Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-10-16
ON FREE TRADE.

The meeting of Irish-Amercan
protectionists in this city on Thurs.
day evening was II hopeful sign of
the awakening of our adopted citi.
zens to the merits of the principles
by which the prosperity of this great
republic has been established. Year
after year great numbers OF men
come over from England, Scotland
and Ireland, attracted by the reports
of high wages and comfortable homes
in the New World. Most Of the new
arrivals find the first year pretty
toilsome one, but, once accustomed
to the ways of the country and di.
vested of national prejudices, they
come to realize the fact that protec
tion is very expedient and comfort
able thing.
Of the English who come over
but small number remain long
enough to acquire longing for cti.
zenship, and failing to outstay the
first year of novitiate they are ready
to declare that protection is farce
that rents are high, clothes dear,
hours long and wages disproportion
ately low. But in the second year
the prospects of the steady worker
improve, and by the end of the fifth
he is in far better position than he
could hoped to have attained in the
Old Country. If at the end of the
five years the newcomer should en-.
roll himself in the ranks of Ameri.
can citizens, he will most assuredly
say that free trade is an excellent
thing for England but a very bad
move for the United States.
The Scotchman shakes Off his
prejudices more quickly than the
EnglIshman, and does not take him
long to make up his mind that there
are more baubees" and saxpenc.
es" to the square inch in New York
and Chicago than in the whole of
Scotland, outside of Edinburgh and
Glasgow. The Irishman finds tue
cloak Of American citizenship fits him
SO quickly and so " natelyn that he
scarce takes time to cast off the old
one but the free trade politicians
mark him for an easy prey and are
never weary of seeking to persuade
him how much richer he and his new
country would be if only the barriers
of protection and monopoly were
broken down.
1t is true that monopoly clings
like leech or barnacle to protec-
ton as it does to anything else from
which blood or nutriment can be
extracted, but it is demonstrate By
indisputable statistics that almost
all Great Britain is in the hands
OF a monopoly as rigid and iron
bound as any existing in the United
States.
Of all classes of adopted citizens
the Irish are those who should have
the least sympathy with free trade.
1t is for the want of protection that
labor in the Irish Isles is simply
continuous effort to ard off starva
ton. The cheap labor Of the Cont
nent is brought into competition
with many industries, till they are
wiped out of existence. The watch
makers Of Coventry and Clerkeuwell
have found their occupation gone
since Swiss watches at fifth of the
price were put on the market. SO
with Ireland the industries of the
country are paralyzed by its being
made surplus market for the pro
auctions of England.
The voice of the meeting OF Thurs
day evening proclaimed recOgnl'
ton of the justice of the great princl-
pie for which the Republican party
and many leading Democrats have
stead lastly contended. Let every
Irish-American compare his present
with his past condition before ne
casts his ballot for free trade.-BGa''
more Herald.