The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-01-09
Too Much Protection.

The result of recent elections held in a large num-
Der of States (says the Commercial Herald Of San
Francisco has been ascribed by political newspapers
to q variety of causes, but, to our comprehension,
none of them have revealed its true merits. The
Credit Mobilier scandal, the salary fraud, the intern
perance of the temperance legion, the disturbances
in some Southern States, the third term humbug,
the carpet-bagging rascalities, the frequent instances
Of corruption in Office, and various other reasons
were undoubtedly influential in many instances, and
especially in those localities subjected to their direct
action, but we believe those agencies to have been
mainly superfcial-the floating substances on the
bosom of a stream which show which way the cur
rent tends-but do not discover the cause of the
movement. We must go deeper. Too much protec-
ton, too much tariff, too much legislation for rich
operators and too much imposition upon the great
army Of consumers; that is one of the motive powers,
and disreputable, dishonest tinkering with the cur
rency question, which is the second and no less pro-
minent reason. To protect the iron interests of
Pennsylvania and Missouri, the operatives in edge
tools and hardware articles have in thousands of
cases been compelled to cease, because the duties on
English iron and steel were go exorbitant as to abso-
lutely prohibit their use, and foreign made goods
could be bought at cheaper rates. The same is true
with regard to wool, the duties on which range from
20 to 100 per cent, including fourteen varieties or
classi6cations of wool attended with heavy penalties
for any violation or departure from such classical
ton, the determination of which is a delicate and
hazardous matter. Had we the space to spare we
could specify a large number of other articles for
which the American people have been compelled to
pay heavily in order that some wealthy corporations
should receive the benefits of protection (! Congress
exhibited neither inclination nor ability to cope with
the question, and finally all the opposition platforms
rang with the cry - a tariff for revenue only and
it became a leading feature in the late elections, es-
pecially in those sections where thousands upon
thousands of unemployed operatives felt its full sig
niicance. Now let US refer to the currency infu-
ence. The Republican party came into power
pledged to the earliest possible resumption of specie
payments. How did it redeem those pledges! Its
prominent leaders, such as Butler, Logan, Morton,
Kelley. Stevens, and a host of others were the warm
est advocates for initiation, for multiplying Govern
ment paper promises to pay, for measures that could
only result in financial ruin, and the utter wreck Of
American credit at home and abroad, and but for
the stern, unyielding interposition of the President,
that mischief would have been Again,
a Republican Secretary of the Treasury, in defiance
Of law, and with entire disregard of right and just
ice, deliberately authorized the emission of $26, 000,-
600 from the reserves, and subsequently managed to
have his action Endorsed by a Republican Congress.
but not without having attached to it the covert
stigma of a proviso positively inhibiting the issue of
any more greenbacks or rag-money subject to re-
denption by the Government. We might cite many
others points of like character, but the failure of
Congress to take measures for resumption, and its
we'll known impotence to deal intelligently with fnan-
cial questions, will suffice to show the other great
cause for the changes that have occurred.