Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-08-07
lanraster fntelllgenrer.

lanraster fntelllgencer.
SATURDAY EVENING. AUGUST 1880.
A Good Case but q Bad Argument.
We print to-day a long letter taken
from an organ of the iron trade and in
spired by an alleged declaration by John
Bright, in a speech made in England
away back in December, that " the
American tariff must he held to be very
barbarous." The Workingman" who
purports to be the author, may be any
thing from preacher to an organ grind
er, for we are all workingmen in this
country, and so the term is not at all dis
tinctive. Whoever he may be he cannot
plume himself very much upon his
strength in argument, as it is but fee
BILE lance that he casts against John
Bright S charge, which is false and can
readily be shown so but it is not proven
to be false by contrasting the condition
of the English with the American la
borer, and holding that the differ
ence springs from the free trade Of Eng
land and the protective duties levied here.
1t is absurd to say that the protective
policy which is beneficial to the United
States would be beneficial also to Eng
land. And yet this is what this 6 Work
ingman's' argument would show. The
two countries are under totally different
conditions Our protective duty on iron,
for instance, is not barbarOus and has
been in the highest degree bene6cent to
the country because, while it compels
those who use iron to pay more for 1t
than they would if it was imported duty
free, yet it has enabled our iron ore mines
to he developed and our iron manufactOr-
les TO bc established with the cOnse-
quence that they have given employment
to large numbers of people, who have be-
come consumers of the products of the
land and given activity to its agricultural
and trading interests. The further cOnse-
quence has been that our ores and Goals,
abundant in quality and superior in
quality, have now enabled our iron man.
ufactures to produce a metal better than
is made in England and at a price so
low that the English manufacture is
forced to reduce his prices to figure
that is below cost to enable him to enter
our market at all, even under the present
light duty. Iron has, therefore, really
been cheapened to the consumer by our
protective policy.
1t is easy to prove to any unprejudiced
and intelligent mind that the protection
of our iron industry has worked very
beneficially and that it has been barbar-
Gus only to the English manufacturer, in
depriving him of any profit upon his trade
with us. As it is not our care to look
out for him, we may rest easy under this
imputation of cruelty. Every nation is
compelled to be selfish, as every man is !;
self-preservation being the first law OF
national rs of individual life.
10 England free trade in iron is just
as distinctly commanded by her interests
as protection is dictated to us. With
her cheap labor, great capital and min.
eral resources, she has no reason tO
fear competition in the iron trade within
her own territory or in any part of the
world where trade is free. She has at
present controlling advantages ovel
every other country. The day is coming
and is not very far off when abundance OF
labor and capital and the great mineral
and manufacturing development of this
country will enable us to compete with
England in all the markets of the world
with the material advantage over hel
which we possess in the quality and mag
nitude of our mineral beds. When that
time comes our policy will he one
of free trade, and the iron man.
ufacturers who now clamOr fol
protection will howl for free trade with
a common voice. They will want ther
to I've let out of the confines of this coun.
try with their product. AS long as the
United States consumes enough iron tt
keep them busy they want that tiel(
preserved to them, and they have it done
with a tariff. When they seek the trad.
of the world our ports must he opened
free to the worlds commerce. And thu!
he who runs may see.
When that time comes, wages must
come to point here to meet the worlds
competition in that article. They have
been brought down in England by TIN
necessities her manufactures are under
now to meet this competition. And
why are they under it Just be
because their facilities for manufacture
outrun the home demand for iron ani
they are necessarily driven to seek ;
market abroad. What would be thu
effect of Il tariff levied on iron imported
into England ? Surely anybody can SCI
that it would he useless in keeping irol
out that cannot enter even where trade il
free, and that England's real interes
requires her to preach free trade by ex
ample and precept, to open every possible
avenue to her industies. If a duty OF
iron had any effect in England, it wOult
he to limit it's trade and introduce s.
sharp a competition among the manu-
features for what was left as to brin,
ruin upon them and to reduce the wage
of labor to the starvation point. Wha
is good for one constitution is sometime
poison to another. The United States i