Morning journal and courier., 1884-09-26
COMMUNICATIONS.

The free traders are not selfish if their own
 idea of themselves is correct. They profess ! to want to benefit all mankind. Especially
 is the poor suffering farmer an object of
 their benevolent notice. They try to show
 him how he is damaged by protection and
 how much better off he would be under free
 trade. But the farmer, who is accustomed to
 deal with facts rather than fancies, is not to
 be led by these theorists. He knows better.
 The farmer is not so disconnected from the
 rest of mankind the free traders would
 seem to imply. He is really partner with
 the mechanic, who is supposed to have the
 greatest interest in protection. The farmer
 cannot make the prices for the produce of
 his farm But they are made by the con-
 sumers, of which the working people, the
 mechanics, are the many and the
 rich are the few. Consequently the
 working people make the prices of
 the farmers produce. When they do not,
 is when it is beyond the workingmans
 reach But the necessities of life every per
 son must have in limited quantity at least.
 The necessities of life cost but little The
 luxuries of life cost great deal The
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 the necessities, and in this country the luxu- ries as well-not at special times only, but continually. And the workingman that gets two dollars day or more is the farmers partner in the luxuries as well as the neces- sities by consuming the luxuries as well as the necessities, all of which gives the farmer share in the luxuries that his own farm does not produce. And when the workingmen are well paid and have steady work the farmers are well paid for their produce, especially for the luxuries; and that raises the price of necessities by checking competition in producing the cessities and also by unstinted consump- tion of the necessities and by broadening the demand for luxuries. Protection gives the people of this country the benefit of the land-the mechanic by we'll paid labor, the farmer by home market for the produce of his farm.
 But if free trade does come, the protected
 manufacturer must stop. The manufactur' ers' plant, the building and machinery, must
 be sold at a great loss if sold at all, the
 building for some other purpose, the ma
 chinery for old iron; the manufacturer
 would be at great loss. He perhaps would
 get a few dollars on the hundred
 of what his plant cost, but he would
 be great loser. But, say the free traders,
 this plant has been built up at the expense of
 the farmer which could not be if it were not
 for the tariff, and if the tariff be removed
 the farmer would be immediately and for
 evermore benefited. The unemployed me
 chanics would still consume the farmers
 produce and the farmers could buy for much
 less and in no way would they be damaged.
 The unemployed would still consume the ne
 cessities in scanty quantities at least. The
 luxuries they could not, and they must soon
 find employment. They must bid for work
 against their fellow workmen who are em-
 ployed and bring the price of labor down, or
 they must be farmers, and when this comes
 the mechanic can no longer buy the
 luxuries, but only the necessities. Then will
 the luxuries rot in the field, not because the
 people do not want them, but because they
 cannot buy When free trade comes the now
 protected manufacturer will be a great loser
 by his plant that is now worth thousands,
 shrinking to hundreds, or perhaps less, but it will still have some value. But there are thousands, yes millions, invested in plants by the farmers of this country that will be worthless-yes, more, will be an incumbranee on the land and an expense to uproot. This is the kind of benefit the farmers will receive from free trade, and the farmers, as the me chanics, must compete in much narrower field of labor because the mechanic can no longer buy the luxuries.
 Then. say the free traders, the same amount of money will buy more, and so it will, but the same amount of work will buy less, as in 1 England to-day the same amount of money buys more, but the same amount of work buys much less The mechanics of England do not have as many luxuries as the mechan- ! ics of this country. But, say the free traders, l the mechanics of this country do more work I in the same length of time than those of 1 England do. Doesn't this go to show that \ they are better clothed and better fed and ! T., 1nfto n6J1 Fad al n which protection helps them to obtain?
 If free trade will not help the farmer or the mechanic who will it help? If any one it will l help the money lender. It will be, as the free | traders say, the same amount of
 money will buy more. But the money 1 lenders claim will remain the same. l The money lender will not lend to the full value of whatever the money borrower offers | for security He will say to the money bor- rover, f'I must be protected; I will lend you l to the amount of half the present value and | take security on the whole" He will not 1 take any risk unless he has first claim at half | the value which is no risk. If free trade ! comes the security will still be worth half it's present value, but the money borrower must | take all risk and borrow on the supposition | that he can earn as much in the future as in | the past. He borrows in good faith and l takes all the risk His all is at stake. He gives the money lender the first claim, be- | AANAA- pay the money lenders claim and he (the money borrower) be the owner of the proper ty, And many are the money lenders that would and will extend helping hand to the I money borrower by voting for pro lection. But the money lender that will not lend his money without protection, and if he is a sane man he will not, if the money borrower be farmer he will say q can lend you only half the pres ent value of your farm and must take se- curity on the whole for protection. And yet the free traders say the farmers and me chanics need no protection, and if free trade comes the same amount of money will buy more. And so it will, and well the free trade money lenders know it. It will take just as
 many dollars to pay the claim on the farm as it did before, and if the same amount of money will buy twice much the free trad CT will own the farm. He is protected and l the farmer is not. If you are a mechanic and own half your own home and the money | lender the other half and has security on the whole it will be the same. The free trade | money lender will be protected and you will not.
 But, say the free traders, when this is I brought about we shall buy more of foreign ] nations and sell more to foreign nations If 1 labor does not come down to the price of labor | in other nations we shall be large buyers, no | doubt, but to be large sellers we must be able | to sell very cheap, and if we would sell where England now does, we must sell for less than | she can or give better article for the same amount of money. This is a self-evident fact and every farmer that sells his produce | and every manufacturer that sells the pro- l duce of his factory knows that if he would
 sell where the supply is furnished by someone l else he must offer some induce
 ment-either the same article for less or better article for the same price. 1 And if we would sell as largely to foreign nations as the free traders imply the me- 1 chanics of this country must work for less l than the mechanics of England do.
 Now then, will it become practicable for the | mechanics to become farmers to any great extent? If all the farmers that till the soil 1 should raise only the necessities the market would be more than supplied. But when l free trade does come the rich will still be | consumers of luxuries then now. The working people will be consumers of luxurles ] only on special occasions and that will make l the field that is now very broad one tor
 both labor and capital very narrow one: