Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-05-28
THE WEST AND THE TARIFF.

of it mere appendage to the New England
States. The fact that the farming popula-
ton OF the Great West has nothing to gain
and everything to lose by Protection, is
one so obvious that it ought to have made
itself understood long ago. The truth
however is that the class which benefits by
Protection was cunning enough to disarm
the natural hostility of the Western people
by pretending that the tariff was in some
way a loyal measure, and that it was
therefore the duty of good Republicans to
support it, and to denounce all attacks
upon it as savoring of rebellious heresy.
This delusion was helped by the unfortu-
nate prominence of several previously dis
loyal journals in assaults upon the tariff.
What they said of it was for the most part
true, but they deprived their arguments
of effectiveness by seeking to make
the issue partisan one. The only
result of this was to render the
advocacy of free trade doctrines synony-
nous, in the minds of a great many people,
with support of the "lost cause" and thus
to discredit the whole movement. Now,
however, the war issues have mostly
passed out of sight. There is no longer
any danger impending over the Union
The Copperheads have ceased to alarm
any one. And it is for the first time pos
sible to get the tariff examined dispassion-
ately on its merits. Such an examination
OF course results in the discovery that
Protection to home industry is terribly
one-sided policy; that it is an ingenious
system whereby the purchasers are COM
PEELED to pay three and four prices for
almost everything they use, to the manu-
facturers that it results in increasing the
cost of living and of working to every
person in the country and that the en-
tire advantage of the arrangement is en-
ioyed by few men at the East, who are
thus bolstered into wealth for no
deserts of their own, and in return
for no consideration are given the
privilege of levying blackmail upon
the general public. Now Human Nature
is so constituted that if it were possible to
protect everybody in this way there would
be no difficulty in perpetuating the system,
since all would be willing to let the rest
contribute to their support. 1t is true
that universal protection would be equiva-
lent to no protection at all, but this the
masses would probably fail to realize. As
it is, however, Protection benefits only one
narrow section of the country, and as the
sections which are not benefited are rap
idly acquiring the control of politics
through their preponderance of population,
it cannot be expected that they will much
longer remain content to pay tribute to the
Eastern States as they have hitherto done.
Thus far the Western politicians have
been cautious and conservative in this
matter, but there are signs that they are
beginning to recognize the change of opin-
ion, and no doubt they will respond to it
| promptly DelOT6 lOHS.
1t is equally apparent that the Eastern
Protectionists see the handwriting on the
wall, for of late their arguments in defense
of their favorite system have been more
than usually weak and timorous. They
feel that they can no longer rely upon the
West for support, and that the sophistries
which tided them over the war period can
no longer avail them. The Western free
traders are not fanatics. They fully real.
ize the impractieability of dispensing with
tariff altogether, and while the demand
for large revenue to meet the war debt
continues, they will cheerfully contribute
their share. But what they object to is
that the tariff should be so constructed as
to play into the hands of few manufacture
ers, and that it should therefore be made
to bear so heavily upon the producing
classes. There is scarcely thing EN-.
ployed in agriculture which is not made
twice or three times as costly as it need
be, by the tariff, while there can be nc
protection for the products Of the farm
The Western people say that this is alto.
sether too unequal an arrangement. They
complain that production is practically dis
eliminated against by the Government,
and for no national good, but solely tor the
benefit of few manufacturers, who have
no claim to any such special privileges,
and who ought not to be given them. The
subject has thus been brought to point Of
view which is certain to enlist all the self.
interest of the West against the tariff as
it stands, and whether or not the present
Congress has the courage or sense to sci
On foot revision of the law, it may be
regarded as certain that the Western
demand will increase until it is listened
to. So soon as the ensuing Presidential
campaign has been fought, and poll,
tics settle down for time into meas
urable quietness, this issue will come tc
the front seriously, and it will then
be seen that free trade doctrines have made
great progress throughout the West dur
ing the past ten years, and that the inter.
ests of that region make it almost neces.
sarily unit in favor of tariff revision.
And in the same way, as the West fills
up, and its productive resources are devel-
oped, the belief in more radical applica-
ton of free trade doctrines is certain to
establish itself. 1t is probable that an.
other ten iycars will witness this change,
and as the West will by that time have
secured control of the Government, and
the predominating influence in national
politics, it may be predicted without much
risk that Free Trade will be the dominant
policy of the whole country in less than a
generation.
A QUESTION OF ETHICS,
The action of the Board of Education in