsylvania Railroad Co., Src. 11.. I. LOMBAERT, Via President Pennsylvania Railroad Co., $c. M. 1'.. IIK'KMAN. Prest. West Cheater and Philadelphia Railroad Co. .1. D. PERRY, President fit",,, Pacific Railway Co., E. l>. \VM. .1. PALMER, Treasurer Union Pacific Railway Co., E. D. JOHN TUCKER, Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Co. .IAY COOKE, Banker. W'.M. C. BIODLE, Via President /.>/,>,//, Coal and Navigation Co. S. I'. ELY, of MarquetU /r< r rates per ton than best ijitalitij American rails; and this fact is taken advantage of l>y the free traders who persist in drawing comparisons between the prices of the two articles without taking into consideration the difference in quality. I recently saw, in Missouri, a remarkable practical illustration of the difference between English ami American rails. The Hannihal and St. Joseph railroad was some years since furnished with English rails; and at the same IHE IRON AGE. 27 time the south-west extension, or Platte Country road, was laid with rails manufactured by Messrs. Wood, Morrell & Co., of the Cambria Iron Works, at Johns- town, Pennsylvania. The same trains have gone over both roads, and, if anything, the American rails have been subjected to the most severe wear and tear ; notwithstanding which they are as sound as when put down, while the English rails are so shattered as to be useless, and are being replaced with new. My attention being particularly called to this subject, I took especial pains to observe, from the rear end of the train, the condition of the rails on both roads. I saw that the American rails, though worn smooth as with a file, were as sound, as when they came from the mill. In the whole forty miles, a careful examination discovered no more than five slightly splintered rails, the remainder being perfectly sound, though much worn. The English rails were, on the other hand, so badly splintered as to be nearly useless, and were being rapidly replaced with new'. I did. not learn the relative first cost of the plant stock of the two roads, but presume the English rails were purchased for a few dollars less per ton, and perhaps on long credit; but the question seemed settled in that portion of the country, at least, as to the relative cost of rails, in the long run, in favor of those manufactured in American mills, with American capital, by American mechanics, fed upon American food. The Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Divis- ion, having received a thirty years' loan from the Government of $1G,000 per mile for a portion of its road, to aid its construction, on condition that none but American iron is used, have shown no disposition to evade any portion of the contract, but, on the contrary, have gone beyond, and done more and better than has been required. THE IRON AGE. The Government regulation provides that American mils of at least fifty pounds weight to the yard shall be used. The company use fifty-six pounds per yard rails. or some ten tons per mile of American rails, more even than their contract requires, which I submit does not look much like evasion. I shall not in this letter trespass upon your space by fixing the responsibility of the Sherman amendment. having Bhov n that the eminent railway managers named in this are true friends of all our industrial interests. 1 Leave it for others to find the guilty ones. I will. however, state that, of all the amendments offered, Mr. Sherman's is the most incomprehensible, and the reasons urged are very strange, when you consider by whom they were advanced. Certain railway corporations had received aid from the National Treasury on the express condition that the roads should lie built of American iron. Senator Sherman offers an amendment to a revenue bill, permitting these corporations to repudiate the latter portion of the contract, as follows : •• Ami any person or corporation may import and use railroad iron at any time within two var-. upon paying the duties imposed by law. any provision in any act of Congress i<> the contrary notwithstanding." In support of this astounding proposal, Senator Sherman said : ■■This applies Bolelj to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and perhaps or two other railroad.- authorized by the United States. Tin- number of mill'.- to be built next year, according to the estimates submitted to us, is from five to sis hundred milts on the different branches of this road ; some say -r\ in hundred, there being three branches of the road now being con- structed, and the one on the Pacific slope, making four branches. Tin probable number of miles will be about live hundred 1 estimate at the i.e.- of about one hundred ton- of iron to the mile, sixty pound- to the yard, and that will make the requirements of these roads fifty thousand ton-. It thi- -hon Id be imported it will yield us a revenue of over -even hundred and titty thousand dollars. ■■ A- 1 stated la-t night,, the mills of this country cannot supply all that is .It -in d. Large quantities are now imported ami laid down within 50 miles of the rolling-mills. The present price of railroad iron, delivered on ship-hoard, abroad is between five and six pounds per ton,, or less than thirty dollar-. The present price of American iron i- $85 per ton. The restriction on the Dnion Pacific Railroad compels them to take all their T1IH IRON AGE. 29 iron irom the interior ot Pennsylvania and the Atlantic slope, and thence around by Cape Horn to California. So with the branch roads; they are required to carry their iron by railroad transportation from the place of manufacture across the continent, now four hundred miles west of Omaha, while the English railroad iron can be brought in steam vessels and be landed at Omaha. The difference in cost to the railroad company will be considerable, while the revenue derived from this iron, ifimported, will lie about three-quarters of a million dollars. The rolling-mills will not he materially injured, because they are all kept in full blast, and if a dozen more were constructed they would have enough to do to supply the rail- roads of the United Slates with iron. "I think these are the only facts that bear upon it. I always thought the restriction a severe one, hut just now it is oppressive. If suspended for two years, by that time we may have rolling-mills enough in this country to supply the demand for railroad iron. So far as my State is concerned, we arc not at all interested in the matter : the roads are far beyond our reach ; hut I feel that it is just and right to this road, in which the United States have so large an interest, that this restriction should he removed. •• The amendment to the amendment was agreed to." This speech of Mr. (Sherman's is not only remarkable for what it contains, but for its omissions. He omits to state that fifty thousand tons of American iron will yield the National Treasury more revenue than the same amount of English iron. He omits to state that the mills of this country can supply all the iron needed ; that Pittsburgh, Pa., is nearer Omaha, Nebraska, than any port in England — all the way water transportation, at that. The Committee of Ways and Means have, very pro- perly, stricken out the amendment. It will, however, bear watching, that it don't get in again. D. D. C. FROM WASHINGTON. Special correspondence of Thk Ikon Age. Washington, Nov. 21, 1865. In 1857-8, the writer of this was engaged in the publication of the only daily newspaper between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains that took suffi- cient interest in the national policy to publish Mr. Henry C. Carey's admirable and unanswerable "Letters to the President." 30 THE IRON AGE. Sine.- that period, the western people and prtsa have, to some extent, learned by costly experience, the litter fallacy of the shopkeeper's science. The Buffalo Express, of recent date, states that — "The Btandard of the value of a man- labor should, at Iea.-t. blished as to secare, with due economy, a decent Iivi-Iiliu.nl for himself ami those dependent upon him for support. In this country the reward of industry and toil should never fall below this point — indeed it cannot, without violating the fundamental law of our national existence which recognizes every man. woman, and child as entitled to the inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In this country, the rewards of labor should be such as to elevate rather than depress the condition of the laboring classes. They arc endowed with the rights of citizenship, and hence should have the means of education for themselves and their children, so that they may exercise those rights with intelligence. This. to the laboring man. can come only of the fruits of his toil, and if they are stinted, then he is doomed to poverty, if not to absolute want ami starva- tion. He has not the mean- from his industry to educate his children, or clothe them bo that they i an decentlj appear in the street, at i hurch, or anywhere else, where the better influences will reach them and inspire them with feelings of si If respi The New York Krcnhnj I'<>*/ will of course be greatly shocked at this doctrine, for it has advocated in season and out of season, with a persistency worthy of abetter cause, a policy that has been found, by repeated costly experiment, to throw a large portion of our laboring classes out of employment, reduce the remainder to abject poverty, bring millions of capital; invested in manufactories, into the Sheriff's hands: and only to enrich a few office-holding money-lending aristocrats in this country and England. The Chicago Republican has the following article, and many more equally sound : "These manufacturers, it is said, are getting well paid. To sit down ami cry monopoly over this n ere but the peevish complaint of a weak child. li' ttt i go to work, with western swiftness and energy, and build our own mills. The held is open, the profits ready for whoever works for them ; and if those profits are excessive, fair competition will bring them to a proper level. ••The bringing of gold toward par value to pave the way for specie payment-, will call fora readjustment of taxes ami tariffs, SO that Bome of our manufactures .-hall be fairly protected, and all branches oj our home industry experienci a common prosperity. The introduction of manufactures into the wesl is of more importance than many suppose. In I860, our factories and Bhops employed 222,325 persons, and produced articles to the amount of $390,411,000. Willi a wise policy of government, and with od, Btrong western work, Buch as is Bhown is the movemenl to build us THE IRON AGE. 31 a woolen mill with $1,000,000 capital in Chicago, we can show the benefit of cheap food, and coal, and wool at our own doors, and illustrate anew the statement that manufactures must come where food and fuel arc most abundant, bu leading manufacturers to come among us from the seaboard and from across the ocean." Looking further West, 1 find in the Nemaha Courier, the only pioneer newspaper in Kansas that lias not changed hands, the following: "When a free trade tariff is in lone here, the flood of foreign goods pouring into the country is so great, and prices are so low that the Ameri- can manufacturer cannot compete successfully with his foreign pauper-labor rivals. Being unable to go on, he stops his factory, and every man in his employ is idle, and the American farmer's best market is thus destroyed ; for it is well known than 100, 000 employed American mechanics furnish a larger and better market for the American farmer than the whole of Europe. '• With unemployed mechanics and manufacturing operatives, the case is different, being thrown out of employment by the copperhead policy of free trade, they crowd into other avenues of employment, where, instead of being the American farmer's best customer, they become competitors." I could fill volumes with extracts like the above quoted; indeed, I find that a good portion of the West- ern Republican press are unanimous in their intelligent and patriotic determination to support the national protective policy. With great respect, D. D. C. ruoM in 1 : Kansas Grazette. D.D.&J.P. CONE,] Sept. 12. 1857. [PUBLISHERS. From the Kansas oa/.ette, November m. iv.t. THE MONEY STRINGENCY. When, in 1846, Robt. >I . Walker and other political bankrupts and gamblers of the Democratic party, in conjunction with the slave breeders of the South, inau- gurated the present free trade policy of government, by which the laws protecting American productions and home manufactures were repealed and all our industrial interests and laboring classes were thrown in direct competition with the manufactures of England and the old world, it was trumpeted far and wide as a mosl wise and beneficient measure. Although, as we have said, it was accomplished by a unio'n of reckless and unprincipled Northern Democratic doughfaces and the raw material and slave producers of tie- South, in utter disregard of the rights and interests of the laboring classes of the great free North and West, yet it was a "Democratic" measure, and the people must throw up their hats for it. and sing praises to the greatness and wisdom of its originators. Bui whal has been the result of this policy? Why in in years, notwithstanding the lucky discovery of California, by which hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed in the United Stat'-. this policy has depressed our ti nances and almost ruined the country, has taken all the money to buy the cheaply manufactured articles of Europe, ami crushed THE KANSAS GAZETTE. :'.:! and crippled our manufacturing and other industrial interests by putting them on an unequal footing and an unfair competition with the labor of Europe, as every one knows who is acquainted with the great compara- tive cheapness of living and laboring in the old world. This is the main or principal cause of all this depression and panic, and the exceedingly hard times among all classes ; and, until we have a change of government — until we put down and clear out the present ruling Democratic party, these hard times will continue and increase. In addition to the principal cause for this state of things which we have just adduced, there is still another, an additional reason for this stringent state of the money market and stagnation of industrial pursuits, something which has aided very materially in bringing about this state of things. It is the reckless and profligate manner in which the affairs of our Gov- ernment are administered and conducted under the aus- pices of the Democratic party. The dishonesty, stealing, and plundering of Demo- cratic office-holders and the corruption and extrava- gance of the Government expenditures has had, no doubt, very much to do in bringing about this deplora- ble state of affairs in our country. This dishonesty, corruption, and extravagance has reached an extent that is truly alarming. The amount now a days annually expended by the administration for corrupt party pur- poses is enormous, and the money now stolen yearly by the officials of our Government is enough to enrich a nation. These are facts that cannot be evaded or con- troverted, and as one of the independent press of the country we are bound to record them. Our people will learn by and by who are the real friends of home industry and American productions, and until they have been tried in the fire of affliction and learned by experience — bitter though it be — we are 3 1 THE KANSAS GAZETTB. willing to wait for the overthrow of the Democratic party and an entire change of the policy of the Govern- ment : nothing else can correct the abuses of its ad- ministration. FROM BOSTON. Special Correspondence of tin- K INSA8 GAZBTTB. Huston, August 30, 1858. The times are not as hard in Boston as throughout the West. They can live longer on their capital in the cities because there is more of it ; but nine tenths of the business men of Boston are not, and have not for the last year, been .paying expenses. This I know to be a fact. A Boston paper recently published an article prov- ing this city to be thirty-eight million dollars ($38,- 01 )i 1. 1 ii ii i) poorer than a year ago. The same journal attributes this loss to the Anti Slavery Agitation prevalent throughout the country. Of course the Pro Slavery Agitation was not taken into consideration by that very impartial journalist. The party that destroys five printing establishments, and several small towns in one Territory of our Union, during the past twenty months, cannot be called to an account for Agitation ! Oh, no ! Another Boston wiseacre attributes the present con- traction of business to an undue expansion of crinolii — another to the open winter of 1857-58 — while lar numbers know the true cause, viz: That policy which sends three dollars out of the country for every two it brings in : the policy that discriminates against the labor and capital of our own country; a policy inaugu- rated and sustained by the so-called •• National Democ- racy." D. 1>. Cone. FTC03I TIIK pimala, fjUttisais, (Rtntitt. ( Formerly tlie Kansas Gazette.) d. d. ij. p. cone,] March 14, 1867. [publishers. From The Courier of March 14, 1867. THE KANSAS LEGISLATURE ON THE TARIFF QUESTION. We have for ten years past endeavored to impress upon the minds of our readers the necessity of protecting American industry in our own markets against a ruin- ous competition with the pauper labor system of the old world. It is, therefore, gratifying to find our Legislature promptly sustaining the principles we have so long labored to popularize. Early in the session, Mr. McFarland, a Democratic Senator from Leavenworth, introduced resolutions in- structing our delegates in Congress to favor a system of low tariffs. Thev were referred to the Committee on Federal Relations, of which Dr. John W. Scott, of Iola, Allen County, is Chairman, who made the following report : "The resolution contains two propositions. 1st. That it is the duty of our members in Congress to encourage a system of free trade or low tariffs on foreign goods. 2d. That it is their duty to protect the agricultural interests of the West. ''These propositions the committee regard as essentially inconsistent. While it is clearly the duty of our Representatives to protect the agricul- tural interests of the West, it is equally evident that this cannot be done by any system of free trade or low tariffs. On the contrary, no surer means could be adopted to depress and utterly destroy the prosperity of Kansas and the other great agricultural Stales of the West. The first necessity of these States is a market for their surplus products, and this can only lie furnished to anv considerable extent by a manufacturing 36 THE NEMAHA C01 BIER. population, either in America or Europe. But the nearer this market is to the producer th< _■ ter are his profits, inasmuch as he reaps to a lai extent the benefits of the diminish Ttation. ■■ It must be clear, then, that the system of free trade which inevitably tends i" build u|> the manufacturing interests of Europe at the exj those of America, and so places an oc< in between the producer and consumer, musl impoverish the former while it enriches the latter. "The experience of the world proves this. Manufacturing nations are always rich, exclusively agricultural nations are always poor, and the latter invariably pay tribute to the former. That country which would be really free and independent must foster and encoun s ry branch of domestic industry by protecting them against ruinous competition from abroad. "In the opinion, therefore, of your committee, the true policy of America is to adopt such a system of discriminating and protective tariffs as shall transfer the skilled operatives of the Old World to the factories ot the New. build up manufacturing establishments, not only in New England, but in every town and village in the land, and so, bringing the produ and consumer face to tare, insure the highest prosperity to both. " They therefore recommend that the first section of the resolution be amended as follows : Strike out all after the word 'encourage,' and ins American manufactures and protect them against the ruinous competition of foreign nations, and that so amended it be passed." The resolution as amended avid passed, is as follows: ■• A' '< •"'. That it is the duty of our membi rs in Congress to enco American manufactures, and protect them against the ruinous competition of foreign nation-. And that it is their duty to protect the agricultural interests of the West." We hope "iir ( longressional delegates will act promptly in this business There need he no misunderstanding in the matter; The report ami resolutions are explicit, and show how both the manufacturing and agricultural interests are encouraged and protected by the same policy. There is no antagonism between the two interests ; what pro- tects "if' protects both. < )ur members certainly need do more lessons from the ( 'ourier. Note — Tin- Iron .(.e reports were made, the condition of our iron interests has been continually growing worse. Thousands of laborers have been thrown out of employ- ment, to compete in the labor market with returned soldiers, and to make room for the products of British iron works. THE SAX FRANCISCO AMERICAN FLAG. 45 The following extracts from a letter from one of our most distinguished representatives in England, was recently received here. It shows conclusively what efforts are being made to break down our labor market; that the builders of British pirate steamers may do our manufacturing, while our returned heroes are patrolling the streets, asking for employment which our manufac- turers cannot furnish : "Greal efforts will now be made by English capitalists and manufac- turers to induce us to reduce our taritls. and permit them to do all our manufacturing. Tin van- beginning to stir this matter already. Our warm personal friends will be put forward to move the matter — such men as John Bright. Goldwin Smith, and others, who have stood by us through this war. I have seen decisive evidence of this purpose here. Personally, we owe them very much, hut we may frightfully abominate their free trade principles. They will struggle hard to break down our tariff. See if this does not prove true. There will lie a terrible pressure upon the Government." So it appears that our British " warm personal friends," after having destroyed nearly two-thirds of our manufacturing interests and thrown thousands of our workmen out of employment, are preparing, with the hearty co-operation of our ex-rebel interest, to deal a finishing blow to the remaining third. Save me from such warm personal friends ; give me the Lairds in preference. I notice that Hon. S. S. Cox and several prominent representatives of British Tammany Hall and rebel interests, are announced in a recent money article of the New York Times as having formed a " Free Trade League." The direct tendency, and probably the sole object of the league is to break down our free labor interests, and build up the British and new party inter- ests in this country, in order that demagogues may rule and the late slave aristocracy may revive. It is inter- esting to observe that though the so-called Southern Confederacy lives only in spirit and enmity to free labor, it has the full sympathy of the capitalists of Great Britain. 4D THE SAX FRANCISCO AMERICAN PLAG. It may be asked, is there a demand for the products of our closed manufactories? I answer unhesitatingly there is. We are consuming more foreign goods than we are exporting domestic produce; and to supply the deficiency, this country has been compelled to export an average of $'2,000,000 of gold per week daring the past three months. Now, as to these wealthy English manufacturers, these builders of pirate steamers that have destroyed our commerce, will they furnish employment tor our discharged laborers? What part of the $2,000,000 in gold that we have been so kind as to send them each week will they pay to American workmen. to he paid in turn by them for American food, American cloths. and other American necessaries of liter 1 What part will they pay to our returned heroes who parade our streets asking not charity, but work ? I clip the following from a late New York Herald : "Vbtb&ahb on a Strikk. — Some one says, that the sadest sight" under the sun, is that of a man who wants employment and is nut able to get it. Such a sight was presented to our citizens yesterday. A procession of veterans, out of employment and anxious to work, passed our office, with banners bearing appropriate inscriptions. 1 1 was a strike y* .. - ■^ • • • « > * . »* «£ ... ^ « <* >* *5» -\> 0* « 8 ' ' * *b j> **o« 0