The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1866-05-03
Protection to American Indus
try.


That is an entirely false notion that re
CARDS the protection afforded by higt
tariff as accruing only to the manufacturer
If the protective policy is at all worthy Of
adoption by this country, it must work tc
the advantage, not of particular State
or section, nor of any special branch Of
industry, but must promote the welfare Of
the entire land, and of course of every
species of Industrial labor to which ouI
climate and soil are suited. IF, for ex-
ample, the foreign manufacturer makes
and transports to US yard of wooden
cloth so that it can be sold to the actual
consumer (say farmer) for one dollar,
would the article be in reality any dearer
to the farmer if made at home and sold for
one dollar and half per yard
Supposing the cloth to be manufactured
| across the sea, then some of our workmen
| here at home are either standing idle, or
crowding into some other (most probably
agriculturaD pursuit while foreign looms
weave our cloth. Not our own, but for
| eign laborcrs, mus. be the purchasers Of
the produce of the farmer. The farmer s
market, also, is three thousand miles away,
yet he must send his produce there and
deduct from his gross receipts the cost of
| transportation. If the manufacturer of
the cloth sells it so that the farmer gets
it from his store-keeper at dollar yard,
the price the manufacturer of the cloth
can afford to pay for the farmers wheat
and other products must be proportionable
to that he gets FOR his manufactures
That is, the manufacturer selling his cloth
at dollar a yard can pay for instance
eighty cents for his wheat but did he sell
his cloth for dollar and half yard, he
could pay one and half times more, or
one dollar and twenty cents, for his wheat.
But the farmer has not the option Of
sending his wheat to some other market.
He owes the storekeeper for the cloth,
and the storckeeper owes the importer,
and the importer the foreign manufactur-
er. The foreign manufacturer pays
transportation on his goods the same dis
tauce as the farmer, but as his wares are
not one-fourth as bulky as the farmers
grain, his transportation bill that ne has
to deduct from the gross receipts for his
cloth is not fourth what the farmer de-
ducts from the gross price received for
his grain. The farmer, then, when he
buys from the foreign manufacturer, must
send his grain to the manufacturer In
payment for his cloth or other wares, and
take for it a price proportiona5le TO that
for which he has received mis- cloth
Meaotime the capital and labor that
would otherwise be engaged in nanufac-
turing at home have either gone abroad or
are Elm our fields, plowing, sowing, and reap
ing, so that we are all producers of the
same agricultural staples.
On tho other hand, suppose the cloth
to be manufactured at home and to cost
the farmer one dollar and half yard.
Much capital and labor are taken from
agriculture and put into manufacturing
pursuits right here at home. As the first
benefit, the farmer saves the transportation
of his produce over the ocean. The men
that are weaving his cloth are anxious for
his grain. They will pay for his grain
more than he can get for it in foreign
lands, and the proof of this is that the
farmer does get more for his grain in times
of protection right at his own door than
in other times he will receive from the
foreign manufacturer. But from this the
farmer gains little or nothing, the differ
ence being balanced by the enhanced
price of labor caused by the demand for
workmen in manufacturing pursuits
When the farmers customers, however,
were beyond the sea, he could not sell |
them his hay, for it was teo bulky for
nor his eggs, nor butter,
nor sheep, nor any OF those vegetables
50 necessary for life and comfort, but
which from their nature are too fragile or