Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-31
COTTON BATTING.
William Williams Filled
Full Of It.
THE times" REJECTS A LETTER.
The Ultra Protective Tariff Policy
Picked Neatly to Pieces by
Republican.

EDITORS HERALD: | sent the following
note and communication to the Times
but that paper rejected the same without
comment. send it to you and hope
you can find room for it in the HERALD
J. H. G.
MONDAY, August 27, 1883.
EDITOR Times: 1 enclose herewith a
communication in form addressed to
Hon. Mr.. Williams, because he presents
the Republican side of the great issue
more tersely and forcibly than any writer
or speaker have yet followed.
realize fully, 1 think, the value oi
his time now, but these matters seem to
be so on his fingers ends that maybe he
will answer and not feel the loss.
am the author of this and refer to
myself only. Very respectfully,
J. H. CoTToN.
AN OPEN LETTER TO HON. WILLIAM WILLIAMS.
MY DEAR SIR: AS an original and
ardent Republican, one who voted the
Republican Presidential ticket from Lin
coin to Blaine, and who carried gun in
defense of the Union during the late Re-
bellion, come to you, as representa-
tive protectionist, with a few questions,
which, unanswered, stand in my road
barring my vote for the Republican
ticket under the issue Of protective
tariff"
First Suppose that all civilized ma
tions should simultaneously adopt "Free
Trade" and carry it out in good faith,
what would be the effect on American
wage-workers
Second Suppose that each of the sew
eral States of the American Union should
pass and enforce high protective tariff
laws each against the other, what would
be the effect on the wage workers of the
several States?
Third. If our National protective tariff
is the cause of better pay (higher wages)
to American wage-workers than is re-
ceived by wage-workers of unprotected
countries, why is it that the wages paid
in protected Industries are not uniform
throughout the United States? If pro-
lection is the cause, why do iron wage
workers in California receive so much
higher wages than do the iron wage
workers of Pennsylvania?
Fourth. Does the enactment and en-
forcement of a high protective tariff law
multiply the number of mouths to be fed
or bodies to be clothed. Does protection
increase our population in the aggregate Z?
Would there not be exactly as many
mouths to feed and bodies to clothe un-
der free trade as under a protective
policy?
Fifth. Under which policy are
trusts" and other monopolies most
likely to flourish in the building of
gigantic fortunes by the few to the
consequent impoverishment of the many,
under protection or free trade?
Sixth. If you know of any manufac-
turers in the United States under any
of the protected industries who divide
their profits with their wage-workers,
will you be kind enough to give full sta
tistics Of the same?
Permit me to add that it is the opinion
of very many voters that this issue of a
protective tariff or non-protective tariff
involves questions of the highest possible
moral and political ethics, and no mere
legal quibbling, however beautifully
clothed in oratdrical speech, will satisfy
the public political pulse or the questions
of the plebeian thinker.
In this it resembles the question of
slavery before the war of the rebellion.
No mere quibbling, appeals to Missouri
compromises or Dred Scott decisions were
of any avail then; they appealed to the
"higher law" written in human hearts.
And so must it be in the discussion of
this question. Political clap-trap fre-
quently wins the applause of the multi
tude, but seldom leads the thinker to q
satisfactory conclusion.
That form of social and political ethics
which makes a financial millionaire a
possibility, is not built upon the plan of
"The greatest good of the greatest num-
ber," and is therefore repugnant to this
central thought of Democratic Re-
public.
Wishing only to draw out, through the
public press, the very best possible pre-
sentation of this important issue, so that
an earnest conviction, born of intellig-
ence, shall accompany every offered bal
lot in the coming Presidential election,
am very truly,
CITIZEN.
FINANCE AND TRADE.