St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-27
PRoHIBIToRY TARIFFS
Only Justifiable in the Emergen-
cies of War or Some Other Dis
aston

POSSANAO OLAtl NOu LldS uOh OCDllO
to ask if in my opinion it is unsound
and unjust for a nation to impose tariffs
that are prohibitory in any instance
upon the products of other states, and
thereby increase the price of those prod
ucts to those demanding them. If such
a question is asked, my answer must be
tnat 10 impose such a tariff upOn articles
tnat enter into natural and necessary
personal and individual consumption of
the mass of the people, can never be
JuStlhed except by the emergencies of
Waror some other cause thatreQuireS rev.
enue for the preservation of the national
institutions. Among these articles l have
In mind almost exclusively food and
clothing. And if the whole race of
man as 1T now exists upon the earth,
the whole 1,200, 600. 600 could be brought
forward at once and placed on an equal
footing, with like habits and conditions,
my answer would be the same as to all
articles of use or commerce. But TAX
Ing the race as we find it to-day, and
considering that it is the duty OF every
nation to reach the highest standard of
development, to open up every fruitful
held of industry, and to provide, indie
pendently of other states, all the sup
plies possible which are demanded for
the consumption of its people, cases can
easily be imagined where it is not only
JuStlhable, but where, so far as the alb
Stract question is concerned. a sound
pnblic policy would absolutely demand
that certain commodities from other ma
tons should be excluded from its mar
ketS. An example is afforded in the
case of iron. The largest quantity of
ore, and the best on the planet. is found
IN this country. Say it requires eight
men one day, or eight days work,
to take from the native bed a ton of
this ore and convert it into Bessemer
steel rails. Now, consider that in a
foreign country there is the same kind
OF ore, and the same number of days
work are required to mine and convert
1t into the same useful product. If the
eight days work are paid for at S1.50
IN this country and SO cents a day in
the foreign country, the difference in
cost is IS a ton. arising wholly from the
difference in cost and value of labor.
Now, If the fact is left out of considera-
ton that ~nOn-residentS and foreigners
HAVE II RIGHT
TO come in freely and make this COM
pensatlon, we arrive at the conclusion
that a large field of industry is opened,
that the excess that is paid for labor in
this country is expended therein. and
that by this system the national wealth.
its production, is increased and the
public welfare promoted. Many in dus-
tries might be likewise effected and
created. But the graveSt question con-
nected with this subject, is raised from
the fact that this legislation is ardu-
Ously sought for, and obtained and con-
trolled by private instead of public in
tereSts; that the spirit which originates
1t Is the horse-leech. which always utters
the same cry, 'Give! giyer' and will
never let go until forced by some cOnvul-
sion of society, that prostrates alike the
highest welfare Of all classes. That
there is no unmiXed good in the world
must be admitted, and that upon nearly
all great questions concerning the state
we are driven to a choice of evils, and
that, when we consider the advantages
that are derived from the practical Op-
erations of the protective principle on
the one side, and the increased want
and untold evils and suffering resulting
from the increased avarice, SelfiShnesS
and corruption produced and fostered
on the other side, the cleareSt and most
conservative minds are the most patriotic
citizens are disposed to seriously tues
ton whether or not. all things cOHSid-
eeed, the evils resulting from such laws
are not greater than the good, and TO
settle down to the conclusion that the
tariff for revenue as its primary object.
with such Incidental protection as must
IN the very nature of things be afforded
thereby. is the only sound public pol
icy. That national wealth under ordi-
nary conditions is a blessing, must be
conceded by all: but when considered
with reference to tine question involved
in this discussion, the manner and eX-
tent of
ITS DISTRIBUTION
among the people is a far more impor-
tant matter. Wealth is power, but all
power is q power to do evil as we'll as
good, and when a nation has pursued a
system, the inevitable tendency and
effect of which is to collect its Surplus
wealth in the hands of a few men,
the result almost uniformly is that the
condition of the great mass of the peo-
pie is made worse instead of better
thereby. The difference between not
having wealth and not having it fairly
distributed among the people of a ma
ton is but slight, as not having
any circulating medium and hay-
ing a medium that does not circu-
late is In practical effect about
the same thing. All revenue laws. and
especially all protective tariff laws.
must in the very nature of things tend
to and effect the concentration of the
wealth of thy country in the hands of a
comparatively few people. This tend
ency Of our time is immensely agra
waited by our corporation laws and the
manner in which they are admin
istered, as well as by the in
creased facilities of transportation,
whereby the products of agriculture are
gathered from vast areas into a very
few cities and there prepared for food.
So that every sound policy requires that
all laws should be such as most strongly
tend TO keep the business and wealth of
the country distributed among the mass
of the people as far as possible. 1t is
upon this point that all governments
n states, all statesmen and phiIOso-
pliers. have failed. No nation yet has
ever evolved a system of laws that did
not tend to make the distance between
the highest and most favored class of
the people by nature, and the lowest
n most unfortunate greater instead of
less than it had been made by nature.
although the great end and aim Of
human governments has been, and is,
to diminish this distance. The percent
age of the poorer and oppressed
classes to the whole population
has always increased with the age
and growth of states. ard all
nations have been compelled to adopt a
single method of relief that was adopted
by Moses when he fled with the chill
dren of Israel from their state of bond
age. Emigration and colonization have
have always been and continue to be
THE ONLY REMEDY.
This was the remedy of Egypt, of
Thrace and Macedonia, and of all the
states of Greece a THOUSAND years be-
fore the Christian era. The impover-
ished and degraded classes of Italy and
Rome found relief only in Trans-Al-
pine Gaul, and mingling with the races
that we're migrating from Northeastern
Europe have built up those great Euro
pean states which have ruled the civil
lied world for more than a thousand
years. The nations of Israel and Judea
resulted from the colonization from
Egypt, and they became the light and
guide of all the nations of the earth.
The colonization and emigration from
Thrace, Macedonia and Greece, created
the great power of the ancient world;
Rome and the Romans came from them.
The colonization and emipration from