Middletown transcript., 1869-05-29
Effects of Protection.

In recent report to the Legislature of
Massachusetts, General III. K. Oliver made
an appalling statement of the condition of
the manufacturing population of New Eng
land. He says of the great manufacturers of
that section, that they "have been engag-
ed as such for several generations yet the
man or the family that has been in their
employ and come out of it with more than
enough for decent interment is yet to be
found" GA helpless crowd of workers,
the oppression of low wages, inevitable
poverty and disguised sorfdom, rich
master, poor servant, and mean popu-
lation-such is the story of manufacturing
in Old England, and such is the story of
manufacturing in New England" That
able and temperate Republican journal, the
Springfield Republican, endorses General
divers report as "a toleraJly good des-
cr,ption Of what most Of as haze seem"
This is what protection" has done for la
Dor in Massachusetts. Protection for home
industry indeed! The real workingman
is worked upon miserable pittance till he
dies, and then not left more than enough
to put him away decently in the grave
The New York Tribune estimates THAT
there are at this moment half million of
people within sight of our citys steeples,
who are hungry and destitute, because
they can find nothing to do" Yet the
Tribune is the chief advocate of the policy
which impedes the commerce on which so
many people are dependent
If the present Congressional policy of
hostility to American commerce be not
changed, and that speedily, we will soon
sink into comparative insignifcancc as IA
maritime nation. From 1861 to 1867 the
registered tonnage of the country decrea-
sed fifty-four per cent. or nearly one mil
lion five hundred thousand tons Instead
of the natural gain of SO 3.S per cent the
actual loss, making due allowance for new
measurement, is ? 2,260, 597, or real loss
of 6S per cent. While the British sup
port 164 lines of steamers to foreign coun-
tries, and G8 British steamers pass be-
tween United States ports and Europe,
the United States flag is nowhere seen
floating abroad at the masthead of an
American steamer. All this is the result
of Radical legislation, and yet they claim
to be par excellence, the party of protec-
tion to American interests and industry
They protect the few at the expense of the
many. They uphold by class Legislation
a half-dozen enterprises, while all the rest
are taxed heavily for that purpose. Their
paper money system sits like nightmare
upon the welfare of the working people,
and in order to divert public attention
from the real cause of the disease which
is now prostrating the material interests of
producers, such political tinkers as Carey
and Greeley and Kelley cry out protec-
ton, protection to American industry.
1t is true American industry does need
protection, but it is from the party now
in power. They have killed the commerce
of the country by unwise and partial
laws, and will strangle manufactures in
like manner in the end. Paper money,
an expensive government swarms of Of
fice-holders to steal, squandcr and appro-
pirate, and President who opens the trea-
sury to the clamor of politicians, are the
curses of the country at the present time.
From these, working men and capitalists
need deliverance. While such influences
are potent to command, labor will be trod-
den down and the masses each day APP
proach nearer the condition of serfs and
slaves.