The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-07-09
The Tribune and tho Tarsn.

When the supply Of ronsway negroes slack
ems, and the editors Of the New York Tribune
are at loss fol. wherewithal to I'LL their vacant
space, they seem to be in the habit of granting
to some venerable acquaintance carte blanche
to stulsity the paper with o column or 80 OF
rampant nonsense about protection and free
trade. It is not likely that the senile effa-
sions of this unfortunate gentleman are
ever read for we notice that he in
variably concludes with doleful COM
plant that no one will answer him. There
goes at large in this city an unhappy though
harmless lunatic who is under the impression
that he has composed o quantity of poetry of
the very first order, and that he is only hinder
ed from taking rank with Tennyson aud La
maritime by the perversity Of publishers who
will rot read his manuscripts Believing, az we
honestly do, that this poor crazy gentleman is
not the writer of the protectioost articles in the
tribune, the melancholy fate of the one has
alarmed us for the other. and we have been
moved by charity to notice the Tribune writer
thus publicly, lest persevering neglec. on the
part OF an uDthinking press should ultimately
His bent, as we said, is not poetical but pro-
sale, and economical He gives us in his last
efIusion financial history OF the United States
for the last fifty years, which, regarded as a
jtu d'esprit is certainly far fetched, and viewed
in any other light, is marked by the most in-
credible stupidity, the grossest ignorance, and
the most deplorable dishonesty. Let us take
him to pieces. lie asks =
Did Dot fhs war Of 1912 afford ample protection to
the farmer in his Efforts to bring the artisan to his sid
andwas there not, in consequence, gooa demand for
labor and its products9 Did not the country come out
from the war in highly prosperous condition.
No. 1t did not. The farmer and artisan had
protection, but the country was not prosperous
On the contrary it was nearly ruined by tae
war. The fact is 30 notorious that evidence
may seem superfuous We may refer, however,
to Mr.. Madisons message Of 10th February,
1915, in which he INDUCES the hope that the
peace will introduce activity into all the means
hopes in the annual message of that year; also
to the Ia e Mr.. Williams Book of the Presidents,
(and Mr. Williams be it remembered was q
whig,) in which we read "The immediate
effect Of the war was disastrous to the in erests
Of the great body Of the people, causing much
pecuniary and other distress, and retarding the
national prosperity
Did not the prosperity continue during the years 1885,
IL and IS, while protection yet continued
re-openipg Of American ports certainly invigo-
rated trade and industry; but Mr.. Madison, in
December, 1916, regrets that "a depression is
0perienced by particular branches of our manu-
hctEes, and portion Of our navigation" and
all authorities concur in stating that Immediate
~ after the conclusion of peace, foreign goods
were thrown upon the market in enormous
quantities, and every branch of trade was
so disordered that distress could not
but follow. These foreign goods, coming by
the ship load, certainly filed the treasury, and
enabled the government to pay off part Of The
national debt; but, in the words Of Mr.. Will
lams, 'the excessive importations Frustrated
numerous American manufacturers, and spread
ruin and desolation among the Industrious
classes, including agriculturists as we'll as me-
chanics and manufacturers" The true secret
was the deraDged state Of the currency; but of
this the Tribune writer has no idea.
From 1916 to 1919 the imports were more
than double the exports, and the bank expan-
sion proportionate; whence it came abou. that
in 1919 financial crisis occurred, money became
unreasonably dear, and half the mercantile
houses in the cities failed. This event the un-
considerable wooden head who writes in the
Tribune Describes as follows
Did not eli this change after this death of Protection
Of 1sls Mote that what he calls the death Of protec.
ton was nothing more than reduction equivalent to
per cent In tariff granting protection "a aal
the average, to 80 per cent.-ED HERALD Did not
decline and the diminish to 20 great
extent to render necessary the contraction OF
loans for citing the nsgnf expenditures of the
government Were not oar streets fled with men, wo
men and children anxious to sell their labor and finding
to purchase ts We're not shers sales great
to c.use large proportion Of the property Of the
try to pass under the hammer, and not the rich
thus made richer. vnie the poor were being ruined
No wonder people will not argue with him!
In 1928 and 1924, the country got over its
depression, and began to revive, which fact Of
course this writer ascribes to the effect of the
tariff of 1924 He says
Did not all this change again after the passage Of
the protective tariff of 1921 Did not commerce revive
and specie Hov in, with steady Improvement in
and IN the value Of property
But we answer, if it was as you say, how
came it that your friends the manufacturers
ran to Congress, swore they were starving, and
howled and screeched till that body, in pity
for their sufierings, passed the monstrous tariff
Of ls2S-handing over the country, great and
small bag and baggage, body and bones, to the
manufacturers?
II is curious to see how these protectionists
differ. This writer speaks with JUNCTION of the
Inonstrosity OF 1S2S-calls it a really protec-
tive tariff; = Mr.. Williams, far shre9der pub
licjst though a member Of the same party, ad-
mits its defects and supposes that the free
traders purposely exaggerated its leading fea
lures in order to disgust the public with the
system
The Tribune writer says
Did ro. commerce grow under the really protective
tsrn Of 1s2s, with rapidity that was increcibeS
No. 1t did not. The duties increased be-
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