Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-02-01

|
vent or repel danger our State should al
ways have well deciplined force, prepared
to act with promptness and vigor on any
emergency nor should we forget that it is
impossible to tell how soon our warlike ener-
gies may again be required in the field.
In nothing have our trials during the war,
and the resulting triumphs to our arms,
been SO full OF compensation as in the es-
tablishment Of the proud fact that we are
not only able to defend ourselves against
assault. but what is equally important, 10
| depend upon and Lce upon oar 0lCR reSO1tr-
ces At the time the rebellion was precipi-
| tated upon us, the whole business and trade
| of the nation was paralized. Corn in the
| West was used for fuel, and the producer
was compelled TO lose not only the interest
upon his capital, but the very capital he had
invested Labor was in excess, and men
were everywhere searching for employment.
| Mills and furnaces were abandoned. Do
mestic intercourse was so trifiing that the
stocks of a number of the most important
railroads in the country fell to, and long re-
mained at an average price Of less than iif-
ty per cent. But the moment the danger
became imminent, and the necessity of self
reliance was plainly presented as the only
means Of securing protection and the grad
ual dispersion Of our mercantile marine by
ihe apprehension of the armed vessels of
the rebels, the American people began to
practice uuon the maxims of self-deiense
and self dependence From having been,
if not absolutely impoverished and almost
without remunerative enterprise, depressed
by unemployed labor and idle capital, all
their great material agencies we're brought
into motion with a promptitude, and kept
in operation with Fapidity and regularity,
| which relieved them from want, their coun-
try from danger, and excited the amazement
of civilized nations.
Protection to the manufactures of the
country, when rightly viewed, IS merely the
defense of labor against competition from
abroad The wages of labor in the United
States is higher than those in any other
country, consequently our laborers are the
more elevated. Labor is the foundation Of
both individual and national wealth and
those nations which have best protected II
from foreign competition. have been most
prosperous. 1t is clearly, therefore, the
Interest of the nation to foster and protect
domestic industry, by relieving from inter
. nal taxationeyery sort of labor, and imposing
such heavy duties upon all impOrtations Of
foreign Manufactured articles, as 10 proven
the possibility of competition from abroad
, Not only should individual enterprise anC
industry be thus encouraged, but all public
works, a liberal and properly restricted gen
eral railroad system, and internal improve
ments of every kind, receive the fostering
, care and most liberal aid ofthe government
We are rich in everything necessary to meet
our wants, and render Us independent Of
every other country, and we have only tC
avail ourselves Of our own resources and ca
fts- -nrdt
a degree of greatness never yet attained b.
! any nation. Our agricultural, mineral anc
manufacturing re,ourceS are uneqUalled
. and it should be our constant study to de
wise and prosecute means tending to thel
highest development.
Why, then, should not the wisdom o
! government make avail95le the teachings 0
} experience, and at once legiSlate for tht
, manifest good of the people Why permi
our manufacturers to beg that they mal
live
The government Of Great Britain has, b.
J her protective system, piled duty upoI
duty, for more than one hundred and fifty
years, and hence upon protection Is found
ed her manufacturing supremacy. \ ct he
emissaries come to this country, and to
sinister purposes extol free trade, speal
scofingly of protection, and endeavOr tC
persuade our people to believe and adop
, the absurd theory, that tariffs hinder the
! development of industry and the growth o.
wealth. F"
The great Republican party, in the Con
yenti0n which nominated Abraham LlncolI
in Chicago, in 1860, as if preparing for thC
very war which most of our statesmen
we're at that period anxious to postpone
J adopted a resolution which, to use the
, language Of an eminent Pennsylvania, de
clared that the produce of the farm shOulc
{ no longer be compelled to remain inert anC
losing interest while waiting demand in dis
! tant markets that the capital which daily
took the form Of labor power should no lon
} ger be allowed to 80 to waste, that the tue
, which underlies our soil should no longer
there remain to be a mere support for for
eirn rails that the power which lay ther
petrifed in the FORM Of coal should every
{ where be brought to aid the human arm
that our vast deposits Of iron ore should bt
] made to take the form Of engines and othel
! machinery, to be used az substitutes, tol
mere muscular force and that our wonder
ful resources, material and moral, must anC
should be at once developed. Such was tb'
: intent and meaning of the brief resolution
then and there adopted, to be at the earlieS
practicable moment ratified by Congress, a!
, proved to be the case when the Morill tar
iff. on the memorable ID of March, 1861
{ was made the law Of the land. To tha
law, aided as it was by the admirable actor
Of the Treasury in supplying machinery o
, circulation, we stand now indebted for tht
{ fact that we have, in the short space of five
years. produced more food, built more
2 houses and mills, opened more mines, con
structed more roads than ever before, anC
so greatly added to the wealth of the coun
} try, that the property Of the loyal States
would this day exchange for twice the guam
/ tity of gold that could five years since have
, been obtained for all the real and persona
, property, southern chattels excepted, of tht
whole Of the States and territories of which
the Union stands composed. "
If the principle of protection proved t
be such talsman in the time of war, shall
! we reject it in the time of peace 1T ar
answer were needed to this question, refer
enee could be had to the repeated conces
sions to this principle by the recent free
traders of the South. Scarcely one of the
ambitious men who led their unfortunate
people into rebellion, but now freely admits
{ thatif the South had manufactured then
own fabrics, on their own plantations, and
cultivated skilled labor in their great cities
they would have been able to prolong then
conflict with the government aud now to
enjoy substantial instead of artificial pros
perity, they must invoke the very agencies
, they had so long and so fatally disregarded.
Words need not be multiplied upon this I'M
portant theme, either to make my own po
2 sition stronger, or to impress upon the pco