Wichita eagle., 1888-06-14
PROTECTION VS.. FREE TRADE.

A writer In the Beacon whose mind
seems to be warped by the attention
which he gives to English free trade
theories, because he cannot agree with
certain conclusions which / arrived at
years age. calls me crank, idiot, ass, bigot,
liar and other endearing expressions
which force me to the conclusion that a
person can be Democrat without being
a gentleman. I now reiterate the fact,
which / asserted in my letter to the
EAGLE, that the product OF American
furnaces decreased after the low tariff OF
1916 went into operation. and the price
of pig iron as well as iron rails increased.
We We're making 200, 900 tons OF pig iron
a year and the product was forced down
by low duties to 100000 tons. The
average price of iron rails in 1854 was
$50. 12 1-2 per gross ton in Philadelphia,
therefore was justified in asserting that
the silly American sheep was sheared,
and the high prices were paid TO foreign
ers who pay no taxes TO our government,
nor fight the battles of.our country. Plg
iron went up in price from SCI rs III
1916 to $50 rs in 1854. Is 1t not hui
initiating fact that with all the resources
which natures God has blest us with we
did not make a million tons OF iron a
year until 1854 under protective tariff:
1ns1S69 we reached nearly two million
tons; in 1851 quote the exact figures
we reached 4,529, 1863 tons; IN 1856 we
reached the enormous figures OF $780,
1928 tons, and in 1887 we increased the
output to 7,1S7 ,206 tons. These figures
show what protection can do IN giving
employment to our own people and III
preserving the best market in the world
| the American market-for Americans.
Now the question may be asked, Did
the price of iron advance under the pro-
tective tariff of 1861? certainly not, ex-
cept during the inflated prices created
by the war. In 1S47, under low tariff,
bar iron Is quoted at $50 ton; IN 1887,
under protective tariff, home competl-
ton reduced the price TO $40. % per ton.
These figures show that protection Is the
great factor in the development OF our
resources that it gives diversified en-
ment to our people, thereby creating a
home market for the products of our
farms, and keeps at home millions of
money, which would otherwise be sent
abroad to pay for the products of foreign
mines and factories.
Take for instance the price we paid
England for Bessemer steel until we en-
gagged in its manufacture. Previous to
1867 we paid $3.50 ton; not pound was
made in America, and we were COM
pletely in the power of English manu-
facturers. A few enterprising Ameri-
cans engaged in the manufacture OF
steel rails, and duty OF $2S ton was
placed on the foreign article, and in 1872
home competition reduced the price to
SIP a ton. In 1876 American ingenuity
lowered the price to less than $50, and in
1882 when the duty was still SSS ton
thev sold for $50 ton. Should not facts
like these open the eyes of any intelligent
man to the ruin that awaits QUE material
progress if the Cleveland cyclone of free
trade is permitted to bring desolation to
land that received a
triple baptism of blood to secure
for us independence and union?
Our independence is not complete until
our industrial and financial, as we'll as
our political system, is different from
the English system, which pauperlZes
the many for the benefit of the few.
Of all our agricultural productions 90
per cent is consumed at home, and per
cent is sent abroad to compete with the
products of India, where labor is OBJ
tanned for and s cents a day without
board. Let free traders and tariff-for-a
revenue-reformers talk of the markets of
the world; we farmers know from bitter
experience that foreign markets are not
worth seeking The American market
IL. L 81 FL,
eigners know it and are making hercu
lean efforts to control it. Instead OF
lowering the duties on the products OF
the mine, factory and farm we should
unite to increase them. Farmers are in
the same boat with the manufactures,
There was imported into the United
States for the year ending June 30, 1886,
not including coffee. tea, sugar and mo-
lasses, $4,000, 900 worth of farm pro-
ducts. Why is it necessary to import
more than 81 100000 worth of hay into
this country? Why should we pay
SIS, 900, 900 in one year for foreign bread
stuffs? Why do we pay more than
s., 100000 to Denmark, Norway and
Sweden for eggs? Because we have to
contend with the cheap labor of other
countries, and we demand an increase of
protection as well as the manufacturer.
With the rapid strides America Is max
ing in all manufacturing industries, it
will take but a few years until all our
agricultural products will lind home
market at prices that will be as far above
European prices as American wages is
above European wages. The benefits we
derive from protection may be inferred
from the fact that there is not single
manufactured article but is cheaper to-
day under protective tariff than 1t was
in 1860 under low tariff. Previous to
1860 there was no earthen ware made In
this country. England supplied us with
crockery; she fixed the price and'we had
to pay it, but by means of protective
duty of So per cent we encouraged our
home manufacturers until crockery of
many descriptions is selling here for less
than IN England. You can buy today
more crockery for $3.50 than you could
buy for "a in 1860 before we had pro-
tective tariff.
The London Times commenting on the
hopes of the members OF the Golden
club to subdue America in 1880 says:
1.-The object of its statesmen Is not to
secure the largest amount OF wealth for
the country generally, but to keep up,
by whatever means, the standard of
comfort among the working classes"
When this Tory organ Is forced TO con-
fesS that our protective tariff keeps up
the standard of comfort among the
wealth producers it seems strange that
any workingmen can be found among
Engiand's allies in this country speaking
and writing in favor of policy which
would lower the standard of comfort of
the class to which we belong and force