The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-02-17
A Professor In nm , .griculturaI Conyen-

man, IS Deg inning to find that the idea
ol proteethc, 10 domestic industry is
Dynamic a nd not static in its manifesto
lions He is rapidly learning the diff
fcrahcc b etween a class of freshmen, or
even n club of so-called revenue re-
iormerr and a convention composed
largely of men of affairs who obtain
their knowledge through observation
aeet o experience.
Al the convention of the American
Ayr cultural Association, held in this
city last week, the professor tried to
90 Ivince the delegates, and through
lem the farmers of the country, that
foreign trade, which he calls free
trade, is the royal road 10 national
wealth. He assured them that no ma
ton can sell without buying; that our
warehouses are filled with wheat,
bursting, indeed, with the plethora OF
production; that foreigners stand
ready to purchase the moment we will
adopt policy that will reduce the
price per bushel to the point where
they would find it profitable 10 deal ;
that our products are kept in by pro-
tective tariff just so far as foreign pro-
ducts are kept out; that tho markets oil
this country, however broad, are not
broad enough for the production OF a
world, and that we have already reach.
ed their limits, and require a wider
field. All this the professor said, and
something more. We have modified
bis language little at one point 10 in
dictate precisely what he did say, and
not what he meant TO have said; but
the travesty does him no injustice.
There happened, however, to be gen.
tlemen present who heard the profes.
sor, and who, while not prepared to go
so far as the character in the play,
and proclaim their determination to
hang every man with his lux horn,
were yet ready 10 believe that colleges
] are the hospitals of venerable, decreDit
and crippled errors which drive all
contemporary scientific doctors to their
wits end In finding how to kill or
cure. One of the auditors was Mr.. AL.
bert Chapman, of Vermont. This gen.
tleman thought that Professor Perry
could boat any protectlonist in the
world at sophistry, and he frankly said
so. He pointed out to the professor
the not very we'll known, but veritable
fact, that agriculture, in this country,
has always flourished when the tariff
has been high, and languished when
duties were reduced; that American
workmen, under protection, were fully
employed, and that if they had to pay
more for articles of necessity or luxu-
ry, they had more money with which to
pay; that with tariff for revenue only
the balance of trade has always been
against us, and our specie has gone
abroad, while, under higher tariff
gold has flowed into the country in O
steady stream. These were all true
statements of facts; but it was rather
unkind in Mr.. Chapman to bring facts
against gentleman who belongs to a
school that repudiates all such aids to
argument, and holds political economy
to be such complex science that it can
be founded only upon assumptions
But he probably had no idea of con.
vincins Professor Perry.
Another delegate, the Hon. j. B
Grinnell, of Iowa, treated the profes
sor's arguments in more considerutt
spirit. He did not undertake TO adj
duce any irrelevant facts, but he mere
ly stated that were he college profes
sor. on fixed salary, he too would bt
q free trader; that the only place
. where he had ever heard o.
free trade argument being sue
cessful was in college GLASS room
among boys; that he himself, when q
cviIrSo, nao I0U" ....lO convert t
free trade, but that when he wen
west, and became farmer, he found
that it would not do in practical farm
life, and that he was now in favor of 6
revision of the tariff, made of course
in the interests of protection. He con
fessed all the cruelties of the tariff sys
tenn, admitted that the people of hi
section we're oppressed, and told tn,
, professor that he ought to visit tn,
state of Iowa and sec how they suffer
ed. He cautioned him, however. tina
, he would have to bring a whole cal
load OF lachrymal irritants onions, il
the agricultural vernacular of thi
western farmer-before he could draw
tear from a single eye. His peopl,
were good natured, aud, though op
pressed, they could still smile anC
smile, and be in favor OF this system
which the professor thought villainy.
This badinage seemed to be a littl,
too much for Professor Perry. lii
rose, somewhat excitedly, aud denoun
ced the law of protection as jobbery
and log-rolling. He exclaimed also
against the statement of Mr.. Chapman
who had said that wages were Away
good under protection. lie forgot tina
the panic of 1873, like other panics
was brought about by spectators ant
, traders, friends to the philosophy o
Professor Perry, end fruits of its mis-
cheivous influences upon society, an(
af hxrs hA 70
their workmen. ~ tell you, gentle
men," he declared in continuation
"the wages of labor were never raised
by high tariff, because everything
that comes into this country is taxel
except labor. Labor is not taxed, anC
ought not 10 be, and the poor laborer
of Europe are. thank Gods focking tt
this country, and as all prices are regu
lated by the law of supply aud de
mand, of course this large influx of la
Dor tends to depreclate the price of la
, bor." Still on his high horse priori
Cannot the professor look around ant
sec that the price of labor is not beins
deprecated? Labor has recovered
II high tariff brought the panic of 1873
as the professor asserts, high tariff ha
quickly restored again the normal con
diuon of supply and demand. Ii
this case 1t took the hair of the dog {,
, cure the bite. 81 hold" said the pro
fessor, in conclusion, "that the Ameri
can citizen has the right to sell his pro
duce in the best market, and to pur
/, chase what he needs in tho cheapes
market in the world" Precisely SO
Professor Perry; and the protection
. lists of America propose to make thei
!; domestic market the best and cheapes
in the world, the best when estimate,
, by the quality of goods offered for sale
and the cheapest when rated by tn
sacrifices demanded of each individus
who wishes TO come in possession O
those goods. The professor is posin
:, as a political economist. Hs sLoul
know that in the difficulty or facility Q