The Dillon tribune. [volume] (Dillon, Mont.) 1881-1941, 1886-09-03
THE FREE TRADE CIRCULAR,

themselves and an honor to the country.
| THE FREE TRADE CIRCULAR.
The American Free Trade League is out
with long.winded circular. With the
exception Of its just scoring OF the demo.
cratic party for posing as the party Of free
trade, and yet not having the courage Of its
convictions, it is a singular document "full
of sound and fury, signifying nothing"
These free-traders are most persistent in re.
fusing to respect in the slightest degree
the results Of experiment and experience.
Though their gauzy balloon has been
pricked time and again by the argument Of
incontrovertible facts, yet they are ever
prepared to repatch and reinflate. Though
1t has been shown tina, in 1860, the total
value Of property in the United States was
$14 ,ooo, 900; that in twenty years un.
der protection there was an increase Of
$50, ,ooo, 600, the total value being in
1880, So GOO, ooo,ooo!-and though it has
been pointed out to these theorizers that
during the ten years that free trade was on
trial, and which, happily for the interests
Of America, terminated in 1861, our i'm.
ports exceeded our exports BY $4o,361o74;
and that under the operation Of the ten
years Of protection, from the repeal Of
free trade BY the Morrill, tariff act in 1861,
our exports, exceeded our imports by
ST. ,3o6, s43, c6o-,hough this overwhelming
proof Of the benefits accruing from pro.
lection is produced by Republican party,
yet these imaginativ: free traders, their
minds encased in theories so finely woven
that no light from the outside is ever ad.
mitted, continue to cry that free trade twill
insure the country full industrial employ
ment and high wages, abundant protection,
and low cost" Ifthere is one fact patent
to the minds Of the American people, it is
that the tariff act, instead OF being repealed,
should be made more stringent Those
very foreign nations which, the ''circular"
says are SO buraened with taxation from
supporting great armies that they would
not be able to compete with US, imported
into these United States last year, in bar.
ley, clocks, coal, crockery ware, cottons,
fax, glassware, feathers, liquors, silks, su.
sars, watches, woods and woods, $3S6,667,-
$40! That is to say they sold us almost
$4oo,ooo,ooo worth Of their goods. And
upon these $4ooooooo they were able to
pay an average duty Of 46 per cent! If
they can compete with US to this extent
when they have to pay tax of almost 50
per cent, what would they do ii they had
to pay no tax at all: The ''circular," in
saying that foreign nations are burdened
with supporting immense standing armies
states the case Of protection with fullest
force. II all nations were free and en-.
lightened like the United States, free trade
might then be something more than a
theory. But, unhappily, they are not free
and enlightened. Their people are i'm.
poverished, and ruled by the iron law of
might. Here the people are sovereign,
and this means education Of the masses.
And education Of the masses means fair
wages Tor the laboring man. Whatever Is
good in the condition of American labor.
ers, is due, in great measure, to the pro.
tectivc tax on imports, which, enables him
to properly feed and clothe his children,
and give then. an education betting
American free.,mcn. The free trader may
point scornfully to the frequent strikes OF
the laboring classes, but If he will take the
trouble to inquire into those strikes, he
will find that in almost every case they
have had their origin in the croweling out
OF American workmen by Poles, 30.
hemians and other pauper laborers Of
Europe. We need then other protection.
Put SO heavy tax on this rotten mass Of
ignorance and pauperisn,, weekly belched
upon our shores by Europe, and make the
tax on imports SO heavy, that our free
American workmen will not have to com.
pete with the paupcrs OF Europe, the rice
eaters OF India, the slaves Of Egypt, and
then strikes and business deprcssions, if
not thing Of the past, will surely he less
frequent: and less violent.
The total expenditure Of the L. S. for
August 1856, are $3:,19s,s,6,,o. For the
same month in 1855, $:S,o64, :6o7s.
Democratic economy, don't YOU know.