New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-04-09

| shipped to the other end Of the world in
| search of Il market.
Free-traders claim that by imposing taxa
| ton on the products of foreign labor we en-
courage monopOlies in this country; but
there are no restrictions to labor-no indus
trial monopoly in Our country. The chan
ncls OF labor and trade are open and free to
all Il fair field and no favor is the practice
everywhere. The success OF one man stimu
lates others To embark in the same industry,
and every additional factory and Workshop
increases the demand for labor, and the
pleasant sounds Of industry will soon be
heard in every village ard hamlet of the
country.
1t is the markets of the country that sus-
tain labor, they are the priceless boon ofHour
producers and when these markets become
gutted and overstocked the wheels of our
machinery begin to move more slowly; and
when the market utterly falls the work stops,
and the employer and employee 90 out of the
factory together. Destroy our home markets
and you knock the bottom out of domestic
employmcnts.
The tables reported by the Bureau of Sta
tics will show that while % per cent. of our
imports consist of mechanical work, our OK
ports consist almost wholly Of raw products,
and 80 per cent. of the value of the products
exported last year you will find to consist of
raw Gotten, food, and gold. The value of
raw cotton exported was SD. 100000.
Now, instead of exporting so much raw cot
ton we should reduce it to yarn, thereby
doubling its value, and sell cotton warn to
foreigners at double the price of raw cotton,
the difference being the value of the labor
employed for the purpose. Instead Of ship
ping one bale of raw cotton and bringing
back three bales in the shape of cotton stock
Snnol oh
the raw cotton on the spot and sell the manu-
features Of cotton, and thus augment home
productions. In this way we should rehabli-
tate the south and furnish employment to its
surplus labor. to the manifest advantage
and profit of the great cotton States.
The true ground is that the American pco-
pie are entitled to a preferential chance in
their own markets: and is it not just that the
people who own the country and work to
build it up should enjoy the benefits OF the
markets which their industry and ENTERPRISE
alone have created? If foreigners want
access to our ports for the sale OF their
manufactures, let us require toll OF them in
the shape OF protective duties, or let them
come here with their capital and machinery,
| build factories, furnish employment to our
people, and pay American wages. a pro-
tective tariff Restraints and checks impOrta-
ton, prevents certain raids upon our markets.
and when the European manufacturers find
that they cannot dispose of their goods with
out the payment of duties they will come to
the United States with their capital, and
pay taxes to support Our schools, rs we have
always done. And this tendency has been
exhibited in the fact that during the past
twelve years thousands have arrived and put
up great workshops and factories in the
United States. There is, therefore, no hidden
mystery about the tariff question: it is a
question of dollars and cents it is n ques-
ton of labor, just reward for labor, and
independence for the masses. 1t favors
domestic competition as against foreign
monopoly; it is opposed TO Il reduction OF
labor at home, which always leads to idle
ness, pauperism, and crime. Protection, in
short, secures to the people of this country
universal prosperity, Il prosperity which falls
like the dews of Heavens good to all and
an injury to none.