The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-06-16
FREE TRADE.

The following IS the address TO the PEG,
pie Of the United States Issued by the re
cent free trade conference at Detroit:
THIS conference submits to Amer cans
that revenue reform has now become the
paramount, vital issue in national politics.
! We desire to OBTAIN to the greatest prac-
ucable extent the same freedom of trade
among nations which exists among the
States of the Union. We see IN the abuses
of the present tariff the chief obstruction
70 the continued development and pros
perIty Of the country. To do away with
these abuses we ask help alike Of those
who believe that free trade Is an essential
part of American freedom, and the only
commercial policy consistent with business
stability, and OF those who recognize that
the abuses Of the present unjust and un-
equal protective tariff keep Us from the
enormous export trade we ought to have,
and form most serious hlndrance to
American industrial progress. We sub
nit that protection does not protect the
classes it claims to protect; that TO protect
the few at the expense OF the many Is in.
consistent with the principles OF republl-
can government, and that the revised tariff
Of 1888, raising some duties, and by an III
tentionally confused classification nam
tanning others which 1t pretends to reduce,
is only device Of alarmed protectlonlsts
to avert honest revenue reform. Ameri-I
can manufacturers need cheaper materials
IN order to contend successfully in the
markets of the world against foreign com
petitors. The protected manufacturers are
few among the many, and even these have
1l,,, hinHar.l rnt b,,r tI, bat
by socalled protection. American labor,
even IN protected industries, Is discovering
that it gets no higher wages by protection Il
that il can buy less with lis money and
can save less. The poorer n mau Is the
more the tariff hurts hun. The higher
wages, which generally prevail IN Amer.
ca, are due to superior advantages, which
would be increased by the removal OF the
tariff restrictions. While there is absolute
free trade In labor and manufacturers can
import the cheap labor of Europe, the la
bOrcr is denied the right To buy goods IN
the cheapest market, Labor Is paid less
in protected European countries Than inI
free trade England. In the highly pro-
teCtcd cotton manufactures the ayeragcI
wages paid here are actually less than the |
wages paid III England. The profits of
production 60 TO monopolists only. The
very men who IN congress mos, loudly de.
manded protection for American labor
were importing cheap Canadian labor to
strip the northwest OF its forests. The
combined pottery manufacturers of Ohio
cut down wages and discharged their
American hands the moment the tariff on
their products was increased. The mono
polisIs corrupt Legislators, and practically
deny to their workmen liberty Of speech
and the free exercise of their votes. The
American farmers, constituting more than
half our voters, bearing with the working |
men the burden OF oil the taxes, pay for
protection and get none of ii. They sell
IN an unprotected market and buy in
one. Protection taxes the poor
man far more heavily than the rich; ii rel
STREETS The farmers market by shutting out
those who would exchange with HIM; It
burdens the manufacturer by adding to the
cost of his material without increasing the
amount of his sales, and IL reduces the
wages of workmen in every line OF BUSH
mess. The true interests of America are