Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-07-25


with incidental protection to the
competing product at home. 1t
the duty be so arranged as to pro-
duce the greatest amount of reve
nue., 1t must be placed at the point
where the foreign article is able to
undersell the domestic article and
thus command the market to the
exclusion of competition. This re-
suit goes beyond what the sO-called
American free trader intends in
practice, but not beyond what he
implies in theory.
"The American prOtectiOnist
does not seek to evade the legiti-
mate results of his theory. He
starts with the proposition that
whatever is manufactured at home
gives work and wages to our own
people, and that ifthe duty is even
put so high as 20 prohibit the i'm
port of the foreign article, the COM
petition of home producers will, ac-
cording to the doctrine of Mr..
Hamilton, rapidly reduce the price
to the consumer. He gives numer-
Gus illustrations Of articles which
under the influence Of home COM
petition have fallen in price below
the point at which the foreign
article was furnished when there
was no protection. The free-trader
replies that the fall in price has
been still greater in the foreign
market, and the protectiOniSt re-
ioins that the reduction was made
to compete with the American pro-
duct, and that the former price
would probably have been main
tanned SO long as the importer had
the monopoly Ofour market. Thus
our protective tariff reduced the
price in both countries. This has
notably been the result with respect
to steel rails, the production of
which in America has reached a
magnitude surprising that of
England. Meanwhile rails have
largely fallen in price to the con-
sumer, the home manufacture has
disbursed countless millions Of
money among American labOrers,
and has added largely to our in
dustrial independence and to the
wealth of the country.
"While many fabrics have fallen
to as low a price in the United
States as elsewhere, it is not to be
denied that articles Of clothing and
household use, metals and machin-
cry, are on an average higher than
in Europe. The difference is due
in large degree to the wages paid
to labor, and thus the question of
reducing the tariff carries with it
the very serious problem of reduc-
ton in the pay of the artisan and
the operative. This involves so
many grave considerations that no
party is prepared to advocate it
openly. Free-traders do not, and
apparently dare not, face the plain
truth-which is that the lowest
priced fabric means the lowest
priced labor. On this point pro-
tectionists are more frank than
their opponents; they realize that
it constitutes indeed the most i'm.
pregnable defense of their school.
Free-traders have at times attemp-
ted to deny the truth Of the state
ment; but every impartial investlga-
ton thus far has cOnclusively
proved that labor is better paid,
and the average condition Of the
laboring man more comfortable, in
the United States than in any
European country.
San adjustment Of the protective
duty to the point which represents
the average difference between
wages of labor in Europe and in
America, will, in the judgment of
prOtectionists, always prove i'm
practicable. The difference can
not be regulated by a scale of
averages because it is constantly
subject to arbitrary changes. If
the duty be adjusted on that basis
for any given date, a reduction of
wages would at once be enforced
abroad, and the American mauiac-
turer would in consequence bel
driven to the desperate choice Of
surrendering the home market or
reducing the pay of workmen. The
theory of protection is not answer
ed, nor can its realization be attain
ed by any such device. Protection,
in the perfection of its design as
described by Mr.. Hamilton, does
not invite competition from abroad,
but is based on the controlling
principle that competition at home
will always prevent monopoly on
the part of the capitalist, assure
good wages to the laborer, and de-
fend the consumer against the evils
of extortiOn.