The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-08-02

flesh and blood, while they only attacked
foreign messengers, We have not opened
ire upon orr ships. neither have we laid
forpedoes To blow them up. but we have
fastened the flag of 3fprotection" upon
their fopmasts, and the load has sunk
them Every one Even Daniel Webster
in his PALMER days, before wealthy con.
stituents controlled him, foresaw the evil
of serving under such a flag, and sounded
a solemn note of warning. If we believe
in liberty of conscience. liberty of speech
liberty of the press; that is, If We believe
in liberty itself, as the right of every man,
then we must believe in liberty of trade.
In denying one form of liberty, we deny
all; in accepting one. we accept all.
Let us then have the courage of our con
vietions! Let us throw Of the manac'cs
Of protection and go forth to meet the
world with strong free handsl Many
would then rejoice that n new spirit had
come into the world, and the question is:
Who would weep? Government That
fiction through which everybody expects
to live at the expense of every b ,dy else
might shed a few fictitious tears; but we
could quickly wipe those away with a little
tax wisely applied. The freest of free
traders would not object to such govern
mental pocket handkerchief. so 10 speak.
They only object To furnishing such arti-
eles to the community at large, which
ought to be able to get its own pocket
handkerehiefs. Are laborerS, then, the
ones to weep? BY no means! The free
traders would freely impart the results of
foreign labor, f'pauper labor, if you will;
but imports must be paid for. How? BY
exports, of course. All then, let us fall
to work; there is much 10 do. In this lies
IL r. IL. Hal Nf L.
It is an equilibrium Of trade, and there can
he no disadvantage on either side. If such
n disadvantage should begin 10 arise, trade
in that direction would cease No man is
enohgn of a fool To keep on giving unless
he receives an equivalent in return. Would
CONSUMERS in general be dissatisfied by
being made free men? Yes, indeed, 1t is
bliss for them to pay twice as mnch for a
thing as it is worth; and, when they are
called upon to pay 4 duty of $40 per cent.
they toss mp their hats and cry:
lIurrah! Hurraht" This is sarcasm
No, Lahorers and consumers would re.
joice, bnt the farmers would reich heights
of JOY unknown by he others. The mana
cles of protection are heavier upon them
than upon any other class. Each Of the
other classes can make up for the tax
by taxing somebody else; but the farmer
can only tax mother earth. and She resists
with all the weight of the globe. In sur
veying the different classes of men through
our poltico-economic glasses, have we
overlooked any one2 Surely? The manu-
faciurerS! They would probably feel
gloomy for a while, but in the end. with
4 market enlarged. with free supplies of
cotton, wool, sugar, iron, coal, etc. they
would see that the cloud had silver lin
ng-a gold lining in fact. Then. with
branch establishments in Canada, Mexico.
south America, Asia, and Africa. they
might consider themselves cosmopolitan.
they are now citizens of a one
horse country. and are essentially proyin
eial. IN fact, they are so provincial that
hey do not know it. and have even been
Ieard To boast sometimes
In colonial days before we had chained |
ourselves up in the dog kennel of protec- |
ion. England was f,asful that we might /
earn to bark and bite for ourselves, and |
he tried to draw oHt all orr teeth. But |
low the second teeth are coming, and, we
lope the wisdom teeth Free speechl |
free press, Free soil Free men Why |
lot free tradt.?" Tt was not given to us |
o live in the age Of nyfty,lnm, 1t was |
lot given 10 us 10 live in The age of chiv- |
llry and romance, We live in, the practi-
al age, the age of Inventions. Of the BIZ |
:yele, and the postal card; but let as make /
his ace memorable and grand by going |
orth conrayeously to raise the Standard of
FsREE TRADE.
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