Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-11-29
THE EyILOE RESTRICTING TRADE.

Let every reader Of The Democrat
read the following able and beautiful
plea for greater commercial freedom,
which was written by young lady of
Brooklyn:
The veneer of cultivation is very
thinl The savage in us is very near
the surfaced In fact he shows only
too plainly between the CraCksl We
are highway robbers, pirates, guerrillas
in disguise, although we call ourselves
members of polite society; but "mur-
der will out and chance expression
betrays us when we least expect it.
The word "tarin" betrays us every
day. It is a relic of the Moorish rule
in Spain, when ships were detained
mt the little town of Tarifa, southwest
of Gibraltar, and were forced to pay
heavy poll or to submit to being plum
dered Those white-winged messen-
gers of peace and plenty, that had
started forth joyously upon their way,
Were caught III the meshes of savage
net, and then were cast adrift, manned
and lifeless. DO we say how barbar-
ousl If SO we condemn ourselves.
But we are worse than the old MoOrs,
for we have crushed the life out of our
own flesh and blood, while they only
attacked foreign messengers. We
have not opened fire upon our ships,
neither have we laid torpedoes TO blow
them up, but we have fastened the
flag Of protection upon them, and
IN hae
Even Daniel Webster, in his PALMER
days, before wealthy constituents con
trolled him, foresaw The evil of serv-
ing under such flag, and sounded
solemn note of warning. If we be-
lieve in liberty of conscience, liberty
Of speech, liberty of the press, that is,
If we believe in liberty itself, as the
right of every man, t,cn we must
believe in liberty in trade. In denying
one form of liberty, we deny all; in
accepting one, we accept all. "
"Let us then have the courage of
our convictionsl Let us throw off the
manacles of protection and go forth
to meet the world with strong, free
handsl Many would then rejoice that
new spirit had come into the world,
and the question is, who would weep?
Government? THAT fiction through
which everybody expects to be helped
ut the expense of everybody else "
might shed few fictitious tears; but
we could quickly wipe those away with
a little tax wisely applied. The freest
of free traders would not object to
such governmental pocket handker-
chief, So to speak! They only object
TO furnishing such articles to the COM
munity ut large, which ought to be
able to get its own pocket handker-
chiefs. Are laborers then the ones to
weep BY no means! The free
traders would freely import the result
of foreign, "pauper labor" if you
will; but imports must be paid for.
How? BY exports, of course. Ali
then, let us fall to work; there is
much to do! In this lies the true
theory of the balance of trade" 1t
is an equilibrium of trade, and there
can be no disadvantages on either
side. II such disadvantage should
begin to arise, trade in that direction
would cease. No man is enough of
FOO, to keep giving, unless he re-
ceiVes an equivalent in return. Would
consumers in general be dissatisfied
by being made free meng mol Labor
ers and consumers would rejoice, but
the farmers would reach heights of
joy unknown by the others. The
manacles of protection are heavier
upon them than upon any other class.
Each of the other classes can make
up for the tax by taxing somebody
else; but the farmer can only tax
mother earth, and she resists with all
the weight of the globe. In surveying
the different classes of men through
our politco- economic glasses, have we
overlooked anyoneS Surely! The man
ufacturers! They would probably feel
gloomy For while, but in the end
with market enlarged, with free sup,
plies OF cotton, wool, sugar, iron, coal
etc. they would see that the cloud had
silver lining a gold lining, in fact
Then with branch establishments in
Canada, Mexico, South America, Asia
and Africa, they might consider them
selves cosmopolitan, whereas they ar,
now essentially provincial. In fac
they are so provincial that they do mo-
know it, and have even been heard K
boast sometimes! In colonial days
before we had chained ourselves up il
the dog-kennel of protection, England
was afraid We might learn to bark anC
bite for ourselves, and she tried Il
draw out all our teeth. But now tn,
second teeth are coming, and we hop,
the wisdom teeth"