Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-07-20
products lust what we now have !:

for labor would be reduced 25 per cent,
as production would have to be re-
duced to the needs of the home
market. The supply of labor would
be the same as now and constantly in
creasing Wages would therefore fall
enormously. while the cost of living
would be greatly increased. The con-
/ dition of American labor would be as
pitiful as that of the fellah of Egypt or
the ryot of India; and all because We
had rejected the '.delusion of for
eign market in favor of this pauper-
izing protective system.
Let us take still another step for
ward. Let us imagine the realization
of this protective system in its full
ness, and in that Mr.. Mckinley is
/ candid and clear, that the system pro-
tects only as it excludes foreign pro
ducts. Let US suppose all manufac-
/ tured products are excluded, then as
Mckinley says by buying "more
American merchandise and less of
/ foreign make, manufacturers at home
will run the year round and labor will
be suitably rewarded and steadily en-
ployed." Internationally 1 wish to call
| the readers attention to the fact that
this high priest of protection inadver-
IDENTIFY admits that protected as it is
labor is not now SUITABLY rewarded
and steadily employed.'O Let us sup
pose that we buy no merchandise of
foreign make, how long could we sell
our agricultural products in foreign
markets? Last year we sold over five
hundred and tWenty-three millions of
farm products in foreign markets If
we bought nothing it would all have
to be paid for in money. How long
could Europe continue to pay us
annually five hundred millions in
money! She could not pay for the
products Of single year, without
producing overwhelming financial dis
aster. Money settles only the balance
of trade. 1t does and can do nothing
else. All trade is the exchange of
products. No man or nation can con-
tinue to buy unless he has something
to sell. Ii we bought no merchandise
of foreign make we could have no
foreign market for our farm products,
because foreign nations could not con-
tinue to buy of us unless they could
sell us something in exchange. This
would bring us to the recent condition
of China when all foreign trade was
absolutely prohibited and we all
know how that system protected Chi
neSe labor. To the extent of our
needless tariffs we are protecting
American labor in the same way. 1t
is system which results, and of nee
essity must result here and everywhere
in workers without work-in limited
employment and low wages in petri-
flying industrial conditions and social
castles, making the poor slaves to their
poverty and securing to the rich all
that labor adds to the wealth of the
world. A system whose natural re-
suits in China has produced a degra-
dation so great that contact with it is
rightly regarded as national danger
as menace to our civilization. 1t is
a system which goes back to the mid
die ages for its justification and war
rant when it was held that a country
helped itself only as it hurt the com
merce and trade of another. But its
application and effects as felt upon the
continent of Europe are forcing the
conclusion upon the deepest thinkers
of the old world that nations re-
Straint of trade is self-inhicted harm.
Austria was the first to inaugurate the
system upon the continent, and we
find her prime minister declaring not
long ago that the European states,
by their present retaliatory tariffs, are
doing themselves more injury than the
most unrestricted international com
petition could possibly intlict."
The truth Of this conclusion is
strikingly illustrated by the fact that
the greatest ratio Of wealth and for
eign commerce to the population is
found in the two nations which have
not imposed restrictions upon trade
with other nations, England and HoI-
land. BY not seeking to harm others
they have most helped themselves.
The per capita wealth of Great Britain
in 1890 was Sl245; of Holland 1920;
of the United States $500. The ratio
of foreign commerce to the population
was in Holland $3.50; iii Great Britain
SOL; in the United States $50. Hol-
land doubled her per capita wealth
from 1860 to 1880, while in the United
States the increase for the same time
was only little over 60 per cent.
England has steadily increased her
share of the worlds trade during the
first five years of the present decade,
and that, too, with nations whose tar
ifs were most hostile and intended for
her harm. While the United States
during the same period has suffered
a decrease of the exports of cattle, 35.S
per cent; of beef products, III per
cent, and of pork products 35 per cent;
and our total exports in 1887 were less
by 100 millions than our exports in
1880 Is it to be wondered that the vast
army of the unemployed and discon-
tented in this country is being recruited
at such a fearful rate, when we restrict
production to the wants of our own
feople, producing only what We our
selves consume? Increasing our work