New-York tribune., 1881-09-17
HENDRICKS'S LAST MISTAKE.

In the last number of The North american
ReUiew Ex-Governor Hendricks assails the
Protective Tariff system in an article headed
" Shall Two States Rule the Union 2" The
States meant are Massachusetts and Pennsvl-
vania. and the article assumes that they shape
the tariff policy of Congress to further their
own local interests and to the prejudice of the
interests of the country at large. We do not
care here to combat Mr.. Hendricks's argu-
ments; we only wish to show that his premises
are so defective that his conclusions are
logically worthless. Massachusetts and Penn
sylvania are by no means the only Protection
ist States. To assume that they are
i'll the title of magazine article is
to show deplorabe ignorance of the
industries of the Nation. In New England.
Connecticut and Rhode Island are as essen
TALLY manufacturing communities as their
larger neighbor Hampshire has great
cotton mills at Manchester and Nashua.
and Maine makes cottons, woollens and shoes
at Blddeford, Auburn and Lewiston and
builds ships all along her coasts Even in
Vermont, which is peculiarly rural State.
there are important factories at BrattleEolo.
Burlington and st. Adams. 1t is safe to say
that nine-tenths of the New England voting
population, regardless of party, favor the
general principles of Protection.
We come next to NewYork, which most
people think OF as commercial and agricul-
tural State, but which is the second manufac-
turing State in the Union. The Metropolis ia
a vast hive of protected industries. and the
large interior towns, such as Troy, Syracuse.
Rochester, Buffalo, Elmira and Binghamtop.
base their solid and increasing prosperity
mainly upon their manufacturing establish
ments. NewJersey is the seat of great silk.
leather and pottery interests, and makes, be.
sides, hundreds Of useful articles which it
could not make were it not for the
help of the tariff. In the little State of
Delaware the busy city of Whining
ton is the greatest centre of morocco
leather manufacturing in the world, and
makes, besides, ships, cars and carriages. If
Mr. Hendricks would look around him in the
West he would find Ohio rivalling Pennsyl
vania in the value and variety of her mann
featuring industries, and Michigan, Illinois.
Wisconsin and Iowa making each q large
showing in the census tables of articles pro-
duced by skilled labor and machinery. His
memory must be short indeed if he forpets
the professions of Knights of Labor which
enlivcned the streets of Indianapolis, New
Albany, Fort Wayne Terre Haute and manv
other towns in his own State last fall. Those
professions were made up of mechanics en-
ployed iii shops and factories the existence of
which depends upon the Protective system
In TACT Indiana was carried by the Repub
hcans last year largely upon the tariff issue.
ana the theory OF the Democrats that they
would be helped in tpe crucial October struggle
there by the Free Trade plank in their
National platform worked their ruin
That the American Protective system rests
upon tue support of a large majority of the
people of the Northern States is fact SO
plain that it is amazing that public man OF
Mr. Hendrickss experience can describe it as
the outgrowth of the selfish interests of two
States. We do not claim that the system as
worked out in the present tariff laws is fault
less. Our tariff legislation is largely the pro-
duct OF the combinations and antagonisms of
selfish local interests. 1t is like patchwork
quilt, wanting harmony and consistency !;
but under its shelter thousands of in
dustrial operations have grown up which
enrich the Nation and give bread to
millions of people. No true patriot pro-