Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1867-01-16

10 uelenQ ourselves against assault, but
what is equally important, to depend upon
] and Are upon our oton resources. At the
time the rebellion was precipitated upon Us
the whole business and trade of the nation
was paralyzed. 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 La
Dor was In excess, and men were everywhere
searching for employment. Mills and fur
naces were abandoned. Domestic inter
course was so tritiing that the stocks of a
number OF the most important railroads In
the country tell to, and long remained at an
average price of less than fifty per cent
But the moment that danger to the Union
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
the apprehension of the armed vessels of
the rebels, the American people began TO
practice upon the maxlms of self-detence
and self Independence. From having been,
if not absolutely impoverished and almost
without remuneratlve enterprise, depressed
by unemployed labor and idle capital, all
| their great material agencies were brought
| into motion with a promptItude, and kept
in operation with rapidity 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
| defence 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 that have best protected it
| from foreign competition, have been the
| most prosperous 1t Is clearly, therefore,
| the interest of the nation to foster and pro-
tect domestic industry, by relieving from
| internal taxation every sort OF labor, and
imposing such heavy duties upon all mpor-
| tations of foreign manufactured articles, as
to prevent the possibility of competition
| from abroad Not only should individual
enterprise and industry be thus encouraged,
| but all public works, liberal and properly
restricted general railroad system, and inter
! nal Improvements of every kind, receive the
fostering care and most liberal aid of the
government. We are rich in every thing
| necessary to meet our wants, and render Us
| independent of every other country, and We
| have only to avail ourselves of our oWn re
| sources and capabilities, to progress contln-
ually onward 10 degree OF greatness never
| yet attained by any nation Our agricultur-
| al, mineral and manufacturing resources are
unequaled, ard it should be our constant
study to devise and prosecute means tending
to their highest dcvelopement.
Why, then, should not the wisdom of
government make available the teachings of
experience, aud at once legislate for the
manifest good of the people? Why permit
our manufactures to beg that they may live?
/ The government of Great Britain has, by
her protective system, piled duty upon
duty, for more than one hundred and fifty
years. and hence upon protection is founded
| her manufacturing supremacy. Yet her
| emlssaries come to this country. and for sin
lister purposes, extol free trade" speak
| scofingly of protection" and endeayor to
persuade our people to believe and adopt
| Che absurd theory, tn; t 8 tariffs hinder the
| development of industry and the growth
| OF wealth.
| The great Republican party, in the Con
| yention which nominated Abraham Lincoln,
in Chicago, in 1860, as if preparing for the
very war which most of our statesmen were
at that period anxious to postpone, adopted
a resolution, which, " to use the language
of an eminent Pennsy ylvanian, declared
! that the produce of the farm should no lon
| ger be compelled to remain inert and losing
| interest while waiting demand In distant
markets that the capital which daily took
the form of labor power should no longer be
allowed to go to waste that the fuel which
underlies our soil should no longer there re-
main to be mere support for foreign rails );
that the power which lay then petrifed in
the form of coal should everywhere be
brought to aid the human arm; that our
vast deposits of Iron ore should be made to
take the form OF engines and other machine
| ry, to be used as substitutes for mere muscu
lar ferce; and that all our wonderful
resources, material and moral, must and
should beat once developed " Such was the
intent and meaning of the brief resolution
then and there adopted, to be at the earliest
practicable moment ratified by Congress, as
proved to be thecase when the Morrill, tariff,
on the memorable I'd of March, 1861, was
made the law of the land. To that law,
aided as it was by the admirable action of
the Treasury in supplying machinery of
circulation, we stand now indebted for the
| fact that we have, in the short space of five
years, produced more food, built more houses
and mills, opened more mines, constructed
more roads than ever before, and so greatly
added to the wealth of the country, that the
property OF the loyal States would this day
exchange Tor twice the quantity of gold than
| could hve years since have been obtained
TOR all the real and personal property, south
ern chattels excepted, of the whole of the
| States and Territories of which the Union
| stands composed.
If the principle of protection proved to
be such a talisman in the time of war, shall
we reject it in time of peace? If an answer
were needed to this question, reference
could be had to the repeated concessions to
this principle by the recent free traders Of
the South. Scarcely one Of the ambitious
men who led their unfortunate people into
rehellinn but nn,u freely admits that if tho