The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-29
eoyERNoR WHITooMB,s PAMPHLBr,

forty years and more, pamphlet written by
Governor Whitcomb in favor of free trade.
This pamphlet has been reprinted by the
Democratic central committee, and is now
being widely circulated as a Democratic cam
paign document at the instance and request
Of Mr.. Mcdonald.
The pamphlet is verbose argument, de-
signed to show that Indiana people should all
engage in farming, and live, and grow rich,
by exchanging their corn, wheat and bacon
for the "cheap" manufactures of England.
The following extract will show the drift of
the Governors argument:
They 1.-THE Whigs1 exclude, by high tariff,
| an immense amount of cheap necessaries we
could get from abroad in exchange for our pro-
visions" (See p. 20.)
| Suppose we get the cheap necessaries from
abroad, what is to become of our own me-
| chanics, artisans and laborers9 It is urged
that we could get clothing cheaper from
England than we can get it from our
home manufacturers. But suppose we get
it from the English manufacturers, what
is to become of those who earn their living in
| this country by making clothing7 We have,
scattered all over this country, poor women
whose busy sewing machines rattle away from
morning till night, earning livelihood for
helpless children. What is to become of
i these women and children when American
farmers exchange their provisions for the
3cheap" clothing Of England as urged by the
Whitcomb pamphlet Is the Democratic
party ready to get ''cheap" clothing at the
fearful price of the further degradation and
sorrow of these manufacturers of clothing in
this country Of course, it is perfectly plain
to every one that if we supply ourselves with
''cheap" clothing from other countries the
business of making clothes in this country
must cease Mr.. Mcdonald, who is a gen
erous-h hearted man, must himself revolt at the
idea of getting "cheap" clothing from abroad
at the expense of helpless women and chill
dren in this country.
In another place in this pamphlet, SO much
lauded by Hon. Joseph E. Mcdonald, late
candidate for presidential honors, is this para
graph;
s'In the next place the true policy is to have
low duties so as to encourage a free exchange
of the farmers provisions and other products,
for cheap necessaries, in return, from abroad !"
Governor Whitcomb seems to have had a
mania for "cheap necessaries from abroad =
He never stopped to think once what effect
the bringing Of all our supplies Of ''necessaries
from abroad would have on our laboring
people of this country who have no other en-
ployment than making the necessaries of life
here.
Again, says Governor Whiteomb:
''The foreigner cannot buy our produce
unless we buy the cheap products Of his skill
in return"
tits strange that it never once occurred
to this eminent man that the people in
this country who manufacture ttneces-
saries, could consume the farmers
produce just as well as those who
make "necessaries' in England. Did the
Governor suppose that the working people
of England were the only laboring
people who consumed farmers productsf Will
not hundred men and women who manufact-
ure 1tnecessaries" in this country eat just as
| much bread and meat as an equal number of
men and women who make "necessaries" in
Englandf What is the Indiana farmer to gain
by selling his produce to English laborers in
stead of American laborersf Our own labor
ers are quite as able to pay the farmer for his
products as the English laborer, and we ven
ture that given number Of prosperous Amer
| lean laborers would consume even more of the
farmers products than an equal number Of
half-paid English laborers. But it is the
cheap products Of the Englishman's skill that
seems to draw the Governor and Hon. j. E.
Mcdonald with hooks of steel toward
the dodtrine of free trade. Our
own laboring people are all to
be turned out of employment, and their work
given to foreign laborers, because the foreign
laborer is cheaper, and makes cheaper prod
uct The resurrection and circulation Of
this long-buried document ought to make ten
thousand votes for the Republican party in
Indiana this year, because it is clear, from the
circulation Of this pamphlet, that the purpose
Of the Democratic party is to break down as
many as possible Of the enterprises in this
country which furnish necessaries, in order
that England may have free market in which
to sell her cheap commodities But what will
the laboring people Of Indiana say to this
| proposition to abandon our own industries md