The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-04-12
pRorEcrIoN AND PRosPERITY.

farmers, and by their aid, to hold thu
power they have gained is; Protection
is nothing else than robbery; it take
many for the benefit of few; is com
pels our farmers to pay millions of dol
lars annually for which they receive NJ
recommending benefits, and by reason Of
which our manufacturing classes art
absorbing the wealth the country.
This Is no new argument; it is Older
than the Constitution, it as old as the
Declaration; it is one in meaning with
the idea that would have kept England
the workshop, America the granary.
When the British Parliament declared
the iron foundries of the Colonies to be
public nulsances, it simply reiterated thi:
idea. When VIM. Pitt, The friend OF
America, declared in his place in the
House of Commons: Il would not permit
the Colonies to manufacture lock oil
wool, or a horse shoe, or hob nail he
simply meant that it should be the mis-
sion of America to produce raw mater
ials and consume the manufactures OF
England. When at the close of a seven
years war. England was forced to &C
knowledge the independence of Amerl-
ca, she congratulated herself that,
Though we have lost the sovereignty of
the Colonies. we have kept what is OF
greater value, their trade.
During the years that succeeded the
peace. the United Colonies were almost
entirely dependent on England for their
manufactures, and, as a consequence,
prices of manufactured goods was high
and prices of agricultural products low.
Specie was drained from the country to
paw for importations, and all classes felt
the burden of false industrial policy.
The general distress and unquiet of the
people summoned to Philadelphia the
Constitutional Convention of 1887, and
though there were present at the con-
vention many men who were opposed to
the Central Government having power
to Law duties and protect our industries
vet, by wise compromises, the doctrine
of protection triumphed, and Con-
stitution was submitted to the people
granting to the Government the right
to levy duties on goods imported into
the country. No one had heard at that
time, the strange doctrine that duties
must be laid for revenue only and when
the news spread throughout the land
that nine states had ratified the Consti-
tuition, instantly there were great re-
joicngs in all the villages and towns,
great professions were formed carrying
banners inscribed Protection to Amer.
can Industry: the laboring classes
paraded with the hammer and anvil,
crying out 'Hurrah for Protection
They had had enough of free trade, and
markets glutted with foreign goods;
They had had enough of low wages,
high priced manufactures and small
demand for labor.
When the First Congress met there
were many men among its members
who cried out, What, protect our manu-
features at the expense of our agricuI'
ture? Why, that is robbery But the
necessity of protection was so apparent
that the cry of these free traders was
not listened to, and the second act pass
ed through the First Congress was one
the preamble of which read as follows:
Whereas, 1t is necessary for the sup
port of government, for the discharge Of
the debts of the United States and for
the encouragement and protection OF
manufacturers that duties be laid on i'm
ported goods, wares and merchandise,
etc. Hamilton in his report to Congress
in 1891 on the manufactures of the
country, met and overthrow the argu-
ment that protection creates monopolles
and robs the agrlculturist. From the
time of Hamilton up to the present mo-
ment there has been party IN our gov
eminent that has opposed the develop |
ment OF manufactures, that has sneered
at what it calls the 'pauper industry OF
the country, supported at the expense OF
the people, and that declares today that
those industries which are not self-sup.
porting should be abandoned
II this party had been successful, Mr..
Editor, what would have been the re-
sultI l maintain that we, today, would
have been an essentially agricultural
people, and, therefore, a poor people.
1t has been the aim of England from
the earliest times to break down our
manufactures and keep us in the bonds
of her commercial system, and it is only |
through the working of our tariff laws
that we have risen to independence and
prosperity, If, at the adoption of the
Constitution, no barrier had been raised
to the free importation of foreign goods
how could our manufacturers, with
their small capital and meagre facilities,
have commended against the immense
wealth and established industries of
England? Competition under such cir
cumstances would have been impossi
BILE. AS it was, the duties on manufac-
tured goods were so small and the pro-
lection so imperfect that the growth of
our manufactures during the first 20
years of our national existence was
slow and halting. Then came the war
of 1912, shutting out the goods of Eng |
land and compelling us to manufacture
for ourselves. Under the influence of
necessity, mills and furnaces sprang up
all over the country, and the close OF
the war found us capable of supplying
our wants, But England looked across
the ocean, envious of our prosperity, de-
termined to darken the fires OF our fur
naces, to silence the whirring of our
shuttles, to smother IN their infancy our
industries, and to lead US, as of old, cap (
tives at the wheels of her chariot. With
this idea in view she overwhelmed us
with immense importations of cotton
and wooden goods, and though she lost
heavily in the operation, yet she gained
her end-she destroyed our manufaC-
lures. 1t was at this time-on the 9th
of April, 1S16-that Lord Brougham
said, in the House of Commons: 1t
was well worth while to incur loss
upon the first expectation in order, by
giut, to stihe in the cradle those infant
manufactures of the United States
which the war had forced into existence
contrary to the natural order of things
In the Boston papers of that time
goods were advertised pound for
pound. - that is, what Ihad actually cost |
$3.50 to make in England We're sold
here, duty and charges paid. for 20 OF
4. What fha
result of such a policy on the part of
England? Horace Greeley tells us;
Our manufactures went down like
grain before the mower; our agriculture
and the wages OF labor speedily follow
ed. In New England | judge that fully
one fourth of the property went through
the sheriff's mill; and the prostration
was scarcely less general elsewhere. In
Kentucky, the presence of debt was I'M
iyersal and intolerable. In New York
the principal merchants united in
memorial to Congress to save our com
MERGE as well las our manufactures from
utter ruin by increasing the tariff and
the sale at auction OF i'm
ported fabrics.
The tariff act of 1916 increased the spe-
cific duties very largely, but proved it.
self too weak a barrier to stop the Hood
of English importation, and II was not
until the act of 1924 was passed that our
were really protected.
Under the influence of that act business
quickly became prosperous, quiet and
took the place of unrest and
suspicion and the nation strobe forward
like a Young giant, full of hope courage
and determination. The act of 1928 still
further increased the duties. and still