Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1880-11-20
THE LEADING ISSUE OF THE
FUTURE.

FUTURE.
No matter what they may be called,
there will always be two or more politi-
cal parties in this country. 1t is to be
hoped there will never be another narrow,
mean, sectional contest like that just
closed. A good many Indications point
to the tariff question as the leading issue
of the future. There will be no Solid
South nonsense in the discussion and de-
termination of this question. 1t is not
an issue of sections, further than
se~lf-interest makes it SO. We OF Ne
vada, if guided by interest, should be
for free trade. We manufacture nothing
but bullion, and import every article we
use, from a lucifer match to a quartz
mill. Free trade would give us every
thing we consume at less figures than we
now pay. But then a man should be
more broadly American than to contend
for the interest of a small section OF the
Union at the expense OF the whole.
Frankly, we hardly know whether Free
Trade or Protection is the proper thing.
A compromise has been maintained be-
tween the two since the days OF Clay and
Webster. Clay and Webster were Wings
chiefly because the Wing party favored
the doctrine of Protection. One of the
catch lines used by the Protectionists is
the assertion that it would be a shame to
bring American operatives and working
men into competition with the pauper la
Dor of Europe. This argument would be
pertinent and sound if the laboring
classes received the benefits growing out
of protection, which they do not. The
manufacturer is the man who is benefited
and he alone. Everybody else is dam
aged. The manufacturer pays little more
than starvation wages, ever with protec-
ton. He could not well pay less without
protection. Every man, woman and
child in the land is a consumer. 1t there
fore follows that every man, woman and
child in the land would be benefited by
Free Trade. On the theory of enacting
laws for "the greatest good of the great
est number" it would seem that the ad-
vocates of Free Trade had the best of
the argument. The Grass Valley Free
Lance has this on the subject under
notice:
The Tariff question is a live one and will
loom up, and be discussed probably for the
next twenty years. 1t is probable that
there will be just as much Of bitterness,
holiness, and ~blackguardism in the discus
sion Of the Tariff question as %disgraced the
sectional campaign through which the
country has just passed. Protection will
have q strong and rich party at its back,
and Free Trade will have powerful argu-
ments and much of reason in its favor.
Even Mr.. Garfield, the President elect,
once said, il We remember correctly, that
there WAS much Of the best advanced
thought Of the world in favor Of Free
Trade, or words to that effect. But our
nation, we think, will not take the same
ground that the best advanced thought has
taken, but will be for protection. We
judge so because the ablest advisers and
hackers Of the nation are strong for pro-
lection, the most Of them being engaged
in, or interested in such pursuits as need
protection. so as to enable them to make
money with the more rapidity. OF course
the question of Protection or Free Trade
has been 0 live one all the while, has never
been settled although it has been discussed
in America for scores Of years. In the
last dirty campaign that question was a
comparatively insignificant N because
the Democrats were afraid of it, and
handled the matter in such a gingerly way
as to amount to no handling at all. IA
tariff for revenue only" is, in our think
ing, nothing but begging the question. II
the tariff is not for protection it has no
right to exist. The tariff operates, whether
for revenue only or for protection, I'M
equally on the people. The burden of rev.
nue. (taxation) should be equally divided
among the people, unless the people con-
sent to be unequally burdened for the sake
Of protection to the manufacturing inter-
ests Of the country. But we are not dis
cussing the question of Tariff and Free
Trade at this time. Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof" We only sa!
what is to be mi great question in the fut-
ure Of the nation.