The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1881-05-12

tectionist, cover the first steps, and
presently they will walk sturdily,
without assistance"
The reply which Immediately sug-
gests itself is IN appeal to the facts.
Protective duties were first asked
for in 1889, as Il temporary cypcdi-
cnt." They were to help our manu-
actucs IN their baby efforts to walk.
III "a few years they were to be un-
necessary.
The Representatives OF Pennsyl.
| yania declared in 1850, that the man
nfacturcs Of iron and steel were I'LL
BIZ. established; they needed only a
little encouragement for Il brief
time. The encouragement granted
was duty Of u per cent. on iron,
and about $l1 ton on steel. These
same manufacturers arc "encour-
agcd' now by duties running from
20 to 100 per cent.
Cotton manufacture only needed
to be "fostcred,' originally. by a
protection OF five per cent. To day
it is "fostered" by duties running
from 80 to 60 per cent.
Wooden manufacture was said to
be firmly established in 1910; it only
wanted the protection OF from 5 to
22} per cent. for "a year or two
longer" 1t is seventy years since
then, and it requires protection now
OF from 40 to 120 per cent.
| And so on to the end Of the chap
ter. Temporary encouragement"
4 little fostering" a few years"
u "short time longer"
/ The first tariff averaged 81 per
cent. After ninety years Of foster
ing" the average is Is per cent.
!, And the industries that have been
protected most, are to-day in con-
dition the worst. The WOODEN trade
went tosmash long before the panic.
What industries were those which
first toppled over when the late cri-
sis came on? Why, iron. copper
and silk. The interests that had
had most Of the hot house fostering
, proved to be the weakest.
/ The reason Is not far TO seek
Given protective margin. and it III
once is Incorporated il the general
conditions of the business. As tn,
: business grows beyond it, this mar
! gin, on the Protection theory, should
:, appear in increased profits. Docs il
SO appear? Not at all. Every ten.
,, dcncy to increased profits attracts
/ fresh competitors, and they divide
!; the protective margin among them
!. The artificial advantages then ever
! more necessary than before; thu
!, business rs whole, is larger thar
y the market warrants. Then come
!, fluctuations and unsteadiness, thel
c a demand for more protection, ane
r, SO on.
i The last state of that industry i
y more grievous than the first.
ID A FLOOD or FOREIGN GOODS.
u If it were not for the tariff" OK
. claims the Protecionist, I'VE woult
y y be flooded with foreign goods"
Or Very well. We should like that
:, Blankets, calieoes, spool thread, car
n pets, crockery, haldwarc-all tum
n bling in upon us regardless of cost
,s We should be pleased. Bring o.
Il your flood.
!. But as soon rs you make this an
IA, swer, the objection begins to under
= go a variety OF transformations.
4 "Of course" says the Protection
1. list, I'VE do not mean anything 5
o. absurd as food Of goods for moth
% ing. They will be sold here at price
~ ~ ruinouslv low"
II Good again. II the foreign mar
- - ufacturer wants to ruin himself b
s. selling us his commodities dirt chea
e we shall not restrain him.
~ n. Ard the objection is once MOI
al transmitted: "The drain of gold
nj what we are looking at. II we blu
tic our blankets, crockely, hardwal
nj and what-not abroad, our gold wi
" flow away from us"
Very well. That is what we hn,
gold for--to make it flow away frol
US. We don't want gold for itsel
we can neither eat it nor drink
v nor yet convert it into shelter. W
~ ~ let it flow away, and get in rctur
IN our blankets, our crockery and OF
- hardware.
% But" says the Protcctionist, 9TH
. could not 60 on forever" Very tr,l
As matter OF fact it would not eve
begin. There would be no drain
to gold except such as we, as q gol,
Mt producing and gold-selling peopl
p would wish to see.
erl We don't expect the foreigner
nd GIVE us his goods for nothing, yt
4 say. We shall have to BUY them;
Il GIVE SOMETHING IN RETURN. No
&c what has one country to give to a
mt other, excepting its productions?
money, do you say? The Unit,
States hasn't money enough hasl
"a gold enough,-to pay for thr,
' 'oo months importations. Morcovt
' 'oo money il trade tool. A counts
=" cannot barter away its tools OF q
VI, change any more than it could ba
ID tar away its saws or its wheelha
ng rows. And the country from viii,
III II proposes to buy would not recei'
fa- the tools, would not take its gol
or beyond the amount ii required 1
r business transactions. One coun
buys the commodities OF anoth
country by giving its own commo
tor tues in return. The people Of Il
-. United States can only buy fro
IL abroad by sending their production
~. abroad. We pay for onr imports
"a our exports.
Hence, II the "nood OF forei,
goods" ever bursts upon us, it "
be accompanied, not by n dra
lin OF Cur u oney, by a flood Of our o,
lin goods rushing to the foreign marke
lat And SO the next form OF the obie,