The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-02-11
HOW PROTECTION PROTECTS.

HUW L nv LIZ
Il is II tavoritc assertion with pro
tectionisls that Il protective tarlu always
results, by competition, in cheapening
;he product to the extent of the amount
ot the tax imposed. This proves too
much, tor If il were true il wonid, the
American article being manufactured
aud sold AS cheap as the foreign, do
away with the necessity for the pro
lection. This the pr~otectionlsts will
not grant. We will concede that aitera
protective tax is laid il stimulates
manufacture OF the article protected,
often unduly SO. Then comes over
production, because the sale Is limited
by the tariff to our own country, Il
glutted market, II collapse OF prices
and-ruin Or trusts.
What Is a trustr
A corporation is an association OF
individuals to enable them &c combine
their capital 10 do something. A trust
is an association OF corporations To
do something's Not always. Ere
quently to enable them to make more
money by lying idle han they could by
working Now this lying idle does
not produce anything; the consumer
does not get anything yet he pays the
partners in u trust a big pile OF money
just as If he did. Is that fairI Is it
honest? Is it American? mol
Mr.. Plat, in his ill-tempered and
irl-mannered attack upon the president
in the senate, last Monday, wanted to
know if Mr.. Cleveland had ever heard
of the manufacture of steeli Did he
know that the duty OF steel rails was
81 a ton and that steel rails have been
sold in the United States rs low as
S2s so. That made the price without
duty) Sll 30 a ton, and steel rails
could not be bought abroad at less than
double that price. or practically so.
Why did not Senator Platt tell the
| "uOiO stOi what tuSC IC pIlCC
of steel rails? Was it the TARIFF MIR.
Plat knows that il was not. While
The price was going down in this
country ii also went down in England,
a free trade country, and for the same
csuse. 1t was inventive genius thai
reduced their price, the discovery O
methods by which they could be made
for less and less money.
One would think from Mr.. Piatt's
remarks that steel rails were selling
now at 1928 81 per ION. Instead of thai
the price is over $40 per ton. Abou,
two years ago, yielding to the
legitimate sbrinkage in theil
cost steel rails did sell a.
low as S2s so, ever lower, at $27 pei
ton. This stimulated the demand
Old roads wanted them TO renew
their tracks. New roads were pro
iected, and a general and genuine stim
illus was given to railroad building
The eleven projected steel rail mills o,
the country thought they saw Il har'
vest. They formed the Bessemer Stee
Association, a trust, and they forced
the price Of steel rails up to $40 pei
ton. There was 40 good reaso fol
1t labor was no higher; ore was jus
a. plentiful and cheap; they Themselves
made the 1927 or S2s price, now boastet
of by their representative in the sen,
ate, but they had the power by effect
ing a combine" a crust to rob tn
people of the difference between 80
and $40, or Sl2, on every Ion OF .tee
sold to railroads in this country.
Who pays this immense sam o
money! According to the funny Mr.
Frye 1t Is the manufacturer, we sup
pose; but az q matter OF fact it is tn
shipper, the producer of cereals who's
price is regulated In Liverpool, not b.
the home market as Is alleged; and tn
consumer of manufactures. Thus |
the farmer plucked both ways. Tn
Bessemer steel trust is like the darkey'
coon trap, "set 10 kotch goin' ALI
comm - aud so it is with the sugs
trust. the iron trust, the coal trust, an,
all the rest OF them. The people O
the country begin to see how The thin
works, and that is all that Is necessar
to start the tidal wave that Puck s.
! wildly pictured recently as overwhelm
ing Mr.. Randall and all the other gen
1 tlemen who contend for special pri,
I ileges Tor the few against the right
I and interests OF the many. 1t is th
high tariff which fosters these trust
and III articles hat would have to mes
foreign competition u tariff fairly pre-
| ~tective, but low. would render theI
impossible.