The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-05-08
The Last Ditch of Free Trade.


When Grant Was haIIn,ering away
at Lees army IL the Wilderness it
hapi"ned muTe than once alter a
hard. bl0tNiy AMI apparently indecis.
i've day that the only way he knew
he had won n substantial victory was
by finding The next morning that
Lee had reiir; d 10 another position.
81 the enemies OF the protection of
American industry are charging
pO-iiions. and by SO doing they con.
TESS that the shot and shell If facts
have made the old ground too hot
for them to hold any longer.
They used TO argue that protection
cannot and does not stimulate indus.
try To greater production Than
would have been attained without 1t
Solid and tangible facts have driven
them out Of that inirenchment. Next
they argued for some time: per.
haps your Protective Tariff builds
many factories. but cannot cheaper
goods. and lever Is intended To do
So" But now a new line of defence
is found, which means that the
chpapening of iron and wDuien and
cotton and many other goods has
made the old position too hot for the
dulipst Free Trader.
Now he says: Eyes, protection
and home competition may cheapsn
things In the end. but combinations
and trusts start UP, sheltered behind
the tariff. to deprive the people OF all
its benefits" Let us stick a pin
there, and note that there must ne
for the people great hen-fits, natur.
ally fIwing from Protection, which
the trusts and combinations try to
turn into private pockets. Their
very existence is confession that
competition has begun to cheaper
things 80 far. and threatens to cut off
profits 80 completely that shrewd
and practical business men prefer to
surrender control 0f their own prop.
erty and business in order to re-.
strict it,
10 nearly all cases where any com.
bination or trust exists il has come as
II result of u competition between
home pruducers so Close and deadly
that the destruction of all profits
seemed the only alternative. H., far.
then. the Protective system has done
its work. II has encouraged 81 many
people to set up new establishments,
aud has developed the industry SO
far. that the manufacturers can not
only supply the home market, by
themselves. but have begun among
themselves y struggle of which the
natural end is the survival of The
fittest. %
Before considering what to do with
the combination let it he distinctly
rerOsniz,d that the growth of indus.
tries, being m re Rapid here than in
any other country, has knocked the
life out Uf the theory that Protection
does mt stimulate an pxtr ,nrtlinary
development, and sac0nh, that the
only conceivable excuse and the
actual motive for combination is the
intense pressure Of home cnInpelili0
when thus stimulated, forcing prices
downward and therefore benefiunx
all consumers. Such are the results
in all those great departments and
almost countless branches Of Industry
IN which no combinations have ever
existed or bern maintained. But
these embrace almost the entire cot.
ton manufacture in the greater
branches Of the wooden manufacture
including the making of ordinary
mems YONls, wOrste,is, dress goods
and knit goods; the production uf
pig.irOn, BtsseMIer steel. and nearly
all the forms Of iron and steel finished
for usp; and other industries too
numerous to lie even mentioned In a
single article, Literally millions Of