The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-12-19
DOES PROTECTION PROTECT ?

The kind of legislation required is that
which benefits the many rather than the few.
1t is questionable if, in the long run, pro-
lection protects any interest or any class OF
men. At any rate it can be shown very con-
clusively that at the best it protects only
the few, and this it does at the expense of
the many. The New York Herald takes a
sensible view of the subject when it asks
What, then. is the prospect of another at
tempt to make the tariff what it ought to be,
and at least remove the many jobs which
now make it an instrument OF private profit
at public COST" In reply the Herald says:
The commercial situation is one that is seriously
in need of relief. Slowly but surely commercial
depression has been setting in for three years, and
with existing influences, there is little reason to
look for revival OF business in the near future.
On the contrary, it would appear as il the hard
times which followed the crisis OF 1873 had again
come and were here to stay. The evidence of de-
preston is everywhere present In January
of the present year there $50 iron furnaces in
blast; in October the number had been reduced TO
$40 and still the production exceededthe demand.
Pig iron has sold for $50 per ton. The iron men
complaining too, of the high price OF coal, and
predict that Pennsylyanias manufactures must be
destroyed unless what they call the coal ring
comes down in its prices. But this is only one
spot where the shoe Pinches. The last auction
sale of blankets in this city realized it is said,
prices that were from 25 to 80 per cent below
agents prices and resulted in heavy losses to the
manufacturers Wages are being reduced
in nearly every branch.of industry, production is
curtailed, and q rigid economy is forced.
Skilled labor like the workers in glass is leaving
this country and returning TO Belgium. The stock
markets are abnOrmally dull in the face of a glut
of money and capital awaiting investment All Of
these signs tend to prove that the producing power
of the people has ou;run their capacity for con-
sumption. The commercial and financial policy
OF the nation has been such as to make the con-
neetion between the business interests of the
country and the tariff so close that the one can
hardly be considered without a reference to the
other. For this reason il is rightly judged thata
radical change in the tariff, when made upon cor
rect principles. Will result in an improved oondi
ton in the commercial and industrial situation.
1t must be borne in mind that this unsat-
isfactory state OF affairs has been brought
about under the operation of a protective
I tariff, and it is therefore worth while to ask
/ Who has been benefited? Under its opera.
/ ton, production has been in excess of the
/ demand, idleness has taken the place of ac-
tiyity, and wages have not only been re-
duced in numerous instances, but work at
! any price can not be had, and with all the
/ boasted blessings of production, we are
threatened with a return Of the panic of
1873. The Republican party, however, wants
moreIprotection, a continuation of over-pro-
ductlon and all the ills which high rrotec-
tive tariff entails. The interests of the coun-
try demand steady work, q more ex-
tended market, and working men see very
distinctly that it is far better to work 300 days
at 81 per day, than $50 days at So per day.
Overproduction att high prices may mean
for time high prices for labor. but it also
means idleness, when no money at all is
earned. Idle capital does not destroy itself
idle laborers, means hunger, nakedness,
dependency death, or something worse
than death. Legislation, therefore, should
be in the direction Of wider markets, because
the demand for products keeps factory, forge
and mine in full blast, and insures the
largest possible prosperity.