The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1888-08-24
TARIFF AND EDUCATION.
Free Trade Would Destroy the True Basis
~ of Our Government. "a" -


Is not the discussion of the tariff con
Quoted upon basis much below what the
best interests of those most concerned
demandf f eaf
The main argument Is. that under the
effective operation of protective tariff
manufacturers and working capitalists
are able TO paw larger wages to their op-
eratives and laborers than under tariff
for revenue only, or any system approach
ing free trade That this proposition Is
true and the argument sound can DO con-
clusively shown But the argument
which stops with telling the worlsingman
that under protective tariff he is in re-
ceipt of higher wages; that he can eat
more meat, better bread and butter and
more of 1t, and wear better clothes than
his brother workman in England and on
the Continent; which does not bring the
discussion up to higher plane than mere
physical needs and advantages, is fraught
with error and is worthy only of the poll
tician, who once year can trust his hand
In the strong hand OK the laboring man
and ask him for his vote.
The error lies in this: The argument
leaves the impression and tends to make
the laboring masses of our citizenship
feel that they are the wards of the ma
ton, and that the nation and it's law
making powers are bound to protect them
in all that pertains to their physical well
fare, instead,of the true view that they
are the strength and backbone of the ma
ton, that they arc free men, each an in
dividual member of commonwealth Of
freemen, and as such bound to hold fast
and sacredly guard those privileges which
shall enable them to exercise intelligently
and preserve unimpaired totheir children
their liberties and rights as freemen.
N Granting, what it is presumed no one
will deny, that loveof country and the
perpetuation of her democratic institu-
tions are things most dear and desirable
to every patriotic American, regardless of
party affiliations we come to the ques-
ton, How is this end to be secured?
None are so blind as not to see that upon
the education of the laboring masses of
her citizens must depend the safety and
integrity of the nation and her institu-
tions
Henry Ward Beecher gave terse utter
ance to the truth in the expression, 1--WE
must educate or we must perish" That
great philosopher in France, and ex-
FOUNDER of the philosophy of law, Mon
tesquieu, saw the need but could not
reach the goal of his desires. His words
are:. "The laws of education are the first
that we receive, and prepare us to be citi-
zens. They are different in each form of
government, and in each have different
object; in the republics they have for
their objectlvirtue. This virtue
may be defined, the love of law and of
country. All depends, then, in q repub-
lie, upon tho establishment of this love;
and 1t is to inspire it that education
ought to receive the highest attention"
-Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, Book w,
i,v.
The farmer, the agricultural laborer
and the wage worker in the cities and
manufacturing establishments make up
an enormous majority of the voters Of the
nation. These men by ballot chose their
representatives and agents: not to tell
them what laws they need, not to instruct
them in the art of government, but to
embody in proper form, and as their agents
provide for the execution of such laws as
the voters, as principals, think necessary
for the promotion of their best interests.
Nor do they this unwisely or without in
telligent exercise of their rights and
powers. By the policy of their govern
ment, in the exercise of their sovereign
powers they have provided for themselves,
and placed within the reach of every indi-
vidual schools, and other means of educa-
ton, in manner and extent unknown to
any other people. They have availed
themselves of these means their intelli-
gence has provided until they have at
tanned a degree of intellectual advance
.ment and development unequaled in any
country, by reason of which they are able
to cope with, and think and act intelli-
gently upon questions of policy
and of government, upon which
citizens of the same class in
other countries have no time or
inclination or ability to think. Their
children growing up under such influ-
ences, surrounded by and listening daily
to the conversation of the fathers, or
reading daily of the printed discussions
on these grave subjects, educated in the
with true notions of the liberty and indie
pendence which is theirs under tho insti.
buttons and government of the state of
which they form part, early learn to
love those institutions, and early become
familiar with the principles and opera
tions of that government. M
The danger then is not from within,
but from without. The first great danger
arises from tho Importation Of foreign
clements which refuse to assimilate with
tho native strength of our na.-on; which
ignore our habits of thought and system
of advancement and development, and by
their influence tear down the fabric of
our government by scorning and chilling
the love for it's independence and its in
situations. Guards against this danger
have been to some extent erected, and
wisely, tco.
But another danger lies in the whole
sale and untrammeled importation of the
products of the poorly paid poorly fed,
poorly clothed and more poorly educated
labor of foreign countries. When the
wage workers and laborers of this nation
shall, through free trade measures, be
forced to compete with the low, starva-
tion wages of the old countries of Europe,
with the decline of wages to that low
level, the educational facilities which are
the boast and pride of our nation will dis
appear, for they by whose strength and
intelligence they were maintained are no
longer able to avail themselves of them;
the intellectual development in which is
its hope Of safety must cease to move on,
because tho energy and active intelligence
IN which ~ owad itc IN xvo ri r1nvarnant