New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-12-21

rs toe u which ss;lI further advanced the
protective pol.cy OF ihe natisn La one OF the
numbers OF the " Fsdsraist, he had said !:
Let the thirseen States, bound together in q
! great indissolnbe union, concur in erecting
one great American system, superior to the
control of transatlantic force or influence, and
able to dictate the connection between the Old
| and New World and be knew that no other
measure of the new Government was so entirely
essential to the aetuaIixation Of this great hope
as the support. defence. and encouragement of
American skilled labor. sdf
! The rates OF duty under the tariffs of WASH
rNaroS's administration were low, too low to
effect the object by their ewn proper force but
/ oil Europe went 10 war in 1913, and the result
! ing distu rbances Of Its productive industry con.
tinued for full twenty years. This insanity Of
Europe aided by our non-intercourse and en-
| barge laws, and by the advanced tariff rates
during our own war of 1912, afforded the re-
qdired projection of our productive industry and
/ of our maritime interests and so we had the
advantages of oar first protection period. Then
came the reverse. Insufficient rates of duties
.openedOu markets to the restored native in
dustry OF " estern Europe our owa went down
under San anresisted competition and the
financial ruin Vi the people and bankruptcy of
the national treasury followed, which lasted
from 1918 until the curse of free trade com.
PEELED the country into the protective system
of 1924 and 1928. These were permitted to
work till the OompromissAc t of 1888, which
began it's ruinous course rfr 1885. Why this
change? Dolly because protection, in this brief
period Of ten or twelve years, had paid of the
debt OF the old war and the new, aud an over
lowing treasury, due exclusively TO i'm
Inenseiy augmented sales OF the public lands,
! produced surplus that needs must be de-
posted with the States to put the money of
the couatry into circulation. So ran the
reasonings Of the day. But the truth is, that
not cent of that surplus came from the
customs revenue. The public lands, which
never before had Yielded more than three
millions year, in 1895 and 1886 poured
forty millions into the Treasury simply be-
cause the free trade policy, which had be-
gan its work of death in 1894, drove the
labor and cap tai of the East to,the wilderness
OF the West; just as the free trade, low wages
system Of England compels her people to elui-
CRATE. Well, from 1884 to lS42 we had another
turn OF unrestricted foreign commerce, and a
runous crisis OF our industrial and financial
affairs once more compelled the restoration of
the protective policy. lie took eff ct in 1912,
and Was in Sort of way maintained through
the rule of the tariff of 1916, which, with all
the help from the discovery of California gold
the fan iners Of Western Europe of 1913, and the
Crimean war Of 1884, might have brought US
through If its rates had been assessed as spe-
cific duties; but, unhappiiy, the ineradicable
vices of nd vatorsms exposed the principle to
all the evils of under valuations, custom house
oaths. and fr,uds. Still there was, one way or
another, too much prosperity under it, and We
must needs try the other turn again aud in
1891 IL was cut down twenty FIVE per cent, re-
ducing the average protection afforded to less
than twenty per cent. The monetary crisis of
1851 revealed its workings, and we struggled
aloug till the persistent enemy Of that system
of labor which intends the benefit Of the Ia
borers seeded. The rebellion came upon us,
and out of the nettle of our danger we
plucked the flower, safety" IL gave US the
tariff Of 1861 aud its subsequent improve
ments.
Here We have a curious history, and an IN
structive one. Every crash of business, every
revuision that has fallen upan the country aud
the Federal exchequer, has found it's remedy
in return to the protective policy; and, after
every period OF protection, We have been So
duced into ruinous policy of free trade. No
nation in modern times has ever risen, or is
now rising, into prosperity, except those which
have persi'iently protected their native in
dustry against invasion; and no nation which
has abandoned its economic welfare to foreign
domination-tO free trade, which means the
rule of the oldest and strongest, and the ruin
OF their interiors in skill and captial-but
stands to day the witness of its own. folly
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