The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-09-01


he brings home package Of pricein
creased sugar. Now this Is from duty on
iron alone. When you add 10 this the
protection on wool, sugar, coal, lumber,
salt, and the fourteen hundred other III
ticles tina, the Morrill, tariff permits 10 levy
tribute on the natural industries OF Amer
lea, YOU can then understand that the levy
must be immense. From the swaddling
clothes of the infant, through childhood,
youth, young manhood, mature age, and
down 10 the grave, when the protected
shroud wraps the form and the protected
coffin Is lowered into the grave; 20 the last
moment when the protected spade covers
the protected coffin cover with unprotected
clods, this veritable demon of protection Is
your most constant com panion. You have
protected your iron worker one dollar II day,
Profits have 70 be made on this dollar as
well Ms on the other dollar. IL Is one dol
lar In the first instance one dollar with
interest Ia the second stage OF manufacture;
one dollar with interest, and interest on
interest In the third, and SO on, interest on
intere,t and interest on interest, compounds
ing with each new change, until the one
dollar with which you started has, under
the banetul influence Of protection, been
augmented, enlarged, increased, until AZ
the twentieth stage Of manufacture II Is
not one but ten dollars that the consumer
has to pay for the original one dollar bonus
given 70 the manufacturer.
Now these injuries are not theoretical;
these injuries are not imaginary. They
come home 10 every consumer and are felt
10 every household. They affect people
in every walk of life, and are Influential
for evil in every occupation. These are
not mere abstract questions of right and
wrong They are not mere moral guess
tons. They are indisputable facts. They
are very prominent agents In the struggle
for existence and deserve very earnest
consideration.
deny that by creating your new indus
try you have increased the demand for
labor. You have simply, by comforting on
manufacturers the authority and clothing
them with the power to tax consumers,
succeeded In inducing laborers TO abandon
more profitable emplOyments for less prof
table ones. You have organized a system
Of guerilla warfare by which the knight
of the Protected Industry. armed with the
authority of the United States, may sally
forth and exact tribute from farmer, arti
san and laborer In order that he may en-,
gage In business that Is less profitable
than other methods Of earning livlihoOd.
You have not benefited the iron worker
You have deprecated the value of farm
products by increasing, that Is, placing
fictitious value on manufactured goods,
compelling him 10 buy them and thereby
lessening the exchange value of farm pro
ducts. You have increased the exchange
value-not the amount of manufactured
goods. Your position is practically this:
John Brown Is producer, a farmer
John Brown as a result of one days work
raises six bushels of corn. John Brown
exchanges six bushels of corn for sixty
pounds of iron, Hence John Brown pro-
duces sixty pounds of iron by one days
work. BY a tariff law of the congress Of
the United States John Blown has been
Induced to turn iron miner. John Brown
now, produces direct thirty pounds of iron
In one day Sixty pounds Of unprotected
iron is worth one dollar and eighty cents
With tariff of one hundred per ceut
thirty pounds of iron Is worth one dollar
and eighty cents. Hence John Brown
with thirty pounds of protected iron is as
well off as John Brown would be with
sixty pounds of unprotected iron. This Is
your position Now hold our iron work
hut ,,,,rlo e., l,,.
Therefore the more he can produce with
given amount of work the better # will
he be By reducing the supply OF iron
one,haif you have succeeded In doubling
It's price. You have not increased the iron
workers income because, II is scarcely
necessary 10 say, that is regulated by sup
ply and demand You pay him the same
wages that he could get in other industries
You pay him no less because he wouiG
not work for you If he could get more by
working for some one else You pay him
no more because competition among work
men 10 work for you would enable you I,
get workmen al the same rate paid by
others
You have injured the iron industry b,
increasing the cost of production l.
without restrictions the iron trade Is IN
profitable, II does not make II more protita,
BILE by increasing the cost of everything
that Is necessary 70 It's production. If witt
plant free, ore is Improbable, surely
d doubling the cost Of plant is not going t,
assis, It. Doubling the cost of production
is not going 10 cheaper the output. 1ouI
principle seems to be that scarcity and not
plenty is the end 70 be attained. You hold
that II is better to halve the supply and
double the price than to halve the price
and double the supply. Pursued to it,
logical conclusion your theory IL this:
Our iron worker is a consumer. We
will call him John Smith. John Smith
needs suit of clothes, John Smith with,
nut tariff can buy pants, coat and vest for
ten dollars. John Smith with a tariff can
buy only coat of the same quality with
the same money. The only conclusion
that can bt drawn from your position is
that painless and vestless John Smith is
better off in his protected coat than he
would he In nm unprotected suit; that John
Smiths projected coat keeps John Smiths
unprotected legs warmer than sn Inpro
ected pair of pants would. Now, | hold
that John Smith works To get that suit, not
gets the suit for the privilege of working,
and that the least work that will get him
the suit Is the proper work for him to en-.
paye in The greatest returns for the least