Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-10-17
PROTECTION.
Latter from James M. Cooper Esq''
of Pittsburgh.

The following letter is from one o. tne
soundest and ablest iron manufacturers In
the country, whose words we cordially
commendto our readers. The cause oil the |
NATIONAL Policy is rapidly gaming
ground, and we confidently look Tor a
course of legislation by the next g
that shall save us from the disastrous
consequence of free trade, and urge ior-
ward the resumption of specie payment
the cutting down Of expenses speedy re-
lief from burdensome taxation, n the
early payment of our National Deot.
PITTSBURGH, October, 1865.
DEAR SIR: No proposition can be more
clearly proven than that the Protection OF
American Industry in all its branches Is
60 closely interu0ven with the general
welfare. that the neglect OF any one Oh
them is an attack upon the whole.
The farmer, miner, MECHANIC, iaoorer,
and manufacturer are all welded TO the
same destiny, and the interests OF all must
flourish or ianguish together, as the Wis
dom of our lawgivers, shall or snail not
afford adequate protection TO American
Industry. l.
A protective tariff gives to- q OF the
| other industries as certain pTctectA on, an
that the manufacturer receives The iar-
NOR obtains higher prices for his ProdGicts
the miner for coal and the metsB-th o
mechanic Is better paid for his handi%ofk,
and the lab2rer is better compensated
for his toll. It Is not question with them
of how much any manufactured article
thew need, is to cost, but how nell each
can afford to purchase 1T how many
bushels of wheat or corn, or coal, how
mich labor, or what portion of a mans
| earnings, is required for the purpose:
/ was present at q recent discussion on
tie subject of IL Protective Tariff, when
an hOkest mechanic, growing a little inn
notient With some of the speakers, deliver
| ed himself tn this effect, 81 don't care
for any Of your fine spun arguments On
political ECONOMY, balance OF trade ana
the like they arc all Greek te me but
this I do know: that whenever there IS a
high protective tariff, the manufacturer
thrives, and 1 can always have abundant
employment at high prices. L can guy
everything 1 want, and pfoV1Se PETER lol
my family when butter IS NIFTY cents d
pound and eggs twenty-five cents uozen,
and have plenty of money LETT 70 PlVcu uJ
some of the ~luxuries of life; Dut "na' az.
ventage is it to me if butter can DC pougnt
for TWENTY-FIVE cents a pound, ana eggs at
ten cents a dozen, if l haven't got tIe
dimes, which is always the case VIII 'n 'n ~
manufacturer is doing a poor business
There is more wisdom, and more of souno
reasoning in these few simple words of
this worthy mechanic, than in many of the
abstruse arguments that are made upon
the same side. 1t proves that the farmer,
the mechanic and the manufacturer are
inseparably blended in their respective
interests.
Perhaps 1 am ultra in regard to Protec-
ton to American Industry, and l am
aware that those who are ultra on most
subjects, frequetly injure the cause they
advocate. We are told somewhere in the
good book in regard to piety itself, that it
Is best "not to be righteous over much"
cannot however resist the conviction,
founded upon my estimate of the wants
and necessities of the government and
people of this country, in the difficult cir
cumstances in which the late terrible war
has placed us, that the subject of a Pro-
tective Tariff rises to thedignity of a ques-
ton of loyalty; and although l would not
stigmatise all the advocates of the oppo-
sing doctrine of Free Trade as disloyal,
vet l am persuaded that in its effects upon
the public welfare it "betrays ike trea-
SON"
What are its fruits? A ruined and i'm
poverished people-manufactories every
where idle-hundreds of thousands thrown
out of employment, or forced into other
pursuits to sustain life-the precious
metals and our national securities alb
sorbed to pay foreigners for goods we can
make better at home, and IL universal
system of taxation upon everything
called property, including the products of
the farm, down to the last blade of grass,
to pay the interest on the national debt.
Contrast this picture with the spectacle
which will result from ten to twenty years
ofun broken Protection to American lndus-
try, adequate to secure the American mar
ket to American labor, to the full extent
of its ability to supply the demand upon
it: U%nbounded wealth, flowing through
a thousand channels into all the employ
ment of the people,-manufactures and
the arts fiOurishing ,-immigration swelling
our population and creating new and I'M
ceasing claims upon our productive ca
pacity,-prices kept within moderate
BOUNDS Dy u generous anu dCtlNo OOmPO-
tition,-labor well paid because of the de-
mand for it,-our gold and national Sc
c%urities retained at home as a basis for the
vast transactions of an inland and coast
: wise IN as unbounded as the terri
tories of this great Empire of the Vest
our national debt rapidly extinguished by
the ready and willing submission of a
prosperous people of ample subjects of
taxation, without touching the necessaries
of life; in short, the full development of
the genius and the resources of our coun-
try, until we shall be prepared to chal-
lenge competition with the workshops Of
Europs in the markets of the world.
These are no creations of an excited
!, imagination. They are the legitimate and
natural results of the two systems of ma
tional policy, from which we must shortly
choose. Upon the wisdom of hat choice,
1 sincerely believe depends the future
prosperity of this nation.
Very respectfully Yours,
JAMES NJ. COOPER.