Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-02-09
IRONTON MO-, THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 9. 1888.

n
magic a new world sprang into exist
ence, with every manner of diversified
industry. All that the advocates O.
protection claim for their theory was
realized substantially under free trade
and in an incredibly short period o
time. Yet the gold-digger neither ask.
ed nor obtained protection against 1.-THE
pauper labor of Europe" and in the
subsequent outcry against Chinese
cheap labor the protectionist idea. as
we are used to hearing it, cut no figure
whatever. Diversified industries and
high-priced food are the results not OF
tariff laws, but Of the concentration ol
masses of people at given points fav-
urable to commerce and manufacturers,
Which spring from the concen tration,
and not the concentration from them.
The protectionists confuse cause and
effect. They claim every thing for their
dogma, and allow nothing TO nature.
No one has given more graphic illus
tration of this state of confusion than
Mr.. Henry George. Thus:
Here in substance, is the argument which
has been addressed to the people of the
United States from The time when we became
a nation to the present day: Manufacturing
countries are always rich countries. Coun-
tries that produce only raw materials are
always poor Therefore, if we would be
rich, W. must have manufacturers; we must
encourage them.
''TO many this argument seems plausible,
especially as the taxes for the encourage
ment' of the protected industries are levied
in such way that their payment is not real
iZed. But | could make as good an argu-
ment to the people of the little town of ia
maica, near which am now living, in support
of a subsidy to theatre. l could say to
them:
"sAll large cities have theatres, aud the
more theatres it has, the larger the city.
Look at New York: New York has more
theatres than any other city in America, and
is consequently the greatest city in America
Philadelphia ranks next to New York in the
number and size of its theatres, aad there
fore comes next to New York in population
and wealth. So, throughout the country,
whenever you find large, well-appointed
theatres, you will find large and prosperous
towns, while where there are no theatres the
towns are small. Is it any wonder that Ja-
maica is so small and grows so slowly when
it has no theatres at all? People do not like
to settle in a place where they can not oc
casionally go to the theatre. If you want
Jamaica to thrive, you must take steps to
build a fine theatre, which will attract large
population. Look at Brooklyn: Brooklyn
was only a small riverside village before its
people had the enterprise to start theatre,
and see now, since they began to build thea
tres, how large city Brooklyn has becOme.'
"Modelling my argument on that address
ed to American voters by the Presidential
candidate of the Republican party in 1884, /
might then drop into statistics and point
to the fact that when theatrical representa-
tions first began in this country, its popula-
tion did not amount to million; that twas
totally destitute of railroads, and without
single mile of telegraph wire. Such has
been our progress since theatres were intro
= 0cl,o IL tat
we had 80, ,155,7S3 people, 97,9o7 miles of rail-
road, and 291 ,212 9-10 miles of telegraph
wires. Or might go into greater detail, as
the protectionist statisticians are accustomed
to do. | might take the date of the building
of each of the New York theatres, give the
wealth and population of the city at that
time, and then by representing the statistics
of population and wealth few years later,
show that the building of each theatre had
been followed by marked increase in pop
ulation and wealth.
AZ might point out that San Francisco had
not theatre until the Americans came there.
and was consequently but struggling viii
lage, that the newcomers Immediately set
up theatres and maintained them more gem
erously than any other similar population in
the world, and that the consequence was the
marvellous growth of San Francisco. /
might show that Chicago and Denver and
Kansas City, all remarkably good theatre
towns, have also been remarkable for their
rapid growth, and, as in the case OF New
York, prove statistically that the building of
each theatre these cities contain has been
followed by an increase Of population and
wealth.
Then, stretching out after protectionist
fashion into the historical argument, [ might
refer to the fact that Nineveh and Babylon
had no theatres that we know of, and so
went to utter ruin; dilate upon the fond
ness of the ancient Greeks for theatrical en-
tertainments conducted at public expense.
and their consequent greatness in arts and
arms: point out how the Romans went even
further than the Greeks in their encourage
ment of the theatre, and built at public cost
the largest theatre in the world, and how
Rome became the mistress of the nations.
And to embellish and give point to the ar
gument might, perhaps, drop into poetry,
recalling Bvron's lines,
when falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
And when Rome falls-the world
Recovering from this, might cite the fact
that in every province they conquered, the
Romans established theatres, as explaining
the remarkable facility with which they ex-
tended their civilization and made the con-
quered provinces integral parts of their great
empire: point out that the decline of these
theatres and the decay of Roman power and
civilization went on together; and that the
extinction went on together; and that the
extinction of the theatre brought on the
night of the Dark Ages. Dwelling then
upon the rudeness and ignorance of
might trlumphantly point to the beginning
of modern civilization as contemporaneous
with the revival of theatrical entertainments
in miracle-playS and court Mosques. And
showing how these plays and masaues We're
always supported by monasteries. munich
paities, and princes, and how places where
they began became sites of great cities, |
could laud the wisdom of encouraging in
FAINT theatricals.' Then in the fact that Eng
lish actors until recently, STYLED themselves
l. 3 fHnf tIa<I In,. 4
Chamberlain still has authority over the
English boards, and must license plays be
fore they can be acted, l could trace to
national system of substituting infant theat-
ericals the foundation of Engand's tgreat-
ness. Coming back to our own times, |
could call attention to the fact that Paris,
where theatres are still subsidized and actors
still draw their salal les from the public
treasury, is the worlds metropolis of fashion
and AIT, steadily growing in population and
wealth, though other parts of the same o0un
try which do not enjoy subsidized theatres
are either at n stand-stiIl or declining. And
finally could point to the astHteness of the
Mormon leaders, who early in the settlement
of Salt Lake built a spacious theatre, and
whose little village in the sage brush, then
hardly as large as Jamaica, has since the
building of this theatre grown to be popu-
lous and beautiful city, and Indignantly ask
whether the virtuous people OF Jamaica
should allow themselves 10 be outdone by
wicked p0lygamistS.
ffTf such an argument would not induce
the JamaIeans to tax themselves to senoour-
age' theatre, would 1t not at least be as
logical as arguments that have induced the
American people to tax themselves to en-
courage manufacturer
In this may be seen an exposure, as
complete as 1t is felicitous, of the fallacy
that manufactures make great cities
with their diversified employments and
THAR onpSunpfi0n of bigb Dricp1 food
which the distant farmer, who gains
rod