Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1872-04-13
The Instability of American Legislation.

"ilSt7, 'clH't7> 'ii'"' e wa ~ ~
our assumption Of the advocacy of
either Free Trade or "l'rotcction,
considered politically, With this as
pect, however, We do not design or
wish to treat, but with the single aim
of showing that, with the American
people, the idea of protection, as
applied to their productions and indus
tries, at this period, is scarcely one of
choice, but of necessity,
In our infancy as yet. compared with
the elder nations of the Old World,
we are thrown in competition with
manufacturing facilities, long estab-
lished, and perfected through centuries
of laborious experiment. These not
only have supplied more than home
demands but have crowded the marts
of the world with their overlooking
products. While they have continual
ly gathered a golden revenue from all
other portions of the earth, they have
done better in rearing an Independence
we'll nigh indestructible by foreign
embargoes. In fact, so great Is their
aggressive power that tariffs to dis
courage expectation must be high, else
they would at once dictate the ruin of
our home industry. Besides, they
have established themselves, compare
lively, as no,a-importers, having all the
mineral, physical, and scientific ele-
ments, with which to maintain their
own fortunes The cry of Free
Trade may well resound throughout
old Europe, but when America unbars
her gates to the unrestricted entry of
foreign commerce, she lets in the food
which overwhelms her infant industry
In the foreign production Of iron,
for instance, cheap labor has been
assigned as the fruitful source of the
manufacture and shipment Of an artl
Gle at a lower rate than we can devel
op it here. This is only partially true.
A far greater and more potential cause
lies behind this in their unbounded util-
ization of physical forces. Machine
power, not nlan-powef, Is alone effect
i've in bringing ores to light in land
where there is little OF no surfacc-dig-
ging. The dragon, steam, is harnessod
to every conceivable service. All that
science can dictate, philosophy suggest,
or money provide, is made available
to the double purpose Of making the
operators, not laborers, but supervisors,
and the consequent rapid develop
ment of the metal.
1t is not our purpose to dcpreciate
the value of manual labor, or abridge
the opportunities of Workingmen, by
citing a comparison, fatal to our present
system of mineral development We
prefer to assume that its value is en-
HANGED as it is made more intelligent.
As men are relieved from its drulgerv
they escape lis degradation. The in
creased production bears with it in
creased demands and increased COM
.pensaton. The whole economy of the
foreign system tends to exalt labor by
investing it with higher prerogativcs
But all this cannot be effected at
once. As before stated our product
i've interests are vet in their ncipiencv,
and need the fostering care and pat
ronage of the whole country to start
them upon a basis durable enough to
bid defiance to competition anywhere,
1t is doubtless hard for New England
to be cut off from the benefits of her
Investments in foreign coal lands, but
it is harder that the remaining vast
interests of the country should suffer
for her convenience. Let her rather
direct her capital to the building up
of home markets by patronizins home
productions. Ours is common coun-
try, dependent for support upon the
united and concurrent protection, by
all sections, of the interests of all sec
tons, This can best be done by legis-
lation, on this subject, in harmony with
the national idea of unity and perpe-
tuity.
Perhaps no feature of our economy
has tended to retard development of
our resources more than the single one
of capricious legislation. No Congress
passes laws but are changeable by an
other, not the least evil result of which
is the Encouragement of capital in
vestments, Our minerals, Of which
we possess unbounded deposits, repose
in the bosoms of our broad breasted
mountains, idle and proftless. With
NO encouragement of permanent pro-
lection, they will lie where they are.
l,,t H., ,>,,,.,, g $780,, -.