MONOPOLY OF TRADE THE TARIFF. 615 



traceable to the defects of the system itself, but like many 

 other matters, to its abuse. 



The unpatriotic and unexampled selfishness and ava- 

 riciousness of those manufacturers who, not content with 

 the simple remedy of a tariff equivalent to the difference 

 in the price of labor here and the pauper labor of Europe, 

 thus placing them on an equal or better footing than their 

 foreign competitors in our home markets, have sought to 

 enrich themselves by securing the passage of laws that 

 fixed the rates so high that it practically shut out all for- 

 eign competition, and then, when this was accomplished, 

 have, by unjust combinations and the formation of trusts, 

 broke down domestic competition and increased the price 

 of their goods to an extent that it amounts to legalized 

 robbery, is a cause of well grounded alarm. 



Under the shadow of our present tariff laws have 

 grown some of the most gigantic trusts, that levy tribute 

 upon the people with an iron hand and utter disregard of 

 all moral or legal considerations, or of the fearful conse- 

 quences which must inevitably follow. Mammon is the 

 god of their worship and their schemes of plunder are only 

 limited by the absorption of the products of labor. 



It is not strange that the people view with well 

 grounded fears, the growing evils of the existing tariff 

 laws, and evince a disposition to rush blindly to the other 

 extreme. But before we take the leap into the doubtful 

 sea of free trade, let us stop for a moment and consider. 



To illustrate the matter more plainly, let us suppose 

 that in the United States it costs the manufacturer four 

 cents to make a yard of cotton goods, of a certain grade; 

 and that, on account of cheaper labor, to manufacture the 

 same class of goods, in England, it costs but three cents. 

 The foreign manufacturer could, therefore, place his goods 

 in the market for one cent less than the American manu- 

 facturer. 



