New-York tribune., 1884-02-18
PROTECTING SPANIARDS.

Engaged in protecting foreign producers
that is what Mr.. Morrison and his associates
are doing. Yet it seems they do not like the
phrase. Mr. Hewitt, especially, recOils from 1t;
and vet what else does it mean when he insists
that the cost of ore shall be put down so far
that part of the mines of this country must
close, in order to get the cheaper ore from
Spanish and other foreign mines Ifa man be-
lieves he is right, why should he shrink from a
phrase which exactly describes what he is try
ing to dol
Mr.. Hewitt will answer, of cOurse-nOt being
horizontally. inclined, like Mr.. MOuison-that
he means to retain protection for the manufact-
urers of iron what he wants is the benefit Of
cheaper raw material. But the pig iron, when
made is il its turn the raw material OF those
who make bar and sheet iron. Why Is the de-
mand of Mr.. Hewitt for free raw material to be
approved. while their demand for free raw ma
terial is to be rejected2 Can anybody give a
reason-except that the Democratic party wants
votes2
Mr.. Hewitt ought to understand that this
business of protection was not undertaken for
the purpose of robbery, as some of his political
associates affirm. He knows that it was
not and is not intended to take money
from one set of citizens to give 1t to another
set The intention was to secure benefits, lar
outweghing the cost, to all classes of Amcri-
can citzens-to the farmer, because the devcl-
opment of manufactures gives him n perma-
nent, sure, and enormously increased market for
his products ito the trader, because the exchanges
Observation-Disclosures call for the services OF an
infinitely greater number of traders; and to the
al .isan and mechanic, because the needs OF
civic, manufacturing and trading population
are infinitely more varied and numerous than
the needs of a simple and rural population de-
voted mainly to agriculture. Mr.. Hewitt knows
all this, if his associates are too thick TO com
prehend it,. knowing that such was the inten-
ton of the protective system, Mr.. Hew-
lit himself is the man who proposes to
transform it, so that it shall protect one class
at the expense of another. The iron MINER he
proposes, shall work at Spanish wages in order
that the man who makes pig iron out of ore
shall receive the more effective protection. If
that is not taking money from one man for the
profit of another, what is it And if that sort
of thing is TO be done at the demand Of the men
who use ore as a material, why shall it not be
done at the demand Of those who use pig iron
as a material?
Tie defenders of the American system are
not floundering in any such bog of Inconsistent
cies. They say alike to Mr. Hewitt and Mr.
Morrison, we have tried to benefit all Amer
"ican labor; the industrial progress of the
"country for twenty years is the result If
"you assail our system, first show the people
"that it is bad, and that you can do better
" Your horizontal proposition is "A confession
"that the present adjustment is essentially
d" good. Your proposition to pauperlze the pro-
"ducers of what you call raw material in
"oider to benefit somebody else, is at war with
" the equitable spirit of our system We are
"content to have that system judged by It's re-
"sults. Let the people decide; do they prefer
"to protect American producers or foreign
"prOducers .,