Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-09-10

instead of voluntary and temporary strike
laboringme should be struck and perma-
nently crippled by Democratic hostility TO
the Protective system, the 1924 butchers
who the President thinks. are not to be affect
| cd by the tariff, would at least find a good
deal of leisure on th,ir hands, and
the shipments of beef to Improbable mar
kets abroad would undoubtedly increase.
PROTECTION BENEFITS ALL.
Not to go into useless detail, it may be
safely asserted that every elias, which the
President has placed in the list of those un-
| affected by ta-id reduction would, in fact,
be Immediately influenced thereby, some
times directly sometimes indirectly and Of
ten disastrously. The entire argument of
! the President is based on the old and often
refuted Democratic argument that the tariff
helps only those engaged iu the protected
industries" and that it is injurious TO all out
side that number. The opponents of Pro-
lection refuse to see the remarkable interde-
pendence of industries which coa:tanily
grows closer in every community and every
state, and which may be now seen through
out the Union in harmonious adaptation and
effective cooperation.
Strangely, enough, the President neglects,
either from design or oversight, TO notice
what effect the serious reduction of the tar
if would have on the l,sl0,256 men employ
ed in transportation, viz, on the railroads,
coastwise vessels, river steamers and barges,
canals, wagon and stage lines. These va
ried modes of transportation represent an
nvestint ut of thousands of millions of dol
lars of American money and give employ
ment to nearly 1900, 900 of men, whose
earnings support nine millions of people.
Whatever impairs American manufacturing
strikes at the great transportation interests.
Iron ore admitted free from Spain, coal ad
mitted free from Nova Scotia, wool admit
ted free from Australia, all favor British
ships at the expense of American railroads.
The further the President goes in the dl-
rection of the doctrine laid down in his mes
sage the more direct and the more deadly is
the assault upon the whole organization of
American industries. 1t might have proved
ad vantageous to the President, as it would
assuredly have proved interesting to the peo-
pie, if he had caused an accurate official in
quiry to be made into the close connection of
the transportation and manufacturing inter-
ests, and how both in turn are indissolubly
linked with the agricultural interest, to the
great profit of all three.
The very figures which the President
quotes prove the immense home market
which the farmers have in the United States.
In round numbers over, 100000 are en-.
gagged in agriculture, while nearly l0, 1000, 900
are engaged in other industrial pursuits, and
constitute with the families dependent upon
them an enormous market for the products
of the farm. Every enlargement of that
bnna bot is a hnap In tho farmer Nh hila
its diminution would be his direct and ire
parable loss.
1t might also have been interesting if the
President had extended his inquiries into the
number of carpenters" and "masons" and
''plasterers" and ''dressmakers" and "tail
ors" and ''blacksmiths" and butchers" who
have been called to their respective employ
ments in consequence of the general pros
perity of the country brought about by the
influence of the tariff, and whose earnings
would be seriously reduced by the destruc-
tion of Protection. At that point the Presi-
dent would perhaps have found the scope of
his inquiries so enlarged that he would have
been compelled to take into consideration
every class of laborers in the country, and
might, perhaps, have received new impress
sions as to the unity of labor's demands and
labors interest. He would certainly have
found that the reduction of the tariff which
he recommended strikes labor a far more
severe blow than it infcts upon capital, and
that in the end its most baleful effect if
enacted into law would be in giving capital
an exasperating control of labor-a result al
ready attained where Free Trade is com
plete. 1t is not asserted that the Presiden,
consciously designed or anticipated this re-
suit, but the voters of the country must hold
him responsible for the obvious effects OF
his official recommendation. They have
neither time nor incluation to question mo-
t;ves. JAMES G. BLAINE,