Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-03-11
Ne,o Yorh Trseune. MarcA 3.

Net0 York ITa0ufses MaTch 8.
Professor William G.. Sumner. Of Yale
College, lectured last night on Protection
and Free Trade" before the Revenue Reform
Club Of Brooklyn. The audience was large,
and frequently manifested its approval Of
the lecturers saTguments by hearty applause.
Professor Sumner, fin appearance and man
ner, is totally unlike the traditional college
professor. He spoke without notes, easily
and fuentiy.
Our adversarles. said he, assert that the
theory of free trade is built upon assump-
tions. But everything must have some as
sumption to start with. You must begin
by saying: "Given such and such condi-
tions, what will follow 2" That is what the
political economist has TO do. And he is
met by the difficulty that he cannot create
an experiment; he cannot put men on an
island to try his theory, nor can he always
get cases from history, for the bad legisla-
ti0n of the past has discouraged social laws
But will state case. The Pilgrim Fathers
were men OF grit on a land of granite. They
tried to live under conditions given them;
built ships and titled the soil. Then 8 pro-
tectionist came along and said: 'tThey are not
under the right conditions to succeed there
is a way by which they can get more. Let
us lay tax on them, to make them rich"
Laughter. That is his theory OF wealth.
But it is poor theory. II government puts
one cent In my pocket it must either make
It or take 1t from some other mans pocket.
1t does not make 1t, for that is not what
government is for; so it simply takes it from
somebody e'sa. IL taxation causes some
industries to flourish, others must decline.
1t is In accordance with science. You can
not make something out of nothing, The
alchemists tried Il and failed. Labor aud
economy are the only foundation of wealth.
II A gets rich through the tariff It must be
because b gets poor, and protection has
made great many Bs. Laughter Mr.
Kelly has told you that tariff has built
up Paterson. Yes; there are crowds Of AS
there, but where are the poor Bss
There are ouly three ways by which my
property may leave me. A man may buy It
OF me, or l may give it to him, or he NAV
steal It from me. You must put the tariff
under one of these three heads: and truth
demands that it shall be put under the
third, Applause. II IS fair that we should
ask the protectiontsts to give us some guar
antees that they know what they are aim
ing at. On their theory, we are 10 submit
to present loss In order to reap future
gain. What is the gainY 1t is all clear
enough that we will be out of pocket, now
that the tax will be collected, and then the
whole thing runs into the ground, and we
have only the vague hope that somehow or
other we will come out all right. IL Is like
throwing money up into the air and expect
ing to get rich by the operation. Laugh
ter. So we ask, "What is the economic
force IN protection ?" Then we ask, "What
has protection done for usP" They say,
"The United States has prospered under q
protective tariff and therefore of q protec-
tive tariff" You might as we'll
say that the United States prospered
under slavery, and therefore because of
slavery. 1t is shallow fallacy. Again we
assert that the protectlonists have not acted
xxrfA n Fnfs
In the excitement OF the civil war, and we
were told that 1t was only temporary; that
it was just to foster our infant industries.
Twenty years have passed, and those In
fants haven't grown yet Tlaughterl and
never will under protection. Remember
this tariff was laid on us when we were
already bUrdened enough. All possible
excuse for protection has passed, and vet
two recent tariff conventions have been
shameless enough to demand more tariff still,
and to ask that certain peopleshall levy tax
on US to enrich themselves. SO that which
was at first only temporary privilege
is now loudly asserted to be vested right
More than that, the public money is squan-
dered so that there may be an excuse for
levying a tax. We have been exhorted to
go into all sorts of jingo business-to buy
Cuba, to settle everybody's boundaries, and
to go crusadiug all over creation attending
to other folks affairs, instead of stavipp-
home and getting rich. Now / maintain
that IL there is to be a tax at all we ought to
tax men so as to keep them out Of the eoun-
try, and raise the wages. Take the minis-
ters. New York has been importing a mum.
ber IL they had been kept out by high
protective tariff some smart American would
have got the job TGreat laughter You
see the point. SO OF the professors There
ought to be a petition sent to Congress to put
tax on every imp 0rtod minister aud pro-
fessor, and then our languishiug crowd at
home would get chance. Laughter /.
Lastly, we ask the proteedonists for some
fruits and they point us to q lot of big chin.
neys. But | want to see what these chiu-
neys are for Perhaps they are only tov,
like the obelisk in Central Park, which cost
$1,000 to bring over. / don't care what
the obelisk cost, because It doesn't come
out OF my pocket; but 1 am interested In
ths chimneys, because l am taxed to paw
for them, and don't propose TO 90 into the
chimney business unless It pays In con
clusion, say that protection cannot stand
against the spirit of the age Ib will be
swept down, and will collapse of its own
weight. Nations are being krit closer to-
gether, the old preiudiees are subsiding.
and free trade among free men will vet pre-
vail over the world. Applause