The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-17
Protective Tarifrs and Civilizations.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
"Free trade, the international law of the AL
mighty" is the summarized argument of all who
are opposed to protective tariff. That is true
in the abstract, but the fallacy-and it is an
awful fallacy-is in its application All Ameri
can citizens are in favor of the best interests of
therefore, all who oppose the prin-
ciple of protection misapprehend the
facts involved. Two important facts must
be borne in mind in any fair examination of this
question:
l. Our government in its legislation at home
deals with the interests and rights Of its own
people
2 With the nations abroad it deals with gov
ernments and not with their people.
Gree trade as the international law of the
Almighty" is true in its application to nations
who deal alike with their respective peoples
But behind this law, and incomparably higher
and greater, is another law of the Almighty, viz:
That all men have certain inalienable rights. In
this country our organic law defines these; in
other nations edicts and statutes abridge and
deny them Opposed to law of inalenable right
stands the law of might which destroys it.
Thus we are brought to the consideration as in
our own country where we deal with the
interests and rights of our own people
We are bound by the duty of
protecting our people by that greater law of the
Almighty, inalienable rights, struck down
abroad by the law of might. Like the rock
cast in mid-ocean, that violence sends its waves
on every shore. Behind and above all laws of
trade are the laws of natural and inalienable
right out of which springs social order. Mere
trade is based on the laws oe supply and demand.
But when the laws of supply and demand have
been made false standards abroad, because the
later laws lying behind them are abridged and
DESTROYED then how shall we adjust our foreign
trade and at the same time protect our own
people and their interests from the evil waves
which flow to our shores from this disturbance
of the laws of iualenable right and social Order2
''The international law of the Almighty" has
been disturbed and destroyed, but did not do
it when protecting our own people from the
evil waves cast on shores, just as one is not
murderer who takes the life of another in self
defense. Between the States of the Union there
is no need of tariff laws, because the people all
stand equal before the law enjoying alike all
their natural rights and privileges in the race of
life. This is not so abroad. The law of supply
and demand in labor and wages is disturbed or
destroyed by land tenure and the ballot
observation, all experience, all history. Take the
late example in this country as an illustration of
this truth. The negro was physically capable of
performing and enduring. He did perform all
the labor of nearly onehalf of the States and
the ruling classes there became rich from his
labor But his wages forbade education and
enabled him barely to exc out miserable life.
To-day he has the ballot and the right to own
property. and is not only commanding fair
wages but acquiring home and property. He
stands equal before the law in the race of life.
That is what suffrage and normal conditions
do The working masses of Europe are still
without them, and their wages barely sustain
existence as q rule Thus the incomparably
greater claw of the Almighty" is violated and
destroys our free trade with the other nations,
and we are forced to protect our own people
from the evils which inevitably flow here, or
suffer their consequences in the destruction of
our industries. Free trade the international
law of the Almighty coming from the ruling
classes of Europe, Is the mockery of the murder
er after the dagger has been plunged to the
heart of his own fellows, and for personal gain
seeks new victims. Let the ballot and the in
alienable rights and privileges of all men be
freely restored in all nations abroad and the rule
of free trade would come in. 1t is not hard to
see which civilization will triumph.
The commercial battle prevailing between this
nation and the free-trade nations of Europe be-
gan when the cargo of tea emptied into Bos
ton harbor The two civilizations are incompati-
BILE. just in proportion as rail and ocean com
merce brings us nearer to each other, and ocean
cables intensity political and social relations
does the conflict become more fierce Who is
winning in this long fight of the civilizations!
What light on this subject is that which comes
in three extensions of the suffrage of England in
half century, What is the source of the still
broader views on human rights now pending in
Parliament bills} What is the meaning Of the
notifications now going on among the govern
ments of Europe2 Ii is all traceablc to the best
civilization which the world ever saw, prevailing
III America. More and more other nations are
becoming like this in their political and social
conditions-slowly, perhaps, but surely. Like
the battle with the slave power-while trade and
commerce appears in the foreground the real
and underlying elements involved are the two
diverse civilizations and in all such contests the
war becomes more intense as it nears the end.
We see how ours is making inroads OIL those