New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-04
NArLnNAL INDEPENDENCE.

i
How would il be if the people Of this country
should be invited to celebrate with joy-bels
and cannon. speeches and cheers and fireworks
their anniversary of National dependence
| But what else could they celebrate ii that pol
! icy should prevail which would cripple ana
crush the industries Of this country Tor inc
benefit of foreigners? Surely there can be no
more fitting day than this to remember that
tho political independence OF the United states
was itself desired mainly because it would bring
with il the power to defend the industries OF
the people. and in the end to secure their IN
dustral independence. For that grand object
the Revolutionary patriots tolled and dared ana
endured. For that they stained the snow with
their bloody feet as they marched, and 1aced
| British veterans with a devotion that feared
not death.
The policy of Free Trade would be more
truly named policy of commercial and indus
trial dependence. That is the exact end really
sought by those who labor most mweanedly
to suppress Protective duties They are not
senseless or blalnleSs, and they know full well
that the Protective duties no longer make prod
ucts more costly to American consumers. Ihey
have seen abundant proofs OF the fact during
the last thirty years, and new proofs every day
since October G. when new and more effective
duties for protection went into force Nor can
they be considered so senSeleSs as TO be una
ware that this same new tariff Is every DAY
strengthening the industries OF this country, IN
creasing the demand for American labor, dimIh-
ishing the demand for foreign products ana
therefore the dependence Of Americans upon
foreign labor and capital, and transferring great
industries from other countries TO this. lhey
know all this and yet they continue, with as
much bitterness and malevolence as if the loss
of foreign manufacturers were to be their own
to denounce every step looking toward the up
building and development OF industries OF this
country. The very tone in which they speak or
each new effort to plant in this country lndus-
tries not heretofore established here, ana thus
to render the people of this country less de-
pendcnt than before on foreign capital ana
foreign labor, shows a spirit of absolute hos
tlty to their own country, and passionate
desire for the growth and the prosperity OF in
dustres elsewhere rather than here.
Let any one remember how the attempts to
| build up in this country the manufacture OF
steel rails were denounced by people OF this
sort how the men engaged therein were held
ND to public contempt as monopOlSts ana ROD
hers. and are even now assaied day by day, as
if they were enemies Of every private citizen
and how other great industries which were
thus established under the operation OF de-
fensiye duties were IN like manner represented
as conspiracies against the people Of this coun-
| try. But one does not need to go back twenty
years or even one year This year we have
seen exactly the same spirit manifested IN It's
most malevolent and bitter form, whenever
there has been reported the establishment OF
works for the production of tin plates in this
country.
What this country needs is independence
Long ago it achieved the power to make It's
own laws without assent of any sovereign
hereditary or other Ever since the question
has been whether it would make such laws as
TO defend its own industries, to make It's own
workers independent of foreign domination or
competition, and to enable them TO live on
scale Of comfort and of independence to be de-
termined by themselves, and not by the condl-
tons prevailing in other countries With that
issue plainly before them the people of this
country have been asked more than once to
uphold that policy which defends and builds
ND the industries of our own country. More
than once they have decided and on the right
side. But what would their political indie
pendence be worth if in their industries and
their trade, in their modes Of livelihood and
their habits of living, the millions of working
people in this country were to be dependent
upon the will of foreign capitalists or c0mbfna-
tons Of capital, or the customs or conditions
prevailing in foreign countries? Not soon will
the people Of,thiS country by free votes honest
ly counted decide to surrender that industrial
independence for which they have been strug-
Cling W many years.