Proceedings of the National tariff convention held at the Cooper institute, New York, November 29 and 30, 1881

1755 N3 ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics Cornell University HFI/SS.NS"""""'""'"""-'''"^^ Proceedings of the National tariff conve 3 1924 013 921 279 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013921279 PROCEEDINGS MTiOML miFF mnmm HELD AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE, NEW YORK, NOVEMBEK 29 AND 30, 1881. Stenogbaphically Ebpobted by E. a. West; PHILADELPHIA: THE AMEEICAN lEON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION, No. 265 South Fotjkth Street. , 1882. PRINTED BY ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, PHILADELPHIA. CONTENTS. Call foe the Convention, Addkess by Col. D. F. Houston Address by Hon. Geoege B. Loring, . ... Address by Peter Cooper Permanent Organization op the Convention, address by hon. "warner millee Letter from Hon. James G. Blaine, . . Address by John H. Eicketson, Esq., Address by Hon. William McKinley, Jr. Address by Me. Stockton Bates, . . Address by Hon. Joseph Sheldon, . Address by Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, . / Address by Mr. Wm. A. Gellatly, . Address by Hon. William Ward, . Address by Mr. John Thompson, . Address by Mr. Joseph Wharton, Address by Mr. John Jarrett, Address by Mr. Wellington Smith, Address ey Col. John. Scriven, . . . Address by Mr. F. J. Kingsbury, . . Paper by Mr. Alexander H. Jones, Address by Mr. E. H, Taylor, . Address by Mr. John Adams, . Address by Me. Isaac Cline Address by Hon. J. B. Grinnell, . Address by Hon. J. Hart Brewer, . Address by Mr. G. W. Moore, . Address by Me. G. B. Stebbins, ... Address by Hon. Lewis D. Hawley, Paper by Messes. Ware & Grimshaw, Address by Hon. W. S. Shallenbeeger, Address by Me. J. B. Mead, . ... Address by Mr. J. C. Stevens, . . Address by Me. E. B. Osbon, . . . Address by Mr. Peter K. Deyo, . . Addeess by Me. Theodore C. Bates, Address by Mr. James Dobson, Address by Mr. Edward Eockwell, Address by Mr. M. C. Cook, . . . Address by Mr. E. S. Hartshorn, Address by Mr. Albert Briggs, . Address by Me. H. H. Adams, . . Address by Mr. Titus Shereard, . . Addeess by Me. Hamilton S. Wicks, Address by Mr. John F. Henry, . Address by Mr. James E. Emerson, Address by Mr. Clinton Furbish, Addeess by Me. John W. Hinton, Addeess by Me. D. G, Cahoon, . . . Paper by Hon. John Burt, . . . Paper by Mr. W. E. Thomas, . . . Papee by Dr. James Wilhelm, Address by Me. John Eoach, . . . Address by Hon. Edward T. Johnson, Eepoet of CommitteB on Addeess and Eesolutions, Appendix, containing memorials and sundry resolutions. CALL FOR A TARIFF CONVEJ^TION AT NEW YORK. A National Convention of Eephesbntatives of the Agkicultukal, Manufacturing, and Commekcial Ixtekests of the Country WILL BE HELD AT THE OOOPEE INSTITUTE, IS THE CITY OF NEW YOEK, On Tuesday and Wednesday, the 29th and 30th days of November, A.D. 1881, The first Session to be held at the hour of 10 o'clock, A. M., • FOR THE PURPOSE OP CONSIDERING AND RECOMMENDING SUCH CONGRESSIONAL action as will PROMOTE DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, AND AFFORD ADEQUATE PROTECTION TO AMERICAN INDUSTRY. The grave questions of public concern to be acted upon vpill be 'as follows : First. — Immediate remedy of the injuries done by decisions of the Treasury Department and the Courts, which have so construed the Tariff Laws in many cases as to legalize evasions of Customs Duties, to pros- trate numerous important American Industries, and give to Foreign Manufacturers large sums of money which should go into the Treasury of the United States ; decisions which the Secretaries of the Treasurv, in some instances, have declared to be wrongs which Congress should be asked to remedy. Second. — The appointment of a competent Commission to thoroughly investigate and report upon the Progress, Condition, and Needs of American Industries, and to recommend such Tariff Legislation as will be Protective in character, consistent in all its parts, and adapted to the present condition of the Business of the Country. Third. — The consideration of the policy of an Early and Progressive Beduction of Internal Taxes by the General Government. Fourth. — The maintenance of a favorable Balance of Trade, and the Enlargement of our Markets for American Products, by the Promotion of our Shipbuilding Interests and Foreign Commerce. The Convention will consist of six hundred delegates. The basis of representation of trades and industries will be notified to them by the Executive Committee, and communications relating to the Convention or its business may be addressed to D. F. Houston, Chairman, Thurlow, Pa. ; to James M. Swank, Secretary of The American Iron and Steel Asso- ciation, Philadelphia; or to Marcus Hanlon, Secretary, care of The American Protectionist, No. 305 Broadway, New York. By order of the Executive Committee. D. E. HOUSTON, Chairman. MARCUS HANLON, Secretary. PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. The delegates to the National Tariff Convention assembled at the Cooper Institute, in New York City, at 10 o'clock, A. M., on November 29, 1881. Col. D. F. Houston, of Chester, Pa., Chair- man of the Executive Committee, called the meeting to order, and directed Marcus Hanlon, the Secretary of the Committee, to read ■ the call for the Convention. After the call was read Col. Houston delivered the following address. ADDRESS BY COL. D. F. HOUSTON. Gentlemen : We thank you for your presence to-day, thus re- newing the assurance of your devotion to the material interests of our people. The gentlemen of the committee under whose auspices we have assembled are gratified that all the industries invited to participate in the proceedings of this National Tariff Convention are largely if not fully represented. The call is not only national in its character, in so far as territory is concerned, but national so far as the diversified industries of our country are afiected by na- tional legislation. It is not a call for an organized movement to multiply and further increase the imposts upon either the luxuries or necessities of our people, but rather for an eflTort to reduce those that are now onerous, and as speedily as possible release the busi- ness of our country from the excise taxes, now levied and collected by the internal revenue system. It calls for harmonious action to secure immediate remedy for in- juries done to American industries by decisions of the Treasury De- partment and the courts, based upon wrong conceptions of the law ; also for the serious consideration by the delegates of the important question of how we shall best promote the shipbuilding interests of our country and extend our foreign commerce. It calls for a recommendation to Congress for the appointment of a commission of experts, to take into consideration the question of a revision of our tariff laws as now framed, and adapt them to the present condition of the business of the country. (5) PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. We desire that the revision shall be in the interest of labor, and that the policy of Congress shall be to legislate for American in- terests, and protect our workmen and mechanics. We cherish no thought of increasing the so-called burdens of our people, but are earnest in our efforts to seek the best methods to re- lieve the industries that are now depressed by reason of adverse decisions or ill-advised enactments by the law-giving power. There are present, and participating in the organization of this Convention, delegates from all the manufacturing industries of our country, as well as delegates representing the agricultural interests which produce our wool, the cereals, sugar, tobacco, cotton, and flax, each having an equal interest in the continued prosperity of our country. This is the third National Tariff Convention composed of dele- gates regularly elected by the various industries that has convened in our country, and I may say this is the first that has included in its membership the manufacturer and the workmen of the industry represented, thereby securing to labor an equal representation with capital. As our interests are mutual, it is our duty to act in harmony. In our discussions of the propositions suggested by the call under which we assemble, let us hope that our deliberations will be such as to recommend the greatest good to the greatest number, always remembering that any interest, when examined by the light of truth and fact, that fails to stand the searching test of right should not receive the fostering care of the nation. I am requested by the Executive Committee to present for your acceptance as Temporary Chairman of this Convention Hon. George B. Loring, United States Commissioner of Agriculture, whom I have the honor to introduce to you, and who will now address you. ADDEESS BY HON. GEORGE B. LORING, COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. Gentlemen : It is usual, in conventions of this character, for the temporary presiding officer to present his views to the gentle- men assembled. In accordance with my inclination, and in response to the expressed wishes of the Executive Committee I desire to ask your attention to a few remarks upon the relations of the industries of this country, one to another. The rapid growth of American enterprise constitutes one of the ADDRESS BY HON. GEORGE B. LORING. most important and interesting chapters in the history of civiliza- tion. The stories of discovery and conquest, of Commercial adven- ture, and of military power have charms which more prosaic occu- pations are not expected to possess, and yet they all sink into insignificance before the recital of the steady and triumphant march of the vast army of untiring and devoted sons of industry who have cleared the forests, and opened the mines, and chained the waterfalls, and built the great highways of travel and transpor- tation over valleys and through mountains, and erected churches and school-houses, and organized cities and towns, and fed and clothed and educated themselves, and have filled the commerce of the world with the products of their toil. The chosen career of the American people has been a career of peaceful industry, and our achievements on this field have won the admiration of the world from our infancy to our maturity and strength. More than three- quarters of a century ago Sheridan exclaimed in the House of Commons, "America remains neutral, prosperous, and at peace . . . Turn your eyes to her. View her situation, her happiness, her content. Observe her trade and her manufactures adding daily to her general credit, to her private enjoyments, and to her public resources; her name and government rising above the nations of Europe with a simple but commanding dignity that wins at once the respect, the confidence, and the affection of the world." And, contemplating the genius of our institutions and the vital force of our republic, De Tocqueville declared, "There will then come a time when there will be seen in North America one hundred and fifty millions of men equal among themselves, who will all belong to the same family, who will have the same point of departure, the same civilization, the same language, the same religion, the same habits, the same manners, and among whom thought will cir- culate in the same form and paint itself in the same colors. All else is doubtful, but this is certain. Now here is a fact entirely new in the world of which imagination itself can not grasp the import." Unchecked by war, and defiant of all disaster, this republic has increased in population at the rate of a million a year during the last decade, rivaling now every country in the world except Russia, and attracting to her shores vast communities of people from those crowded and impoverished nationalities. Thriving States and populous cities spring up here like magic. The products of new and fertile lands are borne to the great centres of trade which are created everywhere by the necessities of a teeming population. PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. The civilization which is advancing with such rapid strides from sea to sea is indeed a civilization of thrift, intelligence, and morality. Prosperous industry is here the pioneer of education ; the cultivated farm and the profitable mill preparing the way for the library and the lyceum, the school-house, and the meeting-house. Conscious of the responsibilities and duties which attend them wherever they go, and proud of that individuality which freedom bestows upon every man who enjoys her influences, this aspiring and industrious people of ours has endowed schools and colleges on every hand, has established more than seventy thousand churches, has provided places of worship for more than twenty millions of worshipers, and has church property valued at $350,000,000. You will pardon me, I am sure, if I rehearse to you that wonderful development of in- dustry out of which this mental, moral, and religious culture has grown, and for the encouragement of which you have assembled in the great cornmercial emporium of this country — an emporium which, if our population and industries increase, is destined to be- come the centre of traffic and exchange for the entire commercial world. In agriculture the growth of our country has been astonishing, and accounts for that vast internal and foreign commerce out of which has grown so much of our financial success. It is not neces- sary to go back a half century or even 25 years to obtain the most gratifying evidence of our progress in the work of tilling the soil. But, starting in 1870, at which time we had reached an enormous production in proportion to our population, and making our com- parisons with the returns of 1880, we may learn what can be accom- plished in a single decade by a people constantly increasing in num- bers and occupying new lands. In 1870 the amount of cotton pro- duced was 4,352,317 bales ; in 1880, more than 6,000,000 bales. In 1870 the amount of Indian corn raised was 760,940,594 bushels; in 1880, 1,754,449,435 bushels. In 1870 the wheat crop was 287,745,- 626 bushels ; in 1880 it was 459,667,Q32 bushels. In 1870 the crop of oats reached 282,107,157 bushels ; in 1880, 407,859,033 bushels- In 1870 the tobacco crop amounted to 262,735,341 pounds ; in 1880 it amounted to 473,107,573 pounds. The increase of agricultural products was nearly one hundred per cent, in these ten years, and in the last year of this decade, out of this vast increase of our crops and products, our cattle export rose from $13,000,000 to $14,000,- 000; corn, from $43,000,000 to $50,000,000; wheat, from $167',- 698,000 to $190,546,000 ; flour, from $35,000,000 to $45,000,000 ; ADDRESS BY HON. GEORGE B. LORING. cotton, from $209,852,000 to $245,534,391 ; beef, from $7,000,000 to $12,000,000; lard, from $28,0,00,000 to $35,000,000; and pork, from $5,000,000 to $8,000,000 annually. Mark also the growth of American manufactures in half a cen- tury. In 1830 the amount invested in cotton manufactories was a little more than $40,000,000 ; the number of spindles was a million and a quarter ; the number of males employed was 18,539, and the number of females was 38,927 ; and the amount of cotton used was 77,759,316 pounds. Fifty years have passed away, and the number of spindles has increased to 10,769,147 ; the amount of cotton used in 1880 was 793,240,500 pounds ; the number of persons employed was 181,428 ; and the amount of capital invested in mills and subsid- iary work was more than $225,000,000. Of our woolen manufactures the statistics are more imperfect, but I have ascertained that in 1840 the capital invested in this enterprise was $15,565,124 ; the number of pounds of wool used was 50,808,524 ; the number of hands em- ployed was 21,324 ; and the value of the product was $20,696,- 699. In 1880 the value of woolens, worsteds, carpets, and hosiery produced was $234,587,671 ; the amount of wool used was 187,- 616,605 pounds; the wages paid amounted to $45,959,012; the total value of the materials used was $145,141,798 ; and the prod- uct increased from 1870 to 1880 nearly $20,000,000. In 1870 the silk productions of the United States were valued at $12,210,662 ; in 1880, at $34,410,463. Fifty years ago the shoe and leather in- dustry had hardly a national reputation ; in 1870, however, there were 4,237 tanneries in the United States, employing 20,784 hands, using a capital of $42,710,505, paying in wages $7,934,416 annu- ally, producing leather valued at $86,169,883, using more than $9,000,000 worth of bark, nearly 9,000,000 hides and 9,640,000 skins. There were also 3,085 currying establishments, employing 1,000 hands, absorbing $12,000,000 capital, and producing $54,1,91,- 167. There were, moreover, 3,151 establishments for the manufac- ture of boots and shoes, employing 91,702 hands, with a capital of $37,519,019, paying in wages $42,504,444 annually, using $80,502,- 718 worth of leather, manufacturing boots valued at $50,531,470, and shoes valued at $93,876,203, with a total production valued at $146,704,000. The growth of the iron and steel industry has been equally remarkable. In 1810 we produced but 50,000 tons of iron, and our largest furnace could yield but 1,500 tons annually; in 1830 the' product was 165,000 tons; in 1840, 315,000 tons; in 1848, 10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. 800,000 tons ; in 1860, 1,000,000 tons. In 1880 the iron and steel works of the United States produced 7,265,100 tons, as against 3,655,215 tons in 1870. The capital invested was $230,971,884 ; the number of hands employed was 140,978; the wages paid amounted to $55,476,785 ; and the value of all the products was $296,557,685. In the manufacture of machinery the capital invested has increased from $15,000,000 to $40,000,000 in 20 years, and the annual value of the product is more than $20,000,000. The aggregate annual product of the manufacturing and me- chanical industries of the United States is now more than $6,000,000,000. Of this vast product less than $200,000,000 are exported. And of the $9,000,000,000 produced by agriculture less than ten per cent, is exported. On the self-supporting power of the American people and of the mutual relations existing between our industries we can dwell as Americans with the most profound satis- faction. I have alluded to the producing power of the American people, but in order to understand the relations which exist between our industries we should not forget our consuming capacity also. Of the $15,000,000,000 produced by our various industries nearly $14,000,000,000 are consumed at home. It is the home market to which the American producer turns most naturally, let his industry be what it may. In fact, the law of our largest and most widely- diffused industry, agriculture, is the cultivation of those crops which are adapted to a local market, and the occupation of lands lying near such a market. Not yet has this law become universal, it is true, but it applies to the older and thickly-settled sections of our land, and goes with diversified industries wherever they create large cities and towns. Fifty years ago the farmer was compelled to seek his market near home on account of the difficulty which attended the transportation of his crops, but the settling of new and remote lands, and improved methods of transportation, rendered the growing of the great staples a necessity, and corn, wheat, and provisions occupied the farmer's attention, and opened to him remote and even foreign markets for his gains. This frontier farming, however, is but tem- porary, and must be followed by that systematic husbandry which con- stitutes the legitimate business of the American farmer, and carries him back to those days when agriculture was almost the sole busi- ness of the country, and when a farming community was uniformly prosperous if prudent and industrious. While our large towns and ADDRESS BY HON. GEORGE B. LORING. 11 our manufacturing States therefore provide markets for a large por- tion of the products of the pastures and grain fields of the West, they also support that more profitable system -which consists in a careful cultivation of the -soil and in the economical management of small farms. The trade of this home market to which I have alluded is immense, and the sources of supply in all their variety form an interesting topic for consideration. New England requires about 20,000,000 bushels of wheat, and produces only one and a quarter millions. New York uses about thirty millions, and grows about twelve. The supply of this defi- ciency comes from the West — from the Ohio valley and the prairies west of the Mississippi and the Missouri, and costs from forty to fifty million dollars in years of good production, but still more in the present year of comparative scarcity. To assume, from the fact that New York goes West for six-tenths of her wheat supply, that wheat-growing is an unprofitable indus- try there would be an unsafe and unreliable conclusion. There are eight counties south of Lake Ontario which yielded 6,086,867 bushels in 1879 on 327,269 acres, or 18.6 bushels per acre — a rate more than fifty per cent, above that of Minnesota or Dakota, and somewhat higher than that of California, for the same year. Thus an important part of the deficiency of other counties in New York was supplied by the surplus grown in the Seneca valley and its neighborhood. There is another district lying eastward toward the Hudson river and southward toward the Delaware that finds a greater profit in the dairy — making a production in butter and cheese worth far more than the grain procured from the West. Not only are the home wants in dairy products supplied, but a large share of the 120,000,000 to 140,000,000 pounds of cheese ex- ported from year to year is credited to this district, bringing a vast amount of money from Europe, a part of which only is con- tributed to the aid of the Western wheat-growers. Going still nearer the seaboard to Dutchess and Westchester counties, and the fruitful sands of Long Island, we find more people and less wheat, and the soil devoted to market gardening, yielding under the most favorable circumstances a gross product worth a thousand dollars per acre — enough to buy a quarter section of superior wheat land west of the Mississippi. In the immediate vicinity of New York City the product of market gardening swells to millions of dollars. Ten years ago the census reported more than a million dollars' worth in Queens county alone, and the present enumeration must, 12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. when tabulated, show an immense increase for this suburban dis- trict. The neighborhood of Boston and Philadelphia and every other large city is monopolized by market gardens, and the country about Norfolk, Va., is mainly devoted to fruit and vegetables for Northern consumption. The fruits of the country, a perishable commodity, must be produced as near as possible to the points of principal consumption. The domestic fruits alone furnish New York a large trade of more than nine millions of dollars. Chicago, which supplies the great Northwest, has about as much, and the other large cities of the country would swell the total amount to about sixty million dollars. Could all the fruits sold in smaller cities and villages be added, and those consumed on farms and vil- lage lots be enumerated, it is probable, judging by careful deduc- tions from available data, that the annual value of the fruits of the United States would not fall much below two hundred million dollars. Thus the distribution of farm products is found to arise from a multiplicity of causes. Soil, climate, nearness to large cities, prices of land and labor, facility for obtaining labor at required times or seasons, skill in special industries developed by long practice, con- servative persistence in time-honored usage, and many other causes, serve to distribute in patches, large or small, the crops which furn- ish the products of American agriculture. The great cereal crop of the country, Indian corn, which is only exceeded by grass in uni- versality of distribution, constitutes more than 17 hundred million of the 27 hundred million bushels of grain of 1879. It is found in every State and in every Territory, with one or two exceptions ; yet this crop can not escape the law of special local attraction. The three States, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, yield 800,000,000 bushels, or 45 per cent, of the crop, and only seven States, includ- ing Indiana and Ohio on the east and Kansas and Nebraska on the west, ever have any considerable surplus above the requirements of home consumption. The remaining 31 States and all the Terri- tories produce together but 37 per cent, of the crop, at the rate of only 19 bushels per acre — but half the rate of yield of the corn belt. The receipts at the seaboard cities for exportation and consump- tion, including all kinds of grain, ground and unground, aggregated 352,921,452 bushels in 1879 and 369,559,607 bushels in 1880. The whole eastern movement of Western grain, including shipments to interior points on the Atlantic slope, must somewhat exceed 400,- 000,000 bushels — not more than one-sixth of the total production ADDRESS BY HON. GEORGE B. LORING. 13 of an abundant year, and less than one-fourth of the lightest crop the most disastrous season is likely to yield. The relations which are thus established between the agricultural and manufacturing interests of our country not only affect the material prosperity of the farmer, but they provide him with that social enjoyment upon which the happiness of an educated people largely depends, and rouse him to that energetic action which gives strength to all his powers. The isolation of farm life incident to sparsely-settled regions is one of the trials which the American is anxious to avoid, and when he leaves the outlying farm and secures a home nearer the haunts of men he places himself within reach of the lyceum and the library, and easy and convenient intercourse with his fellow-men. The comforts and adornments of his home are increased, and farming becomes to him an occupation analogous to those branches of business which tempt men away from the lone- liness of the country to the pleasures and opportunities of the city. The tendency of our rural population to abandon the exhausted farms and seek lands nearer a populous market is by no means an evidence of agricultural decline. It indicates rather a disposition to take advantage of those circumstances which lead to more active industry and more profitable labor. It is the same spirit of enter- prise which has induced many farmers to abandon general agricul- ture and devote themselves to special crops, and has led the casual observer to infer that the cultivation of the soil was being aban- doned. I have known the statistical returns of many evidently thrifty and prosperous farming communities to indicate a reduction of the products of the farm, and to lead to the supposition that be- cause the cereals and animal products were diminishing the lands were being deserted. But a more careful examination has always revealed the fact that it was a change in the industry alone which had taken place, and for those crops which met with competition from the cheap and fertile lands of the West had been substituted the products of the market garden, with all the profit which goes with this mode of manipulating the land. As this system extends, and manufacturing cities and towns multiply, the returns of our farms will be largely increased, and the average yield of our land per acre will be greatly enlarged. It is the intimate relation between agriculture and manufactures which makes general farming what it is, and will gradually make American farming what it should be. The benefit, moreover, which the manufacturer derives from his free and intimate relations with 14 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. the agriculture of the country can not be overlooked. On the one hand, drawing his raw material largely from the immense and various resources of our country — iron, cotton, wool, hides, etc. ; and, on the other hand, finding a home market in the great agricul- tural regions, the American manufacturer possesses opportunities and advantages hardly known to any other country on earth, and illustrating most forcibly the self-supporting power of our people. So closely are these interests united that what benefits one naturally benefits both. "What injures one injures both. The same policy which has been extended over our mills has been extended also over our fields, and the results in both cases will demonstrate its true value. "While the American manufacturer has furnished the American farmer with almost all his necessary articles, such, as cotton goods and fabrics, boots and shoes, axes, forks, spades, shovels, hoes, harrows, plows, rakes, cultivators, reapers, mowers, wagons, tinware, glassware, etc., cheaper than they can be purchased in the English market, the American farmer has furnished his products, wool, cotton, provisions, grain, etc., at rates established by our own supply and demand, and not in accordance with rates fixed abroad. The traffic is free and equal, and it is between parties en- joying equal privileges and opportunities ; rates of interest, wages of labor, taxes, social and civil expenses, all being regulated by one system, and varying only with different localities. As the two great pillars of American industry they have received equal consideration from the Government. Not only is a duty laid on goods of foreign manufacture, but there is also laid on all ani- mals, except for breeding purposes, a duty of 20 per cent. ; on wool, from 10 to 12 cents per pound, and from 10 to 12 per cent, ad valorem added ; on sugar, from 2 to 5 cents per pound ; on corn, 10 cents per bushel ; on barley, 15 cents ; on wheat, 20 cents ; on oats, 10 cents ; on butter and cheese, 4 cents per pound ; on tobacco leaf unmanufactured, 35 cents per pound. And the American farmer may well remember that under this policy the clip of wool in this country has risen from 60,000,000 pounds in 1860 to 250,000,000 in 1870, and that in our advancing agriculture we have devoted to wheat 50,170 square miles ; to corn, 80,610 ; to oats, 20,500 ; to barley, 2,810 ; to hay, 42,080 ; the corn and wheat alone covering a larger area than the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- land. And these two great producing industries, engaged in sup- plying each other with all that enters into the material comfort and welfare of life at the lowest possible rates, may also remember that ADDRESS BY HON. GEORGE B. LORING. 15 their products are now transported on American steel rails costing $60 per ton as against $140 when furnished by the rolling mills of England, and with freight rates reduced accordingly. When these two great industries unite in the work of developing American resources it is not to be supposed that they who laid the foundation of this Union anticipated the great and radical change which has taken place since their day. They could not have fore- told the ocean-defying steamship, and the land-defying railroad, and tjie time-defying telegraph. They could not have listened amidst the quiet repose of their luxuriant farms for the busy hum of great cities. But they performed their work well in their day and gene- ration, and they set an example of industry and foresight which we may well follow. And I am compelled to believe that they antici- pated the time when the people of this country would be engaged in mutual industries for mutual support, and when the twelve millions of people of their day would become the fifty millions of our own, busy and consuming in the great commercial and manufacturing centres, busy and producing in the great agricultural regions, each industry leaning on its fellow, and all united in establishing Amer- ican supply for American markets, and regulating prices in accord- ance with the wants of American labor and the value of active American capital. The production of supplies and the existence of a market have always created a necessity for a system of transportation, which constitutes one of the co-operative industries of society. The mod- ern methods of transportation by steam, both on land and water, have given new value to lands, new opportunities to mills, new markets and values to crops ; and it may be safely said that the ad- dition of a powerful and rapid means of transportation has not only given new life to all the old industries, but has added a new one of inestimable value and importance. The labor and expense of ex- changing commodities have been so far diminished in our day that every producing industry is now able to employ its time and means to the best possible advantage. No time is now wasted by the manufacturer in traveling from his mill to his market ; none by the farmer in transferring his crops from his fields to the consumer. No limit is now put to the capacity of the mill, the capital absorbed, and the hands employed, by (listance and obstacles on sea and land. The farmer, whose time and men and horses were fully employed in hauling the crops of a hundred acres to market fifty years ago, can now employ his force at home in increasing the crop ten times 16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. on that area of land, while it is harvested and borne to market by machinery. Lands which were once useless to the cultivator are now brought by rail to the very doors of the market required by their crops. And not only is the transporting capacity of each individ- ual increased, but the force which can be retained for work on the land is vastly enhanced, as well as the profit on the crop itself. When, many years ago, the railroad from Springfield, Illinois, to the Illinois river was opened, it was announced in a leading news- paper of that day : " One week before the railroad was finished corn could be had here in any quantity at 15 cents a bushel ; now not a bushel can be had for less than 25 cents." "With the system of farming which I have defined, and the system of transportation which we possess, the producing power of American labor and land is almost unlimited. The relations which have been established between these active and vigorous industries to which I have alluded have produced upon society, moreover, a degree of mental energy and general in- telligence never equaled in any age of the world. In the affairs of life now a man's head is considered to be worth as much as his hands, the relative market value of these two commodities having materially changed since " common and concurrent mind " began to assert itself and its supremacy. Mark the amount of intelli- gence required to manage and run our railroads : the foresight, pru- dence, and comprehension of the president, the watchful system- atizing power of the superintendent, the activity and self-possession of the conductor, the headlong courage of the engineer who plunges through mountains and over-rides valleys in his pareer, the laborers who grow intimate with the vast and intricate mechan- ical forces employed in this great civilizing business, and it is easy to see why it should demand and create intelligent labor — an ag- gregation of untiring intellects all acting upon each other from the highest to the lowest, in a way unknown to slower and more cir- cumscribed systems of travel and transportation. The constant and rapid intercourse of the present day — passage by steam and communication by magnetism, the subjugation and use of mechan- ical forces in all their might and in all their delicacy by superior and commanding minds — has inspired and elevated the observant and co-operative masses of men to a degree hardly surpassed by the training of our public schools. While, therefore, the business of life, as represented by our, railroads and steamships and telegraphs and mills and improved modes of agriculture, demands intelligent ADDRESS BY HON. GEOEGE B. LOEING. 17 labor, it joins hands with the schools and does its share of the work of education. Before the incessant activity and extended relations created by the accelerated business methods of modern days — by transportation which opens the markets of New England to the living products of the pastures of Illinois, and carries the laborer in a day from the locality where he is not wanted to the locality where he is wanted ; by machinery, which creates faster than a destructive and extrava- gant people even can consume, and casts the printed page broadcast over the land, driving the distaff and the spinning-wheel into seclu- sion, and mocking the tedious toil of the hand-press — we cau not if we would become stationary in our habits and deliberate under our necessities. To pause now is simply to be trampled on by the multi- tude. We must travel by steam; we must send our wool to mill, our milk to the factory ; we must know how much gold there is in California, and silver in Arizona, and coal in Pennsylvania, and copper at Lake Superior ; we must read the last message of the President, the last debate in Congress ; we must know something about Gladstone and John Bright and Gambetta, something about Yorktown and Atlanta; we must use a steel pen and mowing- machine and a horse-hoe and a tedder and a horse rake ; we must exchange photographs with our friends, and endanger our privacy with a telephone, and recognize in every way the marvelous dili- gence of man in his use of light and heat and air and earth and sea for his own comfort and convenience, or make up our minds to live in the world as not being in it. We must realize the relations of our industries, the combination of industrial forces, which make modern society what it is, if we would perform our part well, and comprehend the genius of the age. In the hasty sketch I have given of the relations of the indus- tries of this country one to another I have not included the numer- ous occupations which grow out of the ingenious conversion of iron, wool, cotton, flax, the precious metals, and minerals, into articles of use and beauty for the supply of man's comforts, and the gratifica- tion of his tastes. They form an interesting and important part of the great group, and occupy a large share of the profitable labor of our country. It is by their development that the great cities are enabled to pour forth their enormous manufactured product : New York, $435,592,921, annually; Philadelphia, $420,408,458 ; Brook- lyn, $166,700,878 ; Chicago, a city that was in ashes a few years ago, $228,440,964; Boston, $118,087,019— according to the census 18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. returns of 1880. And they have lent their aid toward increasing the wages of labor in our mills in 40 years from $2.00 to $3.50 per day for overseers ; from |1.50 to $2.00 for second hands ; from 92 cents to $1.10 for pickers; from 80 cents to $1.10 for card strippers; from 67 cents to $1.10 for weavers; and agricultural labor in the Eastern States from $8.00 per month to $16.00, $20.00, and $25.00, with board and lodging. In conclusion, gentlemen, I have been requested to set forth my views with regard to that department of the Government which represents a great industrial interest in our country and over which I have recently been called to preside. The Department of Agri- culture has been engaged for 15 years in encouraging and develop- ing the industry which it specially represents, and it has performed this service faithfully. During this time the interests which cluster around agriculture, and to which I have already alluded, have largely multiplied, and their importance has greatly increased. The connection of agriculture with the manufactures which con- sume the raw materials drawn directly or indirectly from the soil — iron, wool, cotton, flax, etc., — has become more and more intimate as these great industries have grown and prospered. This must be manifest to all. The details of land and water transportation interest immediately the producer, and afiect his prosperity. No argument is necessary to prove this. I have therefore suggested statistical bureaus of these enterprises as a part of a department devoted to agriculture and statistics. The Department of Agricul- ture should undoubtedly be the nucleus around which can be gathered those associate industries which depend on agriculture for their existence, and in turn make agriculture profitable and in many sections possible. Statistical returns of our manufactures with an illustrative display of their products would do much to unify and develop the manufacturing industry of our country. An accurate statistical record of the organization, cost, expense, and methods of our various means of transportation would do much to establish a uniform system of land and water carriage among us. Accurate surveys and returns of our mineral lands with the various industrial processes employed in working them are of vast importance. A well-organized and consolidated inquiry into the extent and value of our animal industry in all its forms, and of contagious diseases among animals and the best methods of prevention and extirpation, can not be too promptly and thoroughly organized. A bureau containing all possible information with regard to the agricultural ADDRESS BY PETER COOPER. 19 colleges founded by Congress and the associations formed for agri- cultural investigation and endowed in many instances by the States could not fail to be valuable. A collection of labor statistics analogous to that found in some of the States would be as useful to the general as it is to local governments. The addition of bureaus like these to those already existing in the Department — botanical, chemical, entomological, crop statistics, forestry, and seed distribution — could not fail to constitute a department of great inter- est and value. The great demand of the times is the collection of facts and figures on which general principles can be based, and from which general deductions can be drawn. A census of our popula- tion each decade for apportionment and social and civil information is and will always be necessary. But in a country advancing as this is in every department of industry, and in the development of its resources, annual industrial returns are of the utmost importance. Without considering for a moment the political status of a depart- ment devoted to this and kindred work, I think you will agree with me that the time has come for its organization. An active, indus- trious, and intelligent body of American citizens and producers is entitled to it as a branch of the Government whose value can not be over-estimated, and frorn whose accumulated information we might learn the true relations of American industries. A delegate ftioved that the thanks of the Convention should be given to Dr. Loring for his able, eloquent, and instructive address, and that Peter Cooper, who presided over a similar tariff conven- tion thirty years ago, should put the motion. The Convention rose as Mr. Cooper stepped to the front of the platform, and the motion was unanimously agreed to. Mr. Cooper then delivered the follow- ing address. ADDRESS BY PETER COOPER. Gentlemen of the Convention: An experience of more than 90 years has compelled me to believe that the Protection of American labor demands from the American people their most profound consideration and their most decided action. The ques- tion now to be considered is, whether we, as a nation, are willing to know the truth, and let the truth make and maintain our freedom, or whether we have deliberately determined to follow the advice of men and nations that have a direct and immediate interest in misleading and deceiving us. Trade between foreign nations and our own is a kind of commercial war. It is a war of interests. 20 PEOCEEBINGS OF THE CONVENTION. It can be shown that the wars of commercial interests are more insidious, and are more to be dreaded, than wars of con,quest. There is nothing in all history that admits of more complete demon- stration than the fact that the wars of commercial interests carried on by England alone have led to and have caused a greater destruction of life and property during the last 80 years than has been occasioned by all the wars of conquest that have taken place in the civilized world during that period of time. It is now less than 85 years since a company, chartered by Great Britain, com- menced a mercantile war on the people of Hindostan, a country with its then 150,000,000 inhabitants, famed for manufacturing the finest quality of goods, and for being in possession of the riches of the East. History tells us that "in no part of the world has there been seen a greater tendency to voluntary association for a mutual exchange of labor than once existed in Hindostan. . . . Each village had its distinct organization, under which the natives had lived from the earliest times down to a recent date. . . . Revolutions might occur, and dynasties might succeed each other ; but, so long as his own little society was undisturbed, the simple Hindoo gave himself no concern about what might happen at the capital. . . . Though often overtaxed and plundered by in- vading armies, the country continued both rich and prosperous" until an East India "Company, chartered and sustained by all the power of Great Britain, commenced a war of encroacnments on the trade and commerce of that country. This war of commercial interests led to a war of conquest, which, after the battle of Plassey, established British power in India. " The country became filled with adventurers ; men whose sole object was to accumulate fortunes, by any means, however foul," as was shown by the indig- nant denunciation of Burke in the Parliament of Great Britain. Fox declared, in a speech on the East India bill, that "the country was laid waste with fire and sword, and the land once distinguished most above others by the cheerful face of fraternal government and protected labor, the chosen seat of cultivation and plenty, is now almost a dreary desert, covered with rushes and briars, jungles and wild beasts." Macaulay says : " The misgovernment was carried to such an extent as seemed hardly compatible with the existence of society. They forced the natives to buy dear and sell cheap. They insulted, with impunity, the tribunals, the police, and the fiscal authorities of the country. Enormous fortunes were thus rapidly accumulated at ADDRESS BY PETER COOPER. 21 Calcutta, where 30,000,000 of human beings were reduced to the ex- tremity of wretchedness. They had been accustomed to live under tyranny; but never tyranny like this. Under their old mastets they had one resource — when the evil became insupportable the people pulled down the government. • But the English Govern- ment was not to be shaken off. That government, oppressive as the most oppressive form of barbarian despotism, was strong with all the strength of civilization." . . . "Under the title of Zamin- das a landed aristocracy was created and held accotintable for the collection of the taxes." Fullerton, a member of the Madras Council, says : " Imagine the revenue leviable through the agency of 100,000 revenue offi- cers ; collected or remitted at their discretion, according to the oc- cupant's means of paying, whether from produce of the land or his separate property ; and in order to encourage every man to act as a spy on his neighbor, and report his means of paying, that he may save himself from all extra demand, imagine all the cultivators of a village liable at all times to a separate demand, in order to make up the failure of one or more individuals of the parish." . . . Under this state of things " the works constructed for irrigation have gone to ruin, and the richest lands have been abandoned." Capt. Westmacot tells his readers that in places the longest under British rule there is the largest amount of depravity and crime. " The immolations of an Indian Juggernaut," says a recent writer, "dwindle into insignificance before it, and yet to maintain this trade the towns and cities have been in ruins." The middleman system of Ireland and in the West Indies was transplanted to those countries of the East to which Macaulay declares that " the English Government became as oppressive as the most oppressive form of barbarian despotism." The poor Hindoo was not allowed to make salt from the waters of the ocean. Every form of tax and exaction was forced on that people in order to drive them to send all their cotton and wool to England (the great workshop of the world) to be converted and returned. Sir Eobert Peel says : " The efiects in India exhibit themselves in such a ruin and distress that no parallel can be found in the annals of commerce." The great city of Dacca, that only seventy years ago contained 90,000 houses, and exported millions of pieces of the finest quality of goods, is now a mass of ruins. The same authority says : " For. the accomplishment of this work of destruction the children of 22 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CONVENTION. Lancashire, Eugland, were employed 15 to 17 hours per day during the week, and until 12 o'clock on Sunday cleaning and oiling machinery, for which they received two shillings and nine pence per week. The object was to underwork the poor Hindoo, and drive him from the markets of the world." The pound of cotton, costing in- India one cent, was passed through British looms, and sold to the Hindoo for from 40 to 60 cents. " Thus England was enriched as India became impoverished. Step by step British power was extended, and everywhere was adopted the Hindoo principle that the sovereign, as proprietor of the soil, was entitled to half the gross produce." While these exorbitant local taxes were expended among its own people the burden could be borne ; when these taxes were drawn from the people, and expended on absentee landlords, the burden brought desolation and premature d