Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-07-05

Granting that there are American In
dustries and interests that need protec-
tion against outside influences and that
reasonable tariff tax is necessary 10
afford such protection, is 1t worth while
to inquire what effect the tariff policy
Of the Republican party would have
upon such scheme of protection. II
is worth while to inquire whether the
Republican tariff policy will protect
and II so what it will protect.
The Republican tariff policy proposes
the ultimate destruction of foreign ex-
changes through the increase of duties
on imports to the point of prohibition.
1t Is based upon the theory that this
country is sufficient unto itself, and
that commercial relations with the rest
OF the world are unnecessary, injurious
and ought to be abandoned. It will
shut American products out from the
markets Ofthe world and confine them
to American markets. This is the final
proposition upon which the Republican
party stands. 1t Is the ultimate of the
prOtectionist. It Is protection not for
the sake of protection but for prohibi-
ton. Applied rigidly, the result is the
isolation of this country commercially
from all the rest of the world. What
are the necessary consequences of such
a policy?
First, the limitation of production.
This follows necessarily, as anyone can
see. If we do not trade with the rest of
the world we have less trade. If we
sell only to ourselves we sell less. live
decrease the number of exchanges we
decrease business to that extent. These
are axiOms of political economy as old
as Adam Smith. The less we can sell
the less we will produce, and the less
we produce the less demand there will
be for labor and the elements that enter
into production. If we restrict the
market we must restrict the product,
and If we restrict the product we must
restrict labor and decrease wealth.
Where there are two men at work there
will be work but for one man, and the
other man will 60 idle. The man who
is idle will be fierce competitor for
| the job of the man who has work, and
the competition will cause wages to
fall. This will be the inevitable issue
worked out by inexorable natural law
that transcends all legislative enact
ment. How then does such a policy
protect the workingman and the wage
worker? In what way does it benefit
him? 1t does not protect him at all,
but puts him at the mercy of the capi-
talist. 1t cOnfers no benefit upon him,
but rather does him the worst possible
injury In that it deprives him of the
means to make living and support his
family. Itis not protection for him,
but destruction. 1t does not mean
prosperity for him, but poverty and
misery, because it destroys that upon
which his prosperity must rest, the
active demand for labor consequent
upon an ever increasing production.
| Another effect of such a policy as
that which the Republican party pro-
poses is the creation of monopoly
This isinevitable. Restrict production,
shut out competition and IN very
short time every branch Of business
will be In the hands of few capitalists
who control it. Under the existing
high tariff trusts aud syndicates have
grown up and have acquired such
power that they extort what tribute
they please from the people and legis-
latiOn is p0werless. Ifthe tariff is to be
made higher and higher as the Repub-
lican party proposes, until it reaches
the point of actual prohibition, when
there can be no competition, when the
whole question of supply and demand
instead of being left to the operation of
natural law shall be regulated by the
selfish desires of syndicates and cOmbi-
nations of capital, the whole country
will be at the mercy of these combina-
tions, and millionaires and money kings
will prosper at the expense of the peO-
pie. The Republican tariff policy will
monopoly and will protect monopoly,
but it will be utterly destructive of that
true policy of protection that aims at
the prosperity of the whole people
rather than st the enriching of the few
and the pauperizing of the many.
Because this is so, the very worst
enemies of the workingmen and of true
and healthful protection to American
interests are the men who through the
instrumentality of the Republican
party seek to foist upon the country
such monstrous policy of injustice as
is proposed in the Republican platform.
1t is the PRONUNCIATION ofsuch extreme
views and the insistance by the mo-
nOp0listic influences that control the
Republican party upon such a selfish
and intolerant policy of extortion and
greed that will, if anything ever will,
drive the people to the opposite ex-
treme of free trade. For in the end
injustice must give place to justice
and the greater balance of commercial
and industrial equity must swing true,
though the whole system of tariff taxa
tion perish. If there is q Just and
equitable and righteous system of pro-
lection of American labor and Ameri-
can industries and interests, its friends
ought to rise up and defend it against
the Republican party which, as the in
strument of monopoly and extortion,
has become Its deadliest enemy Czeve-
land Plain Dealer. @ lnf.
The American work of fiction that
has had the greatest sale is Mrs. Stoves
"Uncle Toms Cabin.' Next to it comes