St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-04


trade the bushel of wheat with
somebody else for two pounds of equally
good wool. The protecti0nist urges
that we are all brothers, and that 1T is
far better for the family to have the
Ohio wool grower or Pennsylvania mine
owner or New England manufacturer
get 50 of our money for one rather than
that we trade even with somebody else;
and, while by this kind of a deal the
Ohio or Pennsylvania or New England
man gets all the money. they urge that
it's all in the family and they will lend
it back to us if we give them good Sc.
curity. Why should not Minnesota be
permitted to -
EXCHANGE HER SURPLUS WHEAT =
for the surplus wool of some other state
without paying nearly 50 worth of wheat
for 81 worth of wool. Why should she
not be permitted to exchange her sur
plus flour for the surplus coal OF some
other state without paying at the mouth
of the coal pit two prices for the coal?
Why should she not be permitted to de-
velOp her fertile prairieS with cheap
buildings and cheap railroads instead OF
being forced to pay some bonanza manu-
fucturer elsewhere two prices for her
hardware and two prices for her
steel rails and rolling stock?
Why should she sell her wheat to. New
England for less price per bushel than
that received by the poorest pauper In.
India, and then be forced to buy the
New EnglanderS' products at % per
cent higher prices than is paid by her
pauper wheat competitors in any of the
markets of the world. The protection
list replies that these and similar lmpo-
sitions are all for the purpose OF pro-
tecting American infant industries, and
that it is largely to the benefit OF Min
nesOta as whole that some ancient but
hungry Eastern infant should get for
nothing every other bushel OF Mime,
sofas wheat, or every other dollar OF
nesota shall raise twice as much
wheat and New England manu-
facturers have twice as much money.
But it is said if protection is removed
many protected factories and mines
would close and many men be thrown
out of employment. So would whisky
soaker be Frustrated if suddenly de-
prived of whisky, and no sane man rec
Ommends either. The manufacturer
stimulated by protection and the man
stimulated with whisky must be treated
alike. They must be gradually changed
to healthier condition by fewer doses
of the stimulant, and by steadily in
creasing the natural food until they get
back to health and strength and
can stand alone and cease to be a
further charge on the community.
The first step is free raw material. We
are the only commercial nation in the
world, except sleepy Spain, that is so
foolish as to tax staple raw materials.
Begin with wool; and why should the
fo, hn
the corn and wheat, and cattle and cot
ton-grOwing farmer be left unprotected?
Next remove the rs cent-duty from
bituminous coal, which will lower the
price of such coal at least
81 a ton. The price being lower,
more will be consumed and more
being consumed, more miners will be
required to dig it out, which means
better wages or more work. But the
protectionist screams we will DE mum
dated by NOvia Scotia coal and the
American coal barons will shut up
American mines. Will they! 1t is very
apparent to any man that coal is Of no
value whatever unless dug out
and used; it doesn't cost anybody
cent to put the coal in
the mine or keep it there.
The total cost to America of ton of
coal is the simple expense of digging it
and bringing it to the mouth OF the pit
which is SO or rs cents ton. Does
any sane man suppose that the Nova
Scotia mine owner can dig ton Of coal,
transport it to the sea, load 1t on ships,
bring it to our harbors, unload it, pay
SO cents to 81 ton for every 100 miles
it travels on American railroads to the
American consumer, and do all this for
so to rs cents ton? And yet the mouth
of the American coal mine is O.
AT THE CONSUMERS DOOR y
in twenty-four of our states and terri
tories and the foreign coal owner must
deliver his coal at the month of the
American coal pit for so to rs cents
ton before he can have an even chance
with American coal. But the mine
owner! exclaims, "Where is the interest
on my Investments coal lands?" ''MY
dear sir" the consumer replies, ''you
didn't put the coal IN the pit or any one
before you, and if you take what cost
you nothing and put big val ue on it
because you calculate it would ena-
BILE you to get eXt0rtionate sums
from the American consumer, and your
calculations miscarry you are simply in
the place of any other tyrant whose
tribute from a long-suffering people has
l.
get as profit what the foreigner could
land his coal for at the mouth of your
pit, less what you pay the American
miner, and to that profit you can add
just little less than the foreigners
whole profits and thus drive him out of
the market" The American consumers
think this is profit enough on an original
investment of nothing. If a ton of
anthracite coal is worth twice as much
as ton of bituminOuS coal, and you re-
duce the cost of the latter 81, you
thereby reduce the cost of the
hard coal 50. which the American
people would heartily appreciate.
Give the American laborer, the Ameri-
can farmer and the American planter
their raw materials at what those ma
terials cost America. Give them moth
ing more except an even chance and
fair deal. Put the American travelling
man on the ocean in an American ship,
under the American flag. Give him
American cotton, and corn, and wheat,
and meat, and machinery, and boots,
and shoes, and CLOTH, anything that
has been or can be produced or manu-
featured to advantage in America, and
if the intelligence, ingenuity and in
dustry of our wOrkmen, with all the in
centiVes and advantages of American
liberty, cannot furnish the supplies, and
the American travelling man, that phe-
nomenOn of free country, cannot sell
them, $40 to 81 that we buy from the
pauper labor of Europe, then, and
only then, is it time for us to sit supinely
down, as protection is forcing us to do
now. fold our hands, let the cobwebs
crow upon our splendor, put our labor
ana cur liberty under the protection of
American monopolists, let every petty
trader in Christendom supply our
neighborS with what we are anxious to
sell, sit idly on our great seaboards and
wait for the few Improbable customers
who only come to us as last resort,
Then, and then only, could we listen
without shame and without Indignation
to the report of one of our countrymen
that he lived for over year in one of