New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-13
THE LOGIC or PROTECTION.
HOME PRODUCTION ALONE CREATES GEN.
BY EMIL sCHALR.


HOME PRODUCTION ALONE CREATES GEN.
UINE NATIONAL WEALTH.
| In the state Of natural selection the ndivid-
ual helps himself to food wherever he finds 10,
and the more abundant the supply the more hs
| prospers Nature is prolific, waste Is OF no &C
count and ii matters not whether products are
consumed or not The conditions OF life in a state
OF artificial selection are more complex. Man
cannot help himself to satisfy his wants Be
tween him and the necessares OF life stands
ton of his artificial condition, the creation Of
property. Everything worth having belongs to
somebody and in order TO get what he needs one
must offer an equivalent Property is the result
| of labor Labor property in some shape one
must have in order to obtain what one needs,
and even then is not certain TO get II, Tor the
owner may not wish TO part with his property.
Thus In order to facilitate the struggle for HE
| of people, it Is necessary not only 70 sneid
them from outside competition, but to stimulate
consumption, to create conditions conducive 10
continuous market for their labor and TO the es-
Enlistment of new fields Of employment for the
increasing population. Such conditions resuls
from the steady accumulation Of wealth Wealth
is the soil from which labor draws its support.
But wealth in turn depends entirely on the
amount Of work performed by people Of our own
country Wealth is accumulated labor, Just az
coal beds are accumulated rays Of the sun. The
labor performed by own people in year Is the
income of the nation, and what is saved at the
end of the year is our increase in wealth. III ~
any time we call in the services OF laborers IN
foreign lands 10 perform work which we could as
well perform ourselves, We reduce our income ana
consequently our wealth by just the amount we
pay those foreign laborers for their goods. An
American railroad buys 90, 600 tons of steel rails
in England at $40 ton; If our mills and WORKERS
are to that extent unemployed, the loss to the
country would be exactly 100000 When
Free Traders argue that if the rails cost $50
here and only $40 in England 1t is gaining
81, 900, 600 to buy them in England, they mistake
the railroad company for the Nation. The COM
pany gains a million dollars but that gain is the
loss of American workngmcn, and two millions
more besides. The purchase has increased Eng
lish wealth by s2,O00,00O and reduced America1
wealth by exactly that amount.
So when a man buys 81 coat for 81 in Eng'
land, which our own taors could have made, thu
buyer is s. better off. but American labor is siJ
out Of pocket Its savings at the end OF the veal
will be SIS less. Should many avail themselves
of the opportunity OF buying cheap coats In Egg
land, the American laborer'S income, In conse-
quence of his enforced deness, may not suffice to
buy for him the necessares OF life. lie may have
to fall back on former savings, and when these
are exhausted TO depend on charity or become
charge to the State, in which case the buyer OF
the coat may get rid OF the S. he made in tha
shape of taxes for the poor.
II the country keeps on buying rails and coats
and other things in foreign countries keeping us
own worlkingmen idle its yearly income Will be
come insufficient to pay the expenses OF ali us
people. Capital or former savings will have u
= I'm, loAof
is kept up long, general impoverishment and bank
ruptcy will ensue not to speak of the misery OF
the working people who are kept idle, among
whom disease will play sad havoc in consequence
of insufficient food and clothing. The Nation in
such case is on the decline; it is worsted in the
struggle for life with other nations Free Trad
ers claim that our workers need not be idle; that
they can work more cheaply and be as well of as
before, because free competition cheapens all
necessaries No doubt they will be able TO work
more ply, but the wages with which they have
to compete are insufficient TO meet all the wants
and the necessities incident to their climate
Frenchman in the South of France would live 10
plenty on earnings which would not keep an
American from actual want
The struggle for life between races is invariably
one TO the knife The fight will be carried on
down to starvation point, and those who reach
that point first Will have 10 so uhder, tnere VIII
be no pity shown and quarter given. The
slightest advantages which one nation may have
over another will be brought into play, and in
the course Of time will turn the scale. more
congenal climate, more accessible mineral re-
sources, a richer soil, larger accumulation OF
wealth, better training, all or any one of these
may in the end give the advantage TO one or the
other of competing peoples The victory will be-
long to the one which force its rival below the
point before reaching that point itself.
Protection &c home labor tends TO increase our
wealth by rendering the employment of foreign
labor Improbable Such labor in the shape OF
goods should be admitted without taxation only
if the goods are those which our own soil or
climate do not produce Sugar is produced only
in limited and insufficient quantity in the United
States, the climate being untavorable. 1t there
fore seems unreasonable TO protect il for its palk
does not represent American labor, and whatever
American labor it does represent can easl! be in-
Identified. Wool on the contrary is easily pro-
duced throughout the country, the climate favor
ing its production, and it would be foolish not 10
protect IT,
DEMOCRATIC HARMONY IN NEW YORK.