The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-08-24
Letter from simon Cameron,

We are indebted to the Secretary
Of the "Society for the Protection
of American Industry" of this city
for the following able and interesting letter
from the Hon. simon Cameron, which we
commend to the careful attention of u
readers:
LoCHIEL, PA, August 81, 1866.
Dear Sir: 1 have received the circular
of the " Society for Protecting American
Industry" thank you for it, and for the
complimentary letter which accompanies it.
Ny active participation 10 every effort
to secure full protection TO American Labor
began forty years ago, when l became the
editor of 8 newspaper. The close of nv
life only can indicate the time when I shsll
not bs found striving for the success of this
principle,so essential to the Peoples happi.
ness and our nations safety.
am convinced that our heavy internal
tsxation-rendered necessary by cur Ma
tionsl War Debt-scls as 8 bonus to For
eign Manufacturers, and depresses our own
IN exact proportion as it benefits them. To
correct this evil, we must at once and fully
increase the protective feature of our Rev
enue laws. By doing SO we enable our PEG.
pie to bear any amount of taxation render.
ed necessary. By refusing, we kill the
goose which lays the golden egg. Our debt
must and will be paid to the last cent end
our Statesmen can make it a load to DO
lightly borne, or q crushing weight upon
our energies, by projecting or refusing to
protect American labor and enterprise
against Foreign competition.
OF all the subjects now pressing upon
our statesmen, 1t is the greatest. If hsv-
ing t~riumphantly carried on such a war Is
the n just closed, we fall beneath the
losd OF such a debt as ours, We shall de-
serve the contempt Of mankind, and re
eeiUe IL.
am glad to see the West turning is
attention to the subject of manufactures.
That teeming and wonderful valley of the
Ohio and the MissssipPi-slready the seat
ofthe political power of the Republican,
iers, and has constantly suffered, by neg
Letting this important interest Her sgri.
eulturists have been, and are now, paying
nearly all their profits on the products Of
the soil to get them to market. A protec-
tive tariff will bring the market to their
corn.cribs, grsnaries and barn doors.
Manufactures established and protected
in the great West would insure 70 that vast
region q prosperity 30 wonderful, that men
accustomed to bold thought shrink
from putting On paper their predic-
TONS. st. Louis and Cincinnati were nero
Indian posts, when l was a boy they each
have q quarter of q million of inhabitants
now. l remember when Cleveland was "a
mere unimpor. ant village, and Chicago was
settled since the days of my manhood.
They are both great cities now, and hsvo
become so under q policy Which TetardAf
their gTol0h. What may not be expected
when this policy is reversed and their de-
velopment secured by the enactment of
wise laws, the completion Of the Pacific
Railroad, and the building of theship canal
from the great lakes to the great river?
You will then have by these improve
ments q scope for internal commerce,
and a tonnage to move, greater thar that
which made Venice, Lisbon, Alexandria
and Uonstantinople the leading commercial
cities of the earth, and which now makes
London the great emporium Of the worlds
commerce. And as an item of your great
ness you will have the Asiatie trade, that
mighty commerce of the East which alone
made all these cities great while they en-
joyed it.
But commerce cannot thrive separated
from her twin sister manufactures. They
lost their commercial power by neglecting
to institute, foster, and protect labor, and
they now serve as monuments of the folly
OF u ideas, the danger of such a policy.
When your railroad system is completed
by the road to San Francisco, you will be
on the great highway from Asia to Eur
ope, and no route can ever compete with
yours. Your prosperity is made secure for
al time, and your lakes will be to you
what the AdTiatic and the Mediterranean
were TO tho great cities of the past. In
area the difference between these inland
seas is not great, but in the productions of
their shores there is a vast difference in
your favor.
Pennsylvsnis-often sacrificed BY folly
sometimes betrayed by fraud, but always
lection, viii join cordially viii the West
for the success of that measure which en-
riches home labor and creates home mar
keis for the farmers; which produces
general prosperity and thus secures
the financial health of the Nation /; which
makes the railway to the Pacific an imper-
alive necessity, and the great Ship Canal
8 certainty, and, by so doing, will secure to
our land q supremacy in commerce and
manufactures over that per6dious Power
which opposes protection to American
labor while closely protecting her Owl,
which rails against tariffs and pirates of
free trade, which thus endeavors to des.
troy American labor, and, while at peace
with us: sends forth pirate ships to sweep
our commerce from the sess.
Very truly, your friend,
SIMON CAMERON.