Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-01-27
FOR BUSINESS MEN.
SENATOR EDMUNDS'S REPLY TO
HENRY WATTERsON.
The Tarifr not for Revenue Only but for
Protection and Development Why
EDglandlBecame "A Free Trade Coun-
try-How Free Trade Would
Paralyze all Industries.


-
IL, a.. III,
F'oih lne aoie reply OF senator Ed
mudds to Henry Watterson's appeal for
tariff for revenue only the following OK
tracts are taken from T{orncr,s 1iontLJ,
for Eohrnorv mo ortioia g. 49,,
-, - '','.S ~ 'iOio 10 oHe Vu"t
shoulu oe Drought 10 tne attention OF not
only every manufacturer, but of every
farmer and every workingman of what
ever description in tue country
- HoU .Iue' ~ uhuers'anh history,
Iua1 III any instance protective tarlil has
been iuauguraed aud put in operation for
the benefit OF any privileged class what
ever These systems of legislation have.
it Is believed, always been put in opera
t'on for the general development Of the
resources and the ENCOURAGEMENT of the
industries OF the countries that have re
sori ed to them, Whatever IN some instan-
ceS may have been the motive, Us distin-
Euished from purpose and effect of such
laws. The one Instance OF Great Britain
may TIE taken a. a fair example Of all
although from protective tHril country
: he has tonne IN the course Of two ceutU-
rles to very large degree to he a sO-cH.Ied
frec-trade country.
When her system Of protection began
she vas t's our own country is now IN "a
large degree a rural country with miups
enrUIh and fields enough, and in general
with every otner resource sufficient to
f,e.I aud ma employment for the whole
OF ''r population and II was her policy
&c p.oYlde by her customs and navigation
laws that every one OF her natural re
SOD 'Ces ana al Vi her inhabitants SlOuil
MA Developments, labor, aud wish Uue
'tHtIi IN increase OF wealth. The ouly
C'IittenceS IN SITUATION among hey people
N, t2 purely internal and conventional, |
o. -
lh III! countries until we have anarchy and
cbinS tnat Is 10 say, one person might |
-" me owner OF land, another the owner
81 4 mine, and third of water power !
aHd fourth merchant, and fifth a
ftEuAl lOru, ana so on. II all these could !
be Induced by legislation to supply each |
other with ihe necessaries and comforts of
he without rtaOrtng TO foreign aid, |.
when must ne pad tor, II was thought |
certain lhal the general. average OF wealth !
Aua deVelopment must necessarily in !
crease, and with II the individual prosper |
nv oI all her people, so Tar as individual |
pi psperlty cQud depend upon industry |
economy and thrift. There was nothing |
III her general system Of customs and nav |
l-atl0u that favored one class of her PEG
~ at the expense of another, for the law
aFlNed equally TO them all until In re-
- ct OF her colonies she adopted another
Hud fatal policy. Her laws commercial |
""re not calculated TO build up, nor did |
they build up or tend TO build up, an arts
tocracy either OF land power, or money |
Iii laVor OF one body of her people as
AGAINST another The aristOcracy OF land,
II it may be called, was not Consequence
Of TINS system, but 1t existed before it, ,
and it is clear that 1t would have continued !
to exist 10 a much larger degree than it |
does now had it not been for the very sys-
tenn of protection she so early adopted and |
80 long continued, and that she has now,
with the same purpose Of protecting and |
advancing her interests, partly abolished |
She had already become the mistress of |
the world in manufactures and commerce,
aud almost so in arms She had, however,
from this very growth, become unable
either to feed or clothe her now over.
abundant population from the products
OF her own soil, and so, as it was thought,
partial free trade became "a naturally /
her proper policy for the continued pros.
perty of her people as protection had been
before under entirely different conditions,
aud of course she would then more strong
IL desire, and could with more plausibili.
" advocate, the abolishug of customs
and navigation laws bv other countries