Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-29
The PROTECTIVE THEORY IN LEGls-
LAFIoT

Whenever State or a nation endeavors
to exclude competition in any form, it is
pursuing course which is opposed to the
highest interests of the people. The main
advantage of all the machinery which
facilitates transportation and loconotion is
that it brings the cheapening influence of
competition to a greater number of people
than could otherwise enjoy it. Il is for
the good of the public that there should
be no barriers to commerce or the exchange
of products, but that every market should
be free to all corners, and that the con-
sumner should everywhere share the benefits
arising from this freedom. The resistance
which is continually opposed to the re-
moyal of commercial distractions is due,
not to any public spirit, not to any local
pride, but to the most selfish and narrow
and greedy motives which influence men.
There are few men who would not be mo-
nopolists if they could. There are no in
terests which viii not hedge themselves
about with Chinese wall if they are per-
mitted to do so. And if they can
hoodwink the public, and persuade them
that the measures they propose
solely for their own aggrandizement,
are in the interest of the commonwealth,
it is possible for them to impose upon a
w e nation such unjust and mischievous
ardeps as our Tariff at present entails.
The disposition to create and maintain
monopohes is general-we might almost say
universal but it is only when these efforts
are made in some large and emphatic way
that they attract attention. Few States
have probably suffered more from this
tendency than California, owing to the
peculiar character OF her origin and
growth The enormous prices which
prevailed in pioneer times, and which
were partly excused by the iso-
lation OF the country and the difficult
ties of transportation, have been relin-
pushed only in the most reluctant way,
and after the most desperate attempts to
maintain them. Even to this day many
of them are chung to with positive infatua.
ton, and it is not an exaggeration to say
that we still have among us many men who
will rather lose business than abandon the
usurious profits to which they have be-
come accustomed. This habit is, how
ever, only in part a survival from the
pioneer times. It is also fortified by the
prevalent greed OF gain which has
popularized the doctrine that it is neces-
sary above everything to amass riches rap
idly. And since the improvement of CON-
municatica Las brought these grasping
traders face to face with competition
which menaces their great gains with ex-
tinction, a hutter has been made among
them, and they have bethought themselves
of protecting their interests by legislation.
They would, if they could, abolish the Pa
cific railroads, and exclude from the State
all competition with the East. Instead of
meeting the new situation boldly and
squarely, and encountering competition
with reduced prices, they seek to Danish
it, their only concern being to perpetuate
the rates which have ceased to be reasona-
BILE or tolerable. These are the men who
ask for laws to place prohibitive taxes
upon Eastern competition In various lines
of business who wish to drive, out the
Chicago and st. Louis and New York
drunmers by making them pay extrava-