The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-09-27
IRIsH-AMERICANs AND FREE
TRADE

Whether any'English journal ever de.
clared that "the best use England could
make Of an Irishman was TO send him
to America to vote for free trrde" ia dis
puted by Democratic organs, but the
fact that every free-trade vote does
serve England and injure America is
self.evident. Well. the Irish-Americau
Is here, but according to the present
outlook he is not going to vote the way
England wants him to. Ireland never
was for free trade, as some advocates Of
that doctrine have represented. The
Irish Parliament legisated for the pro-
lection of home industries. 1t taxed
British products without hesitation.
What Ireland claimed was protection.
The Act of Union of 1900 provided for
absolute free trade between Great Bri-
tain and Ireland at the expiration of
twenty years. O'Connell, in 1874, re-
telrlD9 to the time when Ireland legis-
lated for the protection of her own in
dustries and was prosperous, made the
following contrast:
How does the case stand at present?
You all know too well. When we ex-
ported G3 500, 900 of manufactured goods
you are aware that a very large proper
tion of that amount consisted of wages
paid to the laborers and artisans en-
ployed, and that money was again ex-
pended with the farmer and the shop
keeper, and thus went on increasing
comfort and prosperity throughout the
whole country. But, alas! what is the
case now? Wretchedness and misery
prevail where wealth and happiness
once had their abode.
Free trade has been the leading policy
of the last half-century in Great Britain.
1t includes all the years of the Victorian
era. During these years the condition
OF Ireland has been one of decline, poy-
erty and misery. Ireland protected her
own industries, and was attaining
good degree of prosperity when her pol.
ICY OF Prot ctlon was exchanged for
Free Trade. In Mulhalra Fifty Years
of National Progress" recently publish
ed, this statement is made:
The present reign has been the most disastrous
20 ireland since that Of Elizabeth, as the follow.
ing statistics show:
D ed Of famine 4 225 OO0
Number of emgrants. nts.......,.......... 4 Is6OOO
sunni Der evcted from 1852 TO 1860 ....... 10000
Number evicted from 1861 to lS7O.... 100000
Number evicted from 1871 to 1886. 72SOOO
The number ofpersons evicted is equal to rs per
cent OF the actual population, No country in
Europe or elsewhere has suffered such wholesale
determination.
These and other facts 90 far to ac-
count for the present attitude of Irish.
Americans in relation to free trade in
this country. They read in English pa
pers that the policy of the present Ad-
mlnlstration is one tending to harmon
lze with that of Great Britain. From
the English point of view, the best use
that can be made of evicted IrIshmen
and all others fleeing from their homes
is to send them over to this country to
do battle for free trade. The more this
element OF the voting population is con-
trOnted with the tariff question, the
more it will show its aversion to pol-
ICY associated with so much distress at
home. Leading English papers make
distinct avowal that the issue in this
country is one between protection and
free trade, and for that reason it is of
great Importance that the present Ad-
mlDistration should be continued in
power,
When the IrishsAmerIcan voter ia
asked whether he wants to substitute
the free-trade policy of Great Britain
for the protection of American indus.
tries, he generally has but one answer.
He is fairly prosperous here under pro-
lection, He was not prosperous under
the opposite system. The contrast is
one which he is not likely to forget,
He came over to find a country where
labor was better paid and the lot of the
workingman was vastly better in every
respect than it was in Ireland. The
man who has made practical test of
the two systems in that way cannot be
argued out of his convictions. He
knows some things by bitter experience.
All the free-trade orators in the country
cannot now ensnare him or take him
captive. There was time when Irish
Americans voted solid with the Demo-
cratic party. 1t then pretended to be
party of protection. But they are now
face to face with new issues. They are
asked to choose between two policies,
one of which IL proclaimed by the
Democratic party and made acceptable
to Great Britain and the other ia ac-
ceptable to the industrial forces of this
country. The Irish-American voters do
not appear to be hesitating about the
francisco Bulletin.