The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-10-26

had three kinds OF business, one losing
you money every day, and the other Two
making you money. What you would 90
would be to close out the unpr0ntaOle
one, transfer your releaaed capital to
the others and not only get rid OF your
former loss, but largely increase the
profits of your two enterprises which
make YOU money. But a crack-bralned
prOtectIOnist friend would say TO you,
mo, don't do that; simply charge up to
each of your two profitable businesses
enough to wipe out the loss on the otner
and credit this sum to the Improbable
business, and you see all your business
will be profitable" You would as soon
think of making an assignment as or
taking such sdYice, and yet this Is the
best a pIOtectiOnist ever offers our cOun-
try.
But the prOtectiOnist is very fond of
pOinting to results, as he calls them. He
says: Look at what protection has ac-
cOmplished; see how cheap cloth Is; how
low the price of iron is; how little nails
cost, and how cheaply you can buy cot
ton goods" and claims these as the re-
suits of protection. What transparent
falsehOod. Look at the prices of these
articles the world over. They have
fallen, fallen, and will continue to fall
as improved methods and new discover
les come into use. See such countries
as Cuba, where not pound OF iron Is
made or an ounce of nails, where the
| loom does not consume cut OF yarn In
owelve months, and even there the price
If iron, of nails, of cloth, Is less than IN
the United States. Take far off, henlght-
ed Africa, and her savages can buy these
goods at lower prices than you can in
| Ohio, all because of the curse of pro-
| tectiVe tariff. These are the actual re-
suits of protection, and it is hard to un-
| deTstand how any man can point with
pride to them. Look at results as shown
by the sittings OF the Tariff Commission,
and you will see all protected lndustrlt s
| asking for more tax, not less, which
| shows that long years of protection have
weakened instead of strengthened the
industries receiving it. Let ~ uus-
| trate the results of protection further.
| What kind of interests broke down and
flattened out during the panic? Pro-
| tected industries in every instance. The
bOasted products of protection broke
down under the first strain of adverslty,
while other interests ran straight along.
Again, the fearful ones that think moth
ing can run or prosper without pro-
tectiVe tariff, should remember that
these very callings have revived and
sprung up again, and this without any
new taxes being levied for them, which
dispTOYes at blow all their pet theories
on this subject. "As selfish as the devil"
| have heard repeated often. But some
new phrase must he invented to describe
the selfshness of protection, as 1t would
be doing his Satanic majesty wrong to
put him on the same level with the pro-
tectiVe principle. See how it shows its
horns. After number OF establish
ments spring up, and prices begin to
come down, the poor consumer says TO
himself, "Well, competition is finally
bringing down prices to somewhere near
what we could buy at in Greenland, or
China, or in Africa. or at the South
Pole, when, presto! these nimbfe-fOOted
tyrants call meeting or convention
and resolve to maintain prices on the
consumer by a combination and reduc-
tiOn in production; see the wOOd-screw
business, the nail business, the tack
trade, the pulp trade to-day and in years
past, nearly every protected business in
the country. However, time moves Oh
with us, and after pointing out a few
of the singular results of the protective
tariff and saying few words to class
present here, | will close my address,
We have the most highly favored land
on the globe, the richest naturally in
iron, gold, silver, stone, marble, lumber
and every conceivable article needed by
us, land yet the prices of these things
are higher than in lands where they are
not produced by nature, and 1t Is to day
the part of wisdom to ask the Creator
either to remove from us these things,
or to remove the pTOtectiOnists. l be-
lieve we can best spare the protection
lists. Again, the salt made in New York
State costs the Ohio farmer more than
the same salt costs the Cuban planter
The American watch sells at lower
price in Europe than in Chicago. We
discover a nickel mine and we conclude
that nickle will hereafter be cheap for |
all the various purposes 1t Is used for in |
the arts and trades, but Mr.. Joseph Whar- |
ton gets a tariff on it and it costs us |
more than it did before we discovered |
that Providence in its bounty had placed |
it here. We find men in protected call
ings, supported by taxes wrung from |
the farmer. and who receive from $3.50 |
to $3.50 per day, striking for higher
wages, while Intelligent men work on
upon wages, which l .st year
averaged less than 961a cents for each
day. Again you are told that
British gold is Interested in breaking
down a protective tariff in the United
States, when this very protective tariff
by increasing the cost of manufacturing
here is the only thing which prevents
our competing with England, and gives
her the world for her market, while it
pens us in at home and even throws our
carrying trade into her hands. If were
and Englishman, l would buy Con-
gressman, ,and keep him working day
and night for more protection for Amer
lean manufacturers, and if any British
gold is used in American politics it is
for this purpose, for our cousin, Mr.. Bull,
is not fool. But there is no use in null
tiplying instances. The factis that pro-
lection is worse than fire or food at any
time, and although prOtectiOnists are
asking for more, there is absolutely no
excuse whatever for it, for there is no
Industry carried on in Americh (Which
ought not to be thrOttled), but can be
on without placing an uncOnsti-
tutiOnal tax on the people. Afew weeks
ago the representative of one of the old
est and largest iron and steel works in
the United States, told me they needed
no protective tariff whatever, and the
able manager of two or three of the
largest iron furnaces in the country, in
each of which he is large owner, said |
to me, 1--WE have no need of protection |
and are ready for free trade or revenue |
tariff at any time" Why not relieve |
the people, then? The Democratic party |
proposes to do it and step by step, if |