Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-10-29
Labor and Free Trade.


vote squarely against their own interests.
They probably do not believe this or
they would not vote the democratic ticket
1t is fair to presume that every man who
best for himself But men are liable to
mistakes OF judgment though they vote
as conscience dictates.
To vote for Hancock and a tariff for rev.
enue only is to vote for the destruction of
manufacturing in this country and to com
pei our people to buy their manufactures
abroad Is this for the interest Of the la
borer in Maine Certainly not. 1t is TO
vote to deprive him of work, to take the
bread from the mouths of his children
and to lessen their means of getting living
when they have grown to be men and
women. Close the factories and the oper-
tives have nothing to do" And this is
what "tariff for revenue" or what is
the same. free trade. would do.
Canada is country where free trade
prevails. where they have tariff for
revenue only" Now. how is it with the
Canadian laborers; are they contented
and prosperous at home? Do they have
plenty OF work in their own country at
fair wages? No. They have free trade.
but they have poverty with it, and thous-
ands upon thousands of them come over
into the United States seeking work in
our factories which are maintained by the
republican protective policy. There is no
manufacturing place in Maine of any size
where Canadian laborcrs cannot be found
at work who have abandoned their own
country with its tariff for revenue only"
and taken up homes in this country where
under the influence of protection they are
able to earn II far better living than they
could in the country they left behind. If
free trade is better policy for govern
ment than protection why are the Cana
dams coming over the border in such
great numbers?
Here is a practical test of the relative
merits of free trade and protection. Some
of the wisest statesmen of Canada are in
favor of building up industries through
protection that will keep their people at
home. but it has not been done and hence
the migration to tins country continues.
II is not impossible that on Tuesday
next some of our Canadian voters in Lew
iston. Wa.erville, Biddeford. Augusta, or
wherever they may be, will 60 to the polls
and vote for Hancock. If they do they
will vote to put things back where they
are in Canada. so tar rs labor and manu-
featuring are concerned. They will vote
to give themselves pauper wages. They
will vote to stop the building of any
any new factories. They will vote
to close the factories now in
operation. They will vote to compel
their employers to stop business. They
will vote to force the United States to buy
its manufactures abroad and thus paw
tribute to the cotton lords of the South and
the free trade nabobs of Europe. How
Canadians, who are here in our country
simply because we have republican
tariff which protects labor and affords
them chance to work at fair wages. can
vote for Hancock and the same state of
things they had in Canada. is beyond our
comprehension. They ought to throw a
solid vote for Garfield. who is pledged to
support the system which supports them.
There is Ireland. another land under
the dominion OF tree trade. one of the finest
lands. as it came from the hand of Nature.
that lies under the sun. Free trade and
oppression drive its people in swarms to
our shores to escape starvation, and yet
Irishmen have in the past. as soon rs they
became voters. gone to the polls and voted
the democratic ticket and in favor of that
British free trade which cursed them from
the cradle to the time they left their country
for America. Do these Irishmen under
stand that British gold is sustaining the
Hancock and English ticket, with the OBJ
ject OF reducing laborers in this country TO
the same miserable condition of
laborers in Ireland and England? Thou
sands of Irishmen have received light up
on this subject this year and will vote for
Garfield. That any Irishman should vote
for Hancock is strange.
Laborers of Maine, no men in the State
are more interested in the election of Gar
field and Arthur next Tuesday than you.
and you ought to see to it that YOU fail
not to cast your votes for them. Under
the continuation of the republican policy
of protection all our industries will flour.
ish and there will be labor in plenty
At good wages for all who desire emplov-
ment.
Look at your own interest in this cleo