The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-11-11

free trade and protection, cannot possibly be
In doubt as to the direction In which their
self interest lies. These two classes are the
importers and the manufacturers A great
many other people may be in doubt. but
these TWO classes cannot be. The business of
the importer Is to bring into the country the
products of other countries and sell them
here. The cheaper he can sell these prod
ucts the more he will sell and of course the
more ne sells the more money he will make
10 impose duty on his goods is to increase
the price at which he must sell them and so
restrict his sales. The freer the trade, there
lore, the better it is for the importer. En-
hghtened selishness makes the importer
free trader. The manufacturer, on the 9TH
er hand, is interested to have the importa-
| ton of foreign goods such as he manufac-
| lures restricted for the less foreign goods In
the market the more he will be able to sell
of his own goods. Enlightened selfshness
makes him a protectonist. The importer,
therefore, and the manufacturer, when the
question of free trade or protection is be-
fore the people will not be found voting
on the same side unless ore or the other or
both are laOoring under some delusion'
Yet it happened in the recent election, es
pecially in New England, that many manu-
facturers voted the same way as did the iln-
porters, and voted that way because they
thought it was for their business interests 10
do so. The question IL, What broughtthesa
two classes, whose interests as regards the
two revenue theories are dramatically oppO-
site. together? The answer is free raw ma
teIials. The manufacturer was told that the
Democratic party was ready to grant him
free raw materials, and at the same time pre-
serve the protection that he now enjoys on
his finished product. This was certainly an
alluring bait, and there is considerable evil
dence to show that good many manufac-
turers swallowed it. And why shouldn't
they? With his raw materials free and the
same duty as before on his finished product
of course the manufacturer would be
better off, But the manufacturer must
see that this programme would be hurtful
to the importer of manufactured goods, and
that the latter's self interest would impel
him to resist vigorously. Yet the importer
continued to vote for the party that prom
Used it. Manifestly somebody was fooled
either the importer or the manufacturer.
We have no doubt that 1t was the latter.
The importer was more far seeing than the
manufacturer. Nothing would so please the
man who is interested to remove all restric-
tions upon the importation and sale in this
market Of foreign goods as the carrying out
of the programme unfolded to the Massachu-
sets manufacturers, for he knows that it
would sound the death knell of protection.
The manufacturers advantage might last
until the next election, but then it would be
gone and with it would go all the protection
he enjoyed before, for all the producers of
| raw material-the wool growers. the miners,
the demonstrating themselves deprived
of protection would unite with the import
ers to destroy the protection of the m IL
turers. There isn't free trader in the coun-
try that seeks to destroy the protection cita-
del by general assault upon it, The favor
lite method is to undermine it by
putting raw materials on the free list.
Cleyeland's message foreshadowed this plan,
and it was at the bottom of the Mills bill
If the protective tariff is ever broken down
in this country it will be by this method.
Manufacturers are deceving themselves if
they think they can retain protection for
themselves after the producers Of the So
| called raw material are deprived of it,