Morning journal and courier., 1886-03-23
A Great Strike of Miners.
FIR FEE RADE.
Professor Sumner Discusses the Sub-
 jeet Before the Kent Club.

Professor Sumner Discusses the Sub-
 ieet Before the Kent Club.
 Last evening at the Kent club room in the City Hall Prof. Sumner gave the students of the Law school an address on the subject of 'Free Trade" The discussion has become of more than usual interest on account of the recent lectures on Protection" by Prof. Thompson, of Princeton to the Yale students.
 Prof. Sumner said: The questions of the most importance before the country to-day are the matter of tariff and currency. We are here this evening to take glance at the former. Bad taxation does more to harm people than any other one thing. You can't tax man without it's being more less a harm to him and the more complicated the machinery the worse it is. The poor man has plenty of friends working for him to fix the taxation. He never had so many before probably because he never had so many votes before Qaughter). The trouble is the tariff Y tinkered too much and has too many ins ahd outs. It ought to be made clear and plain by being abolished altogether. The only good that protection ever did us was hat it caused us to revolt from England, and now we running into the same pit that our forefathers suffered so much to get us rid of. What is proteetions Well, one of the best definitions I have ever seen was given by one of the leading protectionists and it is this "It is restriction to divert capital from the channels in which it would flow in to channels favored and created by law" This definition gives the whole subject of protection away. And that is just why I have chosen it. Laughter. In fact it is impossible to give definition of protection that will not kill it in the mind of any thinking man.
 The plain working of protection is this: It stimulates industry in some one or more lines. Everyone goes into those branches because they have been stimulated and capi- tai will be driven on. Over-production is the result, prices go down, shops and facto- ries close and failures come. If capital had flowed in the proper chanels and had not been diverted to unnatural business enter prises none of this revulsion would be seen.
 The laws of protection hinder me from getting the best bargains I can. 1 want to buy an amount of iron. l want to get it the cheapest possible. I can get 1t in England fer a certain price, and the govern ment says 1 must pay the Pennsylvanian $6. 70 ton more for it and I can't help my self. Is the iron any better than English irons Not a bit of it. Who gets the $6.70 a ton extra. The Pennsylvania iron man. I am taxed to support him. And this is just the case with thousands of everyday articles I can't buy spool of thread but l am taxed to support some thread n,anufactory. And have no redress. The government takes and puts me right over into their hands and says: ''I will hold him while you rob hin.' Protectionism says: "But you are perchance nanufactu- Ter and receive it all back from him." That is like the man who tapped his arm and sucked his own blood in hopes to strengthen himself. No, sir, it is system at it's best of robbery. The man next to you has his hand in your pocket, you have yours in the next mau's, he has his in mine and so it goes. These are the beauties Of protection, and as long we have protection we will have these results