Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-05-23
The Protective System.


Recently Ex-Governor Donnelly, Of Min
nesota, took occasion in addressing Farmers
Grange at Hastings, to impress upon his hear
crs the fact that the burdens of the protective
SYSTEM were bearing down upon them more
than railroad discrimination or extortion =
His speech has been widely circulated and is
opening the eyes Of many who have heretofore
been blind to their own interests. Governor
Donnelly submitted facts and figures that show
how this law by which few are authorized
to punder the many operates:
He told them truths which ought to be
known and understood of all men who are 90
ing daily lower on the downhll-side of pros
peritg, as the victims Of Laws made to enrich
and protect pirates and piracy. He read "a
paper signed by the principal merchants in
hastings, in which they state that s'the
amount of purchase made by farmers has fallen
OIL during he last five years onc-third TO one
half; that is to shy The farmers are evidently
ec0nomizing in every way, making smaller
bills, aud buying only the necessaries Of life -
This, of course. is one Of the proofs and con
sequence Ct steadily declining prosperity
What is The cause Of it2 The speaker said
with no less truth than force, 'Uujust laws
have driven the farmers of the whole country
TO the wall, aud diminished their means of ex-
istence one-thrd or one-half This Of course
signifies shrinkage of the entire business OF
the country 10 the same extent. The laws of
the country and the monopoly power they
create and project have been bent to i'm
poverish the people and now they begin to
feel that they have killed the goose that laid
the golden eggs
When will our farmers begin TO consider
the operation Of these slave laws Here
are few significant facts
y sewing machine costs for work and mate
rial Sl2 We pay $40 for it, The same
machines are exported ia Europe and sold for
S32, after paying freight over the Atlantic
| found ia the Belfast Neles of Dec. A. 1872
the advertisement of the Singer" sewing ma
chine for f6 los, about S32 50 our money
We pay the difference of nearly forty $40,
under our patent, for being the most patient
and gullihle fools that ever pretended to
capacity for sclEgovernment.
Mccormick gave evidence in a law suit re-
Gently that his reapers cost $50 to manufac-
ture. We pay nearly $500 for them.
The threshing machines for which we pay
S7G0, could, am informed, be built for 81 90.
And so ofal other implements
In part, this is The effect of our unjust pat
cnt laws; in part, it is the effect of the pnr-
chasing power Of wealth amassed bv means Of
those laws upon venal Congressman and in
part, it is the effect Of that robber-device call
ed protective tariff The Englishman has
free trade; he, therefore, can buy an Ameri-
made sewing machine for S32, for which
the American. living next door to the t'pro-
tected' manufacturer, must pay more than
double that sum- What is to hinder the
American from ordering his American made
Sc wing machine from Belfast, and after pay
ing freight on it twice acress the Atlantic
ocean, getting it for one-half the price which
he would be compelled to ray his neighbor
the manufacturer? Why should American
laws thus place American citizens at disad-
vantage to Her Majestys subjects in an Ame-
rican market2 Who can say there is justice in
their own coUntry2
So too Of reapiug machines. An Illinois
farmer could send to England, buy a McCor-
mick reaper, and have it shipped across the
Atlantic and half way cross the continent to
his farm for half the money which he must
pay TO boss Mccormick for the same machine
but for what Why but for the blessed fact
that our Great Father at Washington deems
il necessary TO protect" poor, struggling.
poverty-stricken Boss Mccormick
Such are the artificial profits which the
protected monopolists enjoys under the pa
ternal care of our Great Father. Where are
the farmers artificial products? His produce
is as low as it was before the war while every
thing be buys and every expense that he must
meet are at war prices thanks TO the blessed
protective system p All this is natural fruit
of that system Of spoliations and robbery
which idiots and rascals style protection to
home industry !" \ system which forcibly
excludes US from the market of the world
fences us in, binds us in slavsh chains to a
greedy master, who skins US to the very bone.
'Such protection as vuliures give 10 lambs,
Covering and devouring them ?"
''Tbe men Of 1776 rose up against England
rather than longer remain the wretched VIC
tins of navigation laws, " whose sole object
Ia twenty-five separate acts, was to monopo-
lize the trade aud commerce Of the colonies
We suffer tenfold greater than the colonies
ever endured from a precisely similar system
Of monopoly we have the remedy, by peace
able revolutions at the ballot box, in our own
hands, bet we seem to lack both the intelli-
grnce and the courage 10 use it,
Two girls at Dubuque are in Jail for steal
ing shade trees.
1892 emigrants arrived at Castle Garden on
Moaday last.