The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-09-25
The Theory of Protection.
written for the Democratic Advocate j

Written for the Democratic Advocated
The immediate effect of a protective tariff is
to increase the price of goods beyond what
they are worth IN the markets of the world !;
and this excess of price, which must in all
cases be paid by the consumer, goes into the
pockets of the producers of such goods. This
in itself certainly is no benefit to anybody but
the producer. 1t is no benefit to the farmer,
for instance, that he pays five dollars more
for pillow, two dollars more for a yard of
cloth, three dollars more for yard of silk,
one dollar more for pair of shoes and fifty
cents more for hat, than he would have to
pay for these things if there were no protec-
tive tariff. Nor is it any benefit to the me-
chanic, the blacksmith, the shoemaker, the
tailor, the carpenter, the mason, the brick
layer, or the laborer.
But it is maintained by the advocates of
protection that such an increase of prices,
together with the exclusion offoreign products
from American markets, stimulates and de-
velops home industries, and that in this way
the whole country is benefited, and the inter
ests of all classes are promoted. In this way,
it is said, the great iron cotton, silk and other
industries have been built up, which give en-
ployment to many thousands of men who
would otherwise have no work and no way of
earning their living. Such is the argument
And this constitutes the captivating and mis-
leading element in the theory of protection.
Protection secures abundant work and good
wages to working men'' Such is the cry of
political demagogues, who care no more for
the interests of workingmen than Judas Is
CARROT cared for the poor. We shall say
nothing on the subject of wages just now, as
we expect to come back to that hereafter. But
we pause for a moment at the assertion that
protection makes work abundant. Was there
thah str roft ha tod
when so many men were either partially or
wholly ont of employmentas at the present day?
Was it ever so difficult for men as it is now to
secure steady work? And yet the govern
ment has pursued policy of protection for
twenty years! If twenty years of protection
have produced such results as these, what will
twenty years more of the same policy produce
Are not these facts, which demonstrate the
fallaey of the claims of the protectionists
These claims appear plausible enough, and
therefore mislead many people; but that they
are false is shown abpndantly by experience.
But let US look little more closely at the
theory that the interests of the whole country
are promoted by subsidizing or arti6cially
stimulating certain industries in different Sec
tions of the country. fit is true, it must ap-
ply to smaller communities as well as to the
nation. Let us then suppose a community of
twenty or thirty families settled on so many
square miles of land in some western territory,
Now these people, if left alone to follow their
natural INSTINCTS, will devote themselves each
one to such kinds of work as in their circum-
stances will De most profitable. In the choice
of employment the capital, the skill and the
inclination of the individual as well as the
wants of the community, will be determinative
factors. The most of them, of course, will be
farmers, who will cultivate the crops best adap-
ted to their soil. But the community will also
need carpenters to build houses and barns,
blaGksmiths to shoe horses and repair farming
indictments, milIers to grind -four, storekeepers
to retail groceries and dry goods, teachers for
their children, physician or two to heal the
sick, and so different individuals, according
to their means, taste and inclination, will de-
vote themselves to these various occupations.
So far no artificial stimulus is needed, The
affairs of the community regulate themselves
naturally, according to the best interests of all
concerned.
But now the community has other wants
also, besides those just mentioned. They
need stoves and hardware of various desorip
tions, glass and chinaware, cotton and wooler
goods, machines and agricultural implements
aud great variety of other things. Now the
question arises here, which would be the mos
profitable policy for the community to pursue
either to import these things from distance,
or to insist on having them all manufactured
at home? Would it be benefit to th(
community, for instance, to determine tina
no stoves manufactured in any of the state!
should be used among them, and thus tt
compel the erection of a foundry and the
! manufacture of stoves? Suppose the com
munity were to request some individual t.
set up foundry and begin to make stoves
/ His reply would be that he could not, in the
new circumstances Of the community, maxi
stoves as cheap as they could be brough
there from distance. A foundry would no
nav, because the cost of stoves would be to,
great, and the demand for them in the com
munity too limited. But suppose now tn
community should say to him Every well
we will put tax of twenty dollars on ever.
stove brought here from a distance. Tha
will enable you to charge at least nineteel
dollars and ninety cents more for the stove
YOU make than outside manufacturers woul
1 ask for theirs, Can you make stoves on thes
I oonditions?" Yes, on these conditions stove
can be made, though at at great dsadvantag
1 and an enormous cost to the community; an
so of all other articles. On the same condi
tons wooden and cotton factories could b
set up. Everything needed could be mad
in the community, but it would be under tire
mendous disadvantages and at a fearful cos
to the community. In such circumstances n
community could prosper.
And this is the way protection works.
develops industries, but it does so at too grei
a cost to the public Industries thus develop
ed are not in healthy condition.; and CON
munity, whether large or small, dependel
upon such industries, can not be in health
condition The best condition of society
that in which each individual devotes himse