Morning journal and courier., 1885-10-22
MT. Clark,s Paper. IS THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF SYSTEM MORALLY
 JUSTIFIABLE.

1. The relations of government to Chris tianity differ from those of an individual in that the government exists for single, well defined purpose, which is in a sense selfish purpose. It is to promote the interests of the people governed. It has no authority to go beyond these interests. It is not good government if it does not consider them
 first. It has no right to be philanthropic in it's dealings with other nations or to make any sacrifice of it's own people for the sake of other people. It should be just and even liberal to others, but the duty of self-sacri-
 fee, which rests upon individuals, can hard ly be said to be at all incumbent upon it. It has to discover, if it can, what is the highest good for the people under it and to strive to achieve that.
 9 In any search for means to that end it encounters at the outset the fact that there is in every community wide diversity of gifts among individuals, diversity as wide as the physical needs of the race; so that nothing can be required for the uses or for the pleasures of man, which some talent is not fitted to supply.
 Even if there were no proof the presump- ton would be fair that these varied capaci- ties were given to men that they might do that which they were exactly fitted to do;
 namely, to permit in every social organiza- l tion the conduct of many different indus.
 tries, each contributing to the requirements
 of the whole body. But the proof is abund. 1 ant that the most prosperous communities containing the happiest and most comfort able individuals, are in every case those that
 make the nearest approach to supply theil l own wants. And it is another fact, that l while the surest method of securing relief from extreme competition is always in C | wide diversity of industry, so that is the 1 method naturally employed by men and al | ways with beneficial results.
 | 8. We find ourselves in country more
 richly endowed than any other with capacity for producing raw materials of industry With every kind of fertile soil and with nearly every climate, but the tropical, we have abil. ity to grow almost everything that the earth will nourish, and from the earth we may dig
 every mineral that is used in the arts
 Thus, finding ourselves in such land, with @ people possessing in remarkable de- gree industrial skill that includes all the possibilities of handicraft, it is 8 just pre- sumption that the creator intended these men to make use of all these materials. It is improbable that God filled the hills of Pennsylvania with coal, limestone and iron
 ore with the intent that we should go to En- l land in search of pig iron. It is unlikely that he covered the fields of the South with cotton and endowed our mechanics with in- ventive and constructive skill meaning that that we should buy all of our cotton cloth in Europe Furthermore, it may be assumed that if he had intended one nation to be only producer of raw materials for the mills of another nation he would not so have man. aged it that the great bulk of the profits al- ways go to the manufacturing nation. There is no proof that it is the divine economy that England should enrich herself at our ex- pense while we remain poor.
 4. But those who are, familiar with the history of this country do not need to be told that from the earliest colonial times England entertained the purpose to prevent the full development of our natural resources, to prohibit manufactures and to forbid us to be anything more than a producer of raw materials When we were in her power she used force to achieve that end When we were independent, but feeble, she combined force with craft and capital. When we be- came too strong for intimidation and prohi- bition, she called into service the agencies. British and American, for preventing Amer ican public opinion, which are now in active operation. Her hostility to our industries