The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-03-22
Reply to Common Sense.


article is all lies, and would not pub
lish it, and the democrats are angry
at his conduct. The following Is the
article condemned as lies:
Mr.. EDIToR-Well, the word com
mon sense" is good in its place. 1t
means common honesty, and that is
what We honest people want in the
19th:century. Now, Mr.. &c. S.,"when
you flare up to the public about a
trust that is run by democrats, do you
think for moment that will cover a
trust that Is run and owned by repub-
leans? Now is the time we want
common sense. l cannot stOOp down
low enough to argue on such things;
that is only splitting phlegm at one
another. am compelled to state that
no law made by men can stop trusts
unless they limit mans wealth, and
to think any party can pass any such
law, is folly to think of.
History repeats itself: and we are
here to-day demonstrating with our
government for its wrongful interfer-
ence with our private business, de-
pressing our industries, paralyzing our
labor, impOveriShing our people and
cutting off our foreign trade; and to-
day we say to Mr.. Common Sense and
Mr.. Republican, as our fathers said to
King George and Lord North, You
have no right to close our ports. If
restricting the purchase and sale Of
our home product to American mar
kets stimulates industry, cheapens
productions and increases wealth and
wages, why would it not be a wise
policy to apply the principle to each
one of the state? If it is productive of
good to forty-twO states, it ought to
be good to each one of them. 1t Is a
question of political economy, not one
of patriotic sentiment. If the princi-
pie is correct, it will apply to small
community as well as a large one.
Why not carry it out to it's logical con-
clusiOn, and have a Chinese wall
around each state and stimulate it to
build up its industries, increase its
wealth, give better employment and
higher wages to its own people? Let
Massachusetts, 60 to raising coffee and
tea and cotton, and oranges, lemons
and pears, and, what would be still
better, let each county wall itself in
and foster and encourage the develop
ment of all branches of industry and
Dc luucpcuucuU diu oCll-ouoluihiIiS'
Let the people within each township
trade only among themselves and
bring the home market home.
The perfection of the principle would
be to wall every man unto himself and
then foster and encourage him to de-
velOp his resources, increase his wealth,
give better employment to himself,
and higher wages to himself. In a
short time he would be sufficiently de-
velOped to raise his own wheat. corn,
beef, and hogs, manufacture his own
cloth, make his own clothes, and his
shoes. dig his own potatoes, set his
own hens, and drive out the dogs.
This policy means that man rises to
the highest happiness when he expends
the largest amount of labor and OBJ
tainS the least amount of product.
When followed to its last analysis it
is perpetual work and no product.
The best home market is the one
into which is admitted the largest i'm
portation. because the largest impor
tatiOn means to trade with the world,
and that means active demand for
articles exported, and that means in
creased price. and that means increas-
ed wealth distributed among the con-
Sumers; and when our country is
walled in by a Chinese fence or BOs
ton port bill, or Morrill, tariffs, impor-
tatiOn will be shut off. That shuts
off expectation: that throws down the
price of agricultural product, and that
brings the masses to poverty and that
brings lower wages which brings blight
and mildew on the land.
AS to steel When steel rails
were first made in England, they were
sold at $3.50 per ton. If steel rails are
sold here today for $50 per ton or as
cheap as in England. why do you want
them to be protected If steel works
are built to-day when steel is only $50
per ton, could they not build steel
shops when that same article was $3.50
a ton? This looks like you are some
what tangled.
How about our republican senator
who is trying to get our law-making
department at Washington to pass a
bill to this amount: to loan money at
two per cent and take mortgages on
real estate. That means to give the
rich farmers chance to buy all the
land on Gods green fOotstOol, and
make a brokers' Office Of the United
States Treasury also to bring the
white masses to slavery. You may
ask how that will take place. Why,
every year that those rich farmers hold
their land they would add two per
cent to the profit which they ask, and
i'm the course of few years no poor
man could buy one foot of western
land, and then they would have to
make up their minds 10 be hirelingS
all the days Of their lives. There seems
to be seven devils in every rich man,
and all try to Cypress the poor. If
had not been already convinced of the
evils of protection, Mr.. l.. RS logic
would have been sufficient to convince
me, he having proved so conclusively
that protection is fraud and rob
berry that the tariff is tax upon the
masses for the benefit of few manu-
facturers that the tariff is an enemy
of the wage worker. Mr.. l.. Rohrer
draws the conclusion that anything
more than a tariff for revenue is I'M
necessary and unjust.
But |, having been convinced that a
protective tariff is unjust, have also
been convinced that tariff for rev.
enue is unjust also. VIII not Mr.. |
Common Sense admit that the tariff |