nformed that I was
expected to present my views on the leading issues of the day, and
that a like invitation had been given to Governor Campbell and
other gentlemen holding public trusts from the people of Ohio.
While this invitation relieves me from the charge of impropriety
in introducing a political question on the fair grounds, yet I am
admonished by the presence of gentlemen of all parties and all
shades of opinion that common courtesy demands that, while frankly
stating my convictions, I will respect the opinions of others who
differ from me. I propose, therefore, in a plain way to give you
my views on the tariff question, now on trial between the two great
political parties of the United States. It is somewhat unfortunate
that this purely business question of public policy is being
discussed on party lines, but it is made a party question by the
State conventions of the Republican and Democratic parties of Ohio,
and we must accept it as such, though I would greatly prefer, and
I intend to treat it here, as far as I can, as a purely economic
question."

I briefly stated the history of tariff legislation in the United
States, what was meant by a tariff and the objects sought by it,
and that for the first fifty years of our history the lines were
not drawn between a revenue tariff and a protective tariff. It
was in those days the common desire of all sections to obtain
revenue and to encourage domestic industries. This unity of purpose
existed until 1831, when the south had become almost exclusively
an agricultural region, in which cotton was the chief product of
the plantation with negro slaves as the laborers, and when the
north, under the protective policy, had largely introduced
manufactures, and naturally wished to protect and enlarge their
industries. The tariff question grew out of a contest between free
and slave labor. I referred to the various measures adopted, the
compromise measure of 1833, the Whig tariff of 1842, the Walker
tariff of 1846, and the Morrill tariff of 1861. During and after
the war, for many years, any tariff that would produce enough
revenue to meet current expenditures and pay the interest of the
public debt, would necessarily give ample protection to domestic
industries. To meet these demands we had to levy not only high
duties on nearly all imported goods, but to add internal taxes,
yielding $300,000,000 annually, on articles produced in this country.
When this large revenu