The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-06-02
CLARK PERSON, Editor.
"RAW MATERIALS.v

The free traders have found that their
doctrines, bluntly presented, are not pop
ular, so they purpose, instead of moving
on the entire works, to undermine the
foundations by breaking them here and
there. The way this is to be done
is to favor free trade in "raw ma
terials." As is usual with free trade
statements, even the words "raw ma
terials" are delusion, for in fact there
are no raw materials" in the free trade
sense. by raw materials they want il
understood that they mean anything that
is natural product before skill and labor
have been spent upon it, In this class
they put iron ore, coal, wool, cotton, and
various other articles. A moments
thought, however, will show that they
represent labor just as much as iron or
steel implements, cloths, mnslins, or
other articles of manufacture do. Labor
builds the great pumping and other en-
gines and machinery necessary in min
ing; it is employed in digging the ore
ont of the earth, and in the various pre-.
paratory processes before it is marketable
commodity. Open our pores to free trace
in so-called raw Materials" and thou.
sands and tens of thousands of laboring
men in the United States would either
have to work for greatly reduced wages
or else be thrown out of work owing to
the competition of foreign producers.
The entering wedge in the system of
warfare against American prosperity is
the cry of "free WOOL A meeting to
favor this was lately held in Philadelphia,
and at it some men who claim protection
for the wool goods they manufacture
talked in favor of "free raw WOOL be-
cause it would reduce the cost of the
manufactured goods Whether their course
was owing to stupidity or to selfishness is
of little account. The fact remains that
the large body of farmers in the West and
elsewhere, who invest great sums Of
money and employ thousands of men in
wool raising, have the same claim to be
protected for ruinous foreign competition
as the man who makes the wool into
cloths or other goods.
The "free wool'' cry is first taken up
because it may be juggled with to deceive
the workingmen, who are told that free
wool will materially reduce the cost of
wearing apparel, and this strongly ap.
peals to the working men.
Past experience does not prove that re-
duced duty reduces the cost in the hands
of the consumer. The duty on coffee was
reduced some years ago, but coffee staid
at the same old price when it was
sold to the consumer, why? Because there
was no home competition in production.
Take of the duty on WOOL freeze out the
wool producers of the United States, and
importers will line their pockets at tho
expense Of the consumers. Besides the
tariff must be consistent system mot a
thing of patches and shreds, full of arbi.
trary exceptions. Just as soon as one
branch of industry is Disseminated
against, 1t MAKES that branch an enemy
to those protected, and with division will
come in the success of the free trade
horde, composed of crack Drained theo-
rists, who consider practical facts as of
no account against their abstract logic
and selfish middlemen, importers and
merchants whose personal interests are of
more importance to them than the public
welfare.
that free trade means goods imported at
less than they can be made for in this coun
try, and consequently, either no work or
great deal less wages.