The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-10-28
A PRACTICAL rREE-rRADER,

MI. THOMAS f1OltdnQ, Il wen KNOWN Cltl-
zen and retired merchant of New York,
has recently sent the following letter, in
clos ng check for 81 900, TO the Ameri-
can Free Trade leagues: - &Mf
GENTLEMEN: l enclose a check for
81 600 to assist the cause of free trade and
revenue reform A second sum of 81 900
win follow in due time.
what special aIaeTits of their own do
the half million protectioflists in this coun-
try possess that entitle them to enslaye fifty
million consumers and workingmen, while
they themselves roll in wealth and live in
palaces? Isay 'enslave' for is afman free
who can buy and sell only at medication
of these 100000? Is there any injustice
in taxing every industry on footing of
equality? Free trade in England has Civ
en- the workingman higher wages and yet
has lowered his living expenses; but here,
under protection his living expenses have
trebled while his wages are scarcely chang
ed. The wages of a SPINNER are as high
in England as they are here, yet the pro-
tectionist processes to be the special friend
of the factory hand. England is compelled
to import largely both food fors her peo-
pie and raw material for her factories
Here we have both in abundance, so that
with free trade we could undersell England
and the world To what greater advan-
tages than these are manufacturers emit
tied?
lizard times in England are of short du-
ration, because all the worlds markets
stand ready to relieve her. He we are
shut up within one market, and hence
when hard times come they come to stay,
as they did between 1878 and 1879, while
aperiod of mis-called pros perity" lasts
about half as long as one Of distress.
ind AaI .o
styled protection, for no man, from the
time the country was settled, ever built
costly mill and filed it with machinery un
less he felt sure that it would pay without
projections. The Autobiography league
aims at individual g aims: free trade aims at
benefiting fifty million peapie in America
and the whole human race. A philanthro-
pist aged 80 claims that all the carpenters
throughout the country should pay him
three times as much for glue as they can
buy it for. He thinks he ought to roll in
millions; he prefers greenbacks, even if
they are crushed in poverty. He calls
himself friend TO American industry
II have just paid $61.92 to import an ar
ticle which costs in England $40, the dif-i
ference indirectly going into the protection
lists pocket; and the sweet innocent lean
not live" he says, unless SO, 10000 con-
10
for what England sells at less than a third
of this price The government collects
$100,000.00o beyond itssexpenses, and ex-
cessive uees of paper money are additional
gains to the protectipnist; but the artisan
has to pay tnree or four times as much for
food, rent and clothing as he would have
to pay UNDER system of free trade while
there is no corresponding increase in his
wages. A dwelling-house in London rents
at third of the sum which similar
house in New York pays the city for taxes,
and Liverpool is the, New York of Eng
land Marketing in Montreal and England
costs not one-fourth of what it costs here
A highwayman demands your money or
your life in a manly. Straightforward
way, but the protectionist speaks
into the pockets of congressman
England requires fer carrying on her
vast commeroe paper currency to the ex-
tent of Els, 600, 900 only Here we have
upwards of 300, 000, o0o; yet protection
lists clamor for more. A per cent. gov
ernment bond can no doubt be fioafed if
we issue paper money enough& whereas
England can not sell 3 per cent at par
Ought we not to point with pride to our
superior credit-at all events until excess
i've currency and high tariff produce a fl
nancial crash? Floating capital is fast be-
coming locked up and danger is more rap
idly approaching as than Is generally sup
posed. But people are blind to this fact,
and the CRY, as usual. is. t.0h, things are
different now - - 80
Some day, and that before long, some
thing unexpected will happen, whereas UNI
der free trade we should have nothing to
fear. If consumers and workingmen do
not rise in their might and wipe out pro-
deserve to live in a continued state of
bondage. -