The Wilmingtonian., 1884-08-09
TOO MUCH PROTECTION.

VI
first breath of wintry blast. Had Hamlet
Prince of Denmark, been privileged to pass
Judgment on our American industries as
they are to-day, he would assuredly have
repeated his oracular dctum-"We are
governed too much - The American mer-
camille marine has been protected out of
existence, and after twenty y. ars Of excessive
taxation the chief result has been to create
an artificial aristocracy of mlliunaires and
to leave the mechanic very much in the
same position as he was when the system
was inaugurated.
1t is simIly painful to read the endless
repetitions of the story that it is the obieot of
protection to dignity the calling of tile Amer
lean laborer and to free him from compe-
tition with the pauper labor of Europe The
printer who has been toiling for years on a
salary OF six dollars a week will be apt to
bethnk himself of the metaphor of strain
ing at a gnat and swallowinga camel. Protec-
tion of this sorG may earich the proprietor
printer, may enable him to buy houses and
land, to live in luxury, and charge five dol
lars for work and material viii ch cost him
only two. But where does the actual toiler
an. worker come in, in this transaction?
To render protection just, it should ben
eft the operative as well as the en- ployer.
If prices are advanced in the one case,
wages should be raised in the other. Intelli-
gent working men are already beginning to
discount largely the arguments of protec-
Zionist newspapers, which have but two
stock arguments, on which all the changes
are rung, till the ear wearies of the jangling
repetition.
Herr Friedrich Won Raumer, formerly
professor of History in the University of
Berlin has given the subject the benefit of
his mastery ability and comprehensive Wis
ion He does not write as free-trader
pure and simple, but his views are SO logical
that an analysis of them will bear careful
study and reflection. He saws -
"Natural manufactures will grow up of
themselves artificial ones are an injury to
the people, and at last to the projectors like
wise. America must and will acquire by
degrees the greatest manufactures of every
kind; but every thing has its time and what
is forced and premature is never in season.
The absurdity and injuriousuess Of high
rates of duty We're long ago demonstrated in
the justly venerated Federalst and yet,
after SO many years Of instructive experience,
we return to what was then scorned and
| rejected"
The cheaper man can supply one want,
the more he has left for satisfying the rest
and natural right and natural prudence are
| not to be violated, to satisfy the selfshness
of few who wish to sell dear. He who
cannot carry on business with free compe-
tition, should let it alone the contrary
principle is in fact destructive Of trade; it
sets the costly and artificial above the nat
bolster up what is unsuitable, cheap and
abundant; the contrary principle leads to
rearing vines in lighthouses, and making
sugar out of substances that contain but
| little of the saccharne matter
Protective duties prohibit or render diff
| cult the introduction of articles because they
are good and cheap, and close the market OF
| the world to favor that of monopolists. TIC
say, that nothing more is desired than a
temporary protection for young manufac,
tures," is mere empty talk. Never
did manufacturer voluntarily give
back to his fellow-citizens this compulsory
boon, and every passing year renders the
return of sound principles more difficult
Never was a manufacture permanently estab
lished by protecting duties which would no
have succeeded without them.
Every protective duty that impedes impOr
tation, impedes erportatson also ; and he wht
will not buy, will find at length that he can
not sell. The native manufacturers, lik,
many agrculturists, possess only a loca
interest; and Congress has no right to show
preference and favor to such interest. The,
Il
cry out to raise the duties because the,
know that they contribute to them little o.
| nothing, while prices are raised in
proportionate degree to their own profit.
| A perfectly free trade, complete annih
ilation of duties, is, in the United States a
in other countries, impossible. This incom
cannot be dispensed with, neither can it
place be supplied by an excise or by direo
taxation. IT, on the other hand, importa
ton is prohibited or rendered impossible b
excessively high duties, this equally result
in destruction of all revenue. -Althoug
individuals Of either party may have pushe
their views to one or the other Of thes
extremes, yet the friends of free trade i
general are as far from meaning by its adoI
tion to abolish all duties, as the advocate
of high tariff are from desiring to put
total stop to importation. But betwee
these extremes there are many ntermediat
points, on which men can unite and come I
an understanding. That in drawing u
tariffs, respect should be had to the proceed
ings of other countries, is natural and proI
Ell but it is by no means advisable or adval
tageous, to initiate those foreign mea
ures or even so beyond them. Care mu
be taken especially not to be seduct
by uncertain statistical enumerations, br
4 experiments, and partial conclusions, in
!, sweeping and erroneous measures.
The endeavor to atain complete CONNIE
cial independence is both foolish and inn
GUS commerce binds together countries al