The Indianapolis journal., 1890-04-22
AN UNFORTUNATE POSITION.

A Democratic paper, in an adjoining
county, devotes a full half page opposite
the editorial page to an advertisement
of a grand barbecue at Greenfield, May
1, in honor of the opening of the Green
field iron and nail-mills, to which ex-
cursion trains will be run, and free
dinner served to all. No mention of the
event appears on the editorial page, but,
instead, good deal of the free-trade
chatter which appears in Democratic pa
pers, instead of facts and arguments.
In the news columns of the paper We find
notices of the nail-works, and the excel
lent quality of the nails; also, of the sue
cess of the glass-works, and the pros
pect of a new one. There is not an in
dustry in the vicinity which these fac
tories will not benefit. They have add
ed, and will add, to the population of
the cities and townships in which they
are located two or three hundred fami-
lies, whose heads will receive wages
which will enable them to buy literally
of the products of the farms in the vicin-
ity, whose owners will End it profitable
to give more attention to dairy prod
ucts, poultry, fruits and vegetables for
the local market created by these new
enterprises than to wheat or corn. The
owners of the land in the vicinity will
find ir to their advantage to divide it up
into lots and either put it on the market
or build houses thereon. The carpen-
ters will find abundant employment in
building houses for the people of the
new industries. In short, all who have
labor or property to dispose of will be
benefited by the new enterprises.
Everybody, except now and then a
crank, believes in them, and will make
efforts to secure them for their own
towns. If the free-trader should sug-
gest that the nails made by the factory
would cost cent a pound more than If
there was free trade, so that the nails
could be bought in England or Bel
gium, everyone of these practical people
would, in the slang of the street, say to
him, "Give us a rest; what if nails
are a cent a pound higher so
long as the nail-makers create q
home market that makes our prod
ucts and labor worth twice as much
as they would otherwise beT Put the
question of duty on nails and a nail
factory or free nails to the people in
that vicinity outside of politics, and
when the votes are counted it will be
ten to one for the factory-"the grind
ing iron monopoly" But those who have
studied the question know that nails are
cheaper because of protection, because
more nails are made, and the more made
the greater the competition and the
cheaper the price. They, know, too,
that there would be no nail factory in
Greenfield, or in Indiana, but for the
protective tariff. And SO of glass.
Without the duty which keeps out the
product of half-raid Belgian glass-mak-
ers, there would not be glass factory
in Indiana to-day, and the price would
be what the foreign makers might make
it, which experience proves might be a
third higher than it now is, Judging
from the prices in 1860 and in 1890. And
yet the Democratic organ, in the face of
the prosperity coming from the diversi-
fed Industries which the protective
tariff has stimulated in the general in
terest, continues to fill its pages with
free-trade gable and mutterines OF
mortgages and discomfort. The Cleve-
land regime has forced upon the Demo-
cratic organ what must be distasteful
policy. 1t is an unfortunate position fol-
a newspaper in growing town to be
placed in.