The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-04-26
NEEDS OF THE NATION.
PROTECTION is NOT THE CAUSE
OF OUR PROSPERITY.

OF OUR PROSPERITY.
The Way the People are Misled-Sen.
ator Vance Points Out the True Way
to Enlighten Them.
From the Baltimore Sxn
ARTICLE W.
One Of the most difficult things to
do in morals and physics is to attrib
ute effects to their proper causes. This
is the chosen hiding place of politi-
clans in all countries. A demagogue
has only to mount the stump and as
sert voeiferously that hard times and
scarcity of money were all brought
about because such and such things
were done-generally things that he
had opposed-and thousands will ac-
cept it as true. Lacking the informa-
tion, or the disposition to apply it
which would enable them to investi-
gate for themselves, they adopt the
first plausible theory which is suggest
ed. Very few even intelligent men
will take the trouble to ascertain the
real causes of events and analyze the
popular explanation of them. Yet
there is nothing more important in
politics. 1t is the only way wnsA &
reach wise judgment of the present
or future. The most common instance
of this darkening of counsel by words
without wisdom is found in the whole
sale assertion of the hlgh-tariff men
that the unexampled prosperity of the
country is due to protection. You
hear it every day: "We have -four
ished under protection" Statistics
are read to us until our head aches to
show how our territories have been
enlarged, how our population has
multiplied, how our wealth has in
creased, with railroads, young cities,
quadrupling production, arts, sciences,
"and all the time aoe have had tariff
for protection !' That is plain and
unmistakable cause and effect Pro-
lection did it, because we fourished
and had high tariff at the same time |
Ergo, the tariff caused US to flourish.
The reasoning. of the negro about his
crazy old clock was equally as clear
and satisfactory. Being twitted with
its jerky and spasmodic behavior, he
declared that he could tell the time of
day by it as well as by any clock in
the world. "Yar see, boss" said he,
"when de hour hand pints to four, and
d. minute hand to halfpast eleven,
and she strikes nine, den knows it's
adzactly one o'clock" Some such
combination as this may enable an
expert to find that our riches are the
result of shutting off foreign commerce
and relying solely on hi gh taxation.
Because things happen frequently to
come together, therefore the one is
the cause of the other, however mad
equate the one may be to produce the
other. Since the earliest recollection
of man, in recorded story or tradition,
it is an undoubted fact that the chick
en- cocks have crowed every day of
the world just before sunrise therefore
that is the cause of sunrise.
Now if protection is the cause of
our prosperity, it would operate
equally at all times under similar
conditions, and the removal of the
cause would produce opposite effects.
Yet we find as fact that under the
low tariff from 1850 to 1860 there was
decade of the greatest prosperity
and increase of wealth the country
has ever known. The official fig
ures prove this beyond dispute. The
most highly protected country of Eu-
rope is Russia, yet their labor is least
productive and least rewarded. Her
paper money is only worth about ff-
ty cents on the dollar, and she is un-
able to borrow money ia any of the
marts of Europe. Her standing
among the nations is maintained by
the brute force of eighty millions OF
people, subjected to the will of sin
gle man. The least protected" coun-
try in Europe and the nearest to tree
trade of any in the world is England.
Her foreign commerce exceeds that of
any of the nations her ships carry
fifty per cent. of the worlds
trade, the sun never sets upon her.
empire, and the subjects of the EN-
press OF India number more than
three hundred millions Some years
ago, when expecting war with Rus sia
her prime minister instituted an in.
quiry into her resources, and reported
that her people had, lying in ban ks
and elsewhere idly waiting investment
six hundred million pounds sterling,
or three billions of dollars, and there
labor is more productive and receives
higher pay than in any other country
in Europe. An examination of the
financial condition of Europe will dis
| close the fact that those are most pros
porous which have the lowest tariffs
that where protection is greatest wag
es ale least.
Without giving the lie to all hui
man experience and the plain ele
ments of mathematics, no sane mar
can deny that taxation is burthen
| and the greater the tax the greater the
burthen, of course. To say then, thai
this enormous weight of taxation, moi
only for the support Of the govern
ment, but for the support of a stand
ing army of two millions of protected
people also, which, at the very least
is double the legitimate public ex
penditure, is the cause OF our grea
and rapid increase in wealth and pros
perity, is simply to insult common
sense. You might just as well say
that the load under which maj
staggers is the cause of his locomotiol
He, perhaps, makes out to travel tea
miles per day with it on his back, ant
/ you exclaim, "See there BY th
help of that load thatrman has march
n fen 1nilaa in one davf Tn ton vr7nvv