The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-09-25
WHO GAINS By PROTECTION Z
Free Trade Bulletin.

Do workingmen gain by protective tar
ifs? Those who work on farms or on
raising or preparing provisions of any kind
certainly gain nothing by protection; for
they raise nothing of which the price can
be raised by tariffs. Men who work on
house building gain nothing; for houses
cannot be imported to any large extent.
So masons, carpenters, plumbers, gas-fit
tiers, painters, plasterers, sash-makers tin
smiths and the like, cannot profit by pro-
lection. Neither can any men who do
custom work of any kind, such as taIlors
who make clothes to order, or boot makers
who make boots to order. OF course men
who do common labor, such as digging,
laying railroads, quarrying stones etc,
and the army of men employed as long
shoremen, holsters, packers, porters, etc,
can have no direct benefit from protection.
Miners of coal and iron ore need no pro-
lection for themselves, because anthracite
coal is never imported, other coal cannot
be largely imported. and iron ore is too
bulky to be imported to any material ex-
tent Merchants, storekeepers, profession
al men, teachers, all men engaged on rail
roads, steamboats,, telegraphs, stage
coaches, carts and transportation gener-
ally, need and get no protection from the
tariff. Not one woman in hundred can
possibly get any direct benefit from such
protection, because they are almost all en-
gagged in domestic labor, with which no
foreigner can compete, and are consumers
rather than producers of manufactures.
No child of either sex, not at work in a
factory, can be protected" because it
manufactures nothing
By this time, you will say, we have rec
oned up more than ninety nine one-hun-
dredths of the population. Yes, dear
reader; that is just the fact of the case,
Protection" cannot possibly protect as
much as one-hundredth part of the popula-
ton But it is maintained because it is be-
lieved that the labor of one protected
person is essential to keep the ninety-nine
unprotected ones alive. 1t is said that if
the iron manufacturer is not protected, he
will not buy iron ore and coal, nor pay
wages to the men who deal with the store
keeper, that thus the storekeeper will not
be able to buy of the merchant, and the
merchant will not be able to have his new
house built or his children put to school;
and so all society will suffer.
But is it not utterly impossible that all
the nation should depend for living upon
one hundredth part of its number? Might
YOU not as well try TO make pyramid
stand upon its point? Fifty millions Ameri-
cans pay more for everything they use be-
cause of the protection given to 500, 900 at
the outside. If they do not then there is
no protection at all; for when duties do not
raise prices they might just as well be
taken off. and will be taken off, without
any objection from protectionists. 1t is
said that prices are raised only for short
time This is not true; but what If it were
true2 Can it be possible that it is good
thing for the country to make 5000 citi-
zens pay high prices for everything. even
for short time, to enable fifty citizens to
make larger profits than they other
wise would.
But does protection really benefit even
one in a hundred? Tailors think that it
benefits them, because 1t tends to keep out
foreign made clothes. But it makes the
tailor pay twice as much for his cloth as he
could buy it for under free trade, and it
forces customers to be content with few
clothes. See how it works. A tailor, we
will say, gets fifty dollars for suit which
could be imported from abroad for twenty
five dollars But he must pay twenty four
dollars for the cloth, which he could i'm
port for twelve dollars. He pays his work
men twenty dollars when he could get the
work done for ten dollars. His profit on
the coat under protection is six dollars
He thinks that if free trade ruled, he
would have only made three dollars, as
while the coat would have cost him only
twenty-five dollars, it would have sold for
only twenty-five dollars. Bot is that true?
Far from it. He would sell four times as |
many coats as would make $12 profit
where he now makes 70. 1t is well