The daily gazette., 1882-12-23


nounced to appear in that journal next Sat
urday. The larger part Of the article
is devoted 70 consideration OF
what 1t styles '' the delusion OF
" free materials "The more closely we
q Examine this question" says the author OF
this article who subscribes himself A Prac-
tical Shipwright, "the clearer will be the
" conviction that free materials would be Of
"no aid whatever to the .shiPbuilder, and
"that the proposition for their introduction
''as remedy for our present maratime pros
"tration is neither a sound nor honest propo-
''sition." Now by the aid Of q tolerably
close examination of the subject, the very
reverse of that conclusion Is the one we
have arrived at, and it is apparent through
out the article we are considering that
the author has studiousiy avoided any refer
cnce to one obvious and inevitable result Of
free materials which could not fail, in our
opinion, to secure to our shipbuilders nd
vaLtsges that would render competition
with the Clyde or other European builders
question simply of comparative skill and
enterprise, upon which basis no one, we
VIII blAb uuE
would be amply able to take care of them
selves. For instance, it is claimed in
this article that " there is only
"one market to which the American ship
"builder could go for his materials and
" that is the Clyde, 3 800 miles away" 1t
may be true that at present ship material
may be purchased in the Clyde market at
such an advantage over the price OF
American products that the $500 miles of
freightage would still leave it the cheaper
of the two, but that, instead of being an
argument in favor of continuing the tariff
on imports, should be a very good reason
for taking it of. Necessity, says
trte old proEerb, is the
mother Of invention, and we have
sufficient faith in the intelligence, skill and
enterprise OF American workmen to believe
that when they are brought in direct compe-
tion with foreign production they will more
than "hold their own" and do 1t without
being brought to the level Of that shsdowy
bugaboo of protectlonists-the pauper labor
of Europe. In whatever department of
produc tion Americans have found them
selves compelled to grapple with foreigners
they have never failed to get the better
of the struggle. With its natural
resources, the energy and enterprise
Of It's capitalists and the intelligence
and skill OF its workmen this country can
afford to meet any other country on the
globe at eyens, and it is simply pleading
the baby act to say that It is
necessary to be protected from foreign
ers by the imposition of heavy taxes
upon imports. There was time in the his.
tory Of the United States when a protective
tariff was essential to the development ol
the manufacturing interests OF the country
but that day, happily, is past, and IL is ne
longer necessary to burden th,
consumer with onerous taxes for tn,
benefit Of capitalists who have grow
rich at his expense. Instead of the Clyde
$500 miles away being the only marke
open to American shipbuilders In the even
OF the establishment of free materials, the
will have right at their doors, as it were
one of the richest markets of til
world. The question of cheap productio
will be speedily settled when it becomes on
of practice Instead Of theory and it will b
settled without detriment to the interests ,
American workmen or American manr
factures. The resources and pursuits of I'll
United States are too diversified
the opportunities too numerous,
other werds there is two much .'elbo
room" here to make it possible to oppres
the workingman to such an extent as prt
tectionsts delight in picturing as the resu
of tariff for revenue only America
workingmen act directly against the
own interests when they vote in suppo
OF a protective tariff. Constituting as the
do the bulk of the consumers of the COUNT
they bear the principal part of the burde
OF all taxation whether in the shape of in
ports or internal revenue. Cpon Il
theory of the greatest good
| the greatest number any reduction of tax
tlon, where it does no. produce offsettil
evils of greater moment than the good
be affected, is q thing to be desired; and th
is Just precisely the reason upon which '
base our opinion that a protective tar
is not essential 20 the prosperity of L
country and should onsequcntly be
duced to the dimensions of tariff 1
revenue only. We shall censid
this question further in a f
days with respect to its bcari
upon the interests of the workingman, a
We believe that we will be able to show u
absolute free trade would be better for h
than our present system Of tariff
-- .