Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-12-17
S sUBsoRIPTIoN TERMs. I'D
FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION.

IleE tfaQe IN ITS unlimited sense SNcl
free trade as is preached BY the most
Vociferous Of its advocates, means depend
enee upon foreign sources fer everything
that can be produced cheaper abroad than
| it can be made at home. II means death to
the mechanical and manufacturing interest
Of the country, and the conversion of the en-
terprising mechanics, who now add SO much
/ to the industrial wealth Of the nation, into
| agrieolturists. It means glut in the
market Of all agricultural products, and con
sequent low prices and diseouragement to
those engaged in agriculture. It means ex-
pesure to sudden deprivation Of those nee
essaries Of life for which we rely upon
foreign sources, at any time our foreign re-
lations become disturbed, consequent and
large advance in their price, and distress re-
sulting from diminished supply.
| Protection, on the contrary, does not i'm
ply prohibition, as its opponents, many Of
them, unfairly claim. 1t only means the
adjustment Of tariffs SO that we can compete
with foreign producers in all industries
which may, with moderate encouragement,
thrive here, and for which we possess equal
natural advantages with foreign competitors.
1t means protection of labor against forced
competition With the cheap labor of Europe.
1t means opportunity for those whose
natural genius leads them into other fields
of industry than agriculture, to develop that
genius and thus add to the mental wealth
of the country as we'll as its material re-
sources All cannot be successful farmers
or merchants and any policy which tends
to conGne the abilities Of men to any one
channel is bad policy.
We hear great deal about the distine-
ton between a revenue tariff and protec-
tive tariff, as though these were or ought to be
considered separately; we 60 not believe in
this distinction We hold that the best
revenue tariff viii be on that protects the in
dustries of commonweath-thc sources
from which all revenue must come, notwith-
standing the sophistry by which it is at
tempted to disguise this important and
fundamental truth
No more fatal error has ever found ad-
herents in the political history of our
country than the doctrine of free trade
When mankind become one nation, one
brotherhood; when all produce equally, not
alone for self but for the good of the whole:
when ignorance, aud greed, and lust Of
power no longer exist; when the millennium
has come, free trade viii be the thing,
,peapubiIa tra goo1, 20 1--we ~ a m avoab too
early for that blisslul consummation.
The truth of the above proposition is
found not only in. logical conclusions from
well established premises, but in the history
Of the United States for the last half centu-
ry. TIE tariff of 1888 produced its legitimate
results in the ruin of 1887, and the country
recovered only under the protective tariff of
1872. The subsequent adoption Of free
trade policy in 1916 brought US to the very
verge of disaster in ls49, which was STAYED
off few years by the gold production of
California. ButlS57 brought the climax of
distress upon the country, and there are
many young men who can remember that
bitter lesson. To use the words of Henry G.
Carey:
"once again do we find the country
driven to protection, and the pupIic credit
by its means SO well established as to enable
the Treasury with little difficulty to obtain
the means Of carrying on war whose
annual cost was more than the total public
expenditure Of half a century, including the
war with Great Britain in 1912. Thrice
thus, with tariffs of lS42 and 1860, has pro-
lection redeemed the country from almost
ruin. Thrice thus, under the revenue
tariffs of 1917, 1884. and 1S49, has it been
sunk so low that none could be found $50
poor as to do it reverence. Such having
been our experience through half century,
it might have been supposed that the
question would be regarded now as settled,
yet do we find among Us men in Office, and
out Of Office, secretaries and senator's, owners
of ships and railroads, farmers and laborers,
denouncing the system under which, at
every period of its existence, ard more
especially in that of the recent war, they
had SO largely prospered- thereby proving
how accurate has been the description of
them by an eminent foreigner as ''the
people who soonest forget yesterday.
These are well known and often asserted
facts, yet blind to their teachings, the
preachers Of free trade are urging their
views upon the public, have enlisted in
their behalf even the services of eminent
divines and college professors, in order to
win by elap-trap a certain class who are led
by distinguished names and high sounding
titles Such men, distinguished for their
want of financial ability almost as much as
for their great requirements in letters and
theology, are the men who are to instruct
the eountry upon political economy.
None are more likely to be deceived by
their special pleading than farmers, and no
class would be more seriously injured By the
adoption Of free trade policy. Far re-
moved from commercial centres, and not
conyersant with the details of trade, it
seems difficult for them to comprehend how
cheapcning iron and cotton goods should
not be beneficial to them They do not see
connection between the prices of manu-
factured goods, and the prices of their pro-
ducts, and the value Of land The best way
to convince them is to point them to the in
disputablc fact that when such goods have
hitherto advanced in price under the genial
influence OF protection, their ability to pur-
chase has always advanced in greater ratio
from the consequent increase in the value
Of farm products. We trust farmers win
not permit themselves to be deceived ia
this matter. Let them judge Of the present
and the future by the past. which sheds a
clear unmistakable light upon this subject,
and in the history of which stand yoked
a,noALn- ;r-ar;ahlu ,.ratoa.sor. al -