The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1867-05-23
1rSS0VS F0R PROTECTION.

Rf1SONS FOR PROTECTION.
The New York Tribune tells of a gath
eringaa the Astor House of some two
hundred prominent citizens interested in
OF otherwise favorable to Protection to
Home Industry. MI. Peter Cooper pre-
sided, and ten or twelve states were rep
resented. Gov. Picrpont of Virginia was
present and in full sympathy with the
meeting and its object. A Committee of
Organization was appointed, and after
much animated discussion, an adjourn
ments was had to the 22d inst, when it is
intended to organize for avigorous. deter
mined canvass of the whole country, by
means of meetings, speakers and docu-
It was high time. The importers have
substantial control of the newspaper
press of New York City, the Tribune and
one or two other papers excepted We
do not, in saying this-says the Tribune
charge anybody with corruption. It
happens that the importers are Free Ira
ders, and that they, with the jobbers of
their goods, are very large and constant
advertisers, as most American producers
Of metals, wares and fabrics are not The
importers advertise mainly in journals
with talk as those importers would have
them on the Tariff question and the
great majority of our journals talk so as
to please their most liberal advertisers. =
All this is rather natural than otherwise,
and we are not blaming either party
We state facts which explain other facts,
and demand public attention.
That miners and manufacturers who
seek protection are monopolists, extor-
TONERS, robbers, is the general drift Of
our City contemporaries political economy.
That the essayists who condemn protect
ion are unquestionably right, while those
who uphold it are knaves or fools, is the
stvle Of argument which our neighboring
journals find at once easy and profitable.
That Pennsylvania iron-master who has
to pay twice or thrice as much for labor,
as his British rival, who can export his
product to this market las ballast for dry
goods, at lower freight than the Penn
sylvanian must pay, eyinces exceeding
rapacity and check" in asking for
protective duty on imported iron, is quite
currently believed here. New York is
more largely inhabited by Europeans
than by Americans, and very many of
our merchants are more intent ON ''tak-
ing home large pile within few years
than on building up the country wherein
their fortunes are made.
That American Manufacturers are ex-
ceptlonally, enormously profitable, is
constantly asserted by our Free Trade
neighbors, and every scrap of news that
favors that assumption is conspicuously
paraded, while the scores of facts that
prove the contrary are quietly suppress
ed. 1t is in vain that-we say to the Free
Traders You have among you ade-
quate capacity, energy and capital, and
you are not averse to making good profit.
Now, if it be true, as you constantly as
sert, that Manufactures are generally sold
too high here, and that large profits are
realized by those who produce them, why
do not you embark in their fabrication?
Here. are water-power, fuel, ores, and all
manner of raw material in abundance
why aoW you persist in some pursuit
which pays you meagerly, when you
might OFF you state the truth make 20
to 50aper cent by smelling iron or weav-
ing fabrics? What can induce you to
act SO insanely? ?" They do not answer
how could they, without confessing that
they have been persisting in untruth to
the injury of their neighbors?
but why not buy where you can
buy cheapest? ask the Free Traders
why deny or fetter mans natural
right to do as he likes with his own?''
We answer: To buy our iron, wares,
fabrics, precisely where we can buy them
cheapest, and because we can there buy
them cheapest, is our plan. We uphold
the protective system, because we are
sure that thereby can our people wants
be supplied more cheaply (for them than
in any other way. We hold, and have
often demonstrated, that the tun of iron
which costs 500 if made here, and S75
If imported, actually costs our consumers
considerably less mot in dollars but in
days works. if made here In other
words. the cost of the American is made
up of ore, coal, wood, charcoal, feed,
taxes, schooling &C., which would not
have brought $50, nor even sos, had our
iron been made in Europe We of the
Tribune, for example, are this year pay
ing at least $4,000 for presses, &C.,
mainly made Of mon and we can better
afford to pay 10000 if our own supply of
ronwere wholly made and fashioned inthis
country than 5000 with our furnaces,
founderies, and workshops in Europe
We can make this truth plain to any one
who is not steeled against conviction.
-"But what do you say as to the right
of every one to sell his own labor or It's
product as he sees fit p
Just this, Sir; as gou interpret that
right, it leads directly to anarchy Gov
Garments subsist on taxes; and, if it be
conceded absolutely that man may do
as he likes with his own, then collecting
taxes must be stopped, and treasures FIJI
ed by voluntary gift or not at all. IF the