New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-28
WHY A HIGH TARIFF PAYS.
A PERPLExED SHOEMAKER OvERLooKS AN
IMPORTANT POINT.
THE COUNTRY MERELY AN AGGREGATION OF
INDIVIDUALS, AND WORK MUST BE FOUND
FOR ALL, OTHERWISE UNIVERSAL
POVERTY Is THE RESULT.

EONi-hI1 - hEoOLl'
TO the Editor Of The Tribune.
sir: In Mr. lIorr's reply to my recent letter he
seems 20 have mistaken the meaning of my questions
dld not ask the question TO whether it makes any
rcai difference whether what buy is made in this
country or not with regard 10 the consequences to
hysei or 10 any particular class American people,
but to the American people as q whole Mr.. Horr
says 1t Is true that individual, have to work
Tor all that get, no matter where set it.. Now let
me ask him, Is IL not also true that the American
people, as whole, have to work for all they get
matter where they get lti
Mr. Horr says 1t makes great difference TO the
American shoemaker whether have my shoes made
mere or get them from some other country But does
1t make any difference to the whole peOple7 II the
American shoemaker does not make cur shoes, does
not some other class Of American labor have TO be
employed 70 get them When we get anything from
another country, does not labor in this country
have to be employed in making something To give In
exchange for it, Suppose instead OF employing an
American shoemaker to make my Shoes should en-
ploy an American farmer TO grow some wheat Old
then should send the wheat to some other country in
exchange for Shoes Would not the labor of the
farmer be employed indirectly in producing the shoes
And what difference does 1t make with regard to the
amount Of labor employed in this country whether
shoes are made directly by the American shoemaker,
indirectly by the American farmer any other class
of American labor7
l cannot what difference IL makes to the whole
mass of labor in this country how many Of the things
VIC consume are made directly in this country for
believe that everything consumed in the United States
is produced directly indirectly by the labor of the
United States ROBERT B. STOTT
Fall River, Mass, Sept. IS, 1891.
Mr.. StOtt is clearly correct when he states that
the American people a whole have to work
for all they get, no matter where they get it.
But the American people as a whole are COM
nf inhix md - ;D<lix
taken care of the whole will take care of them
selves.
He then asks the question: "Does it make
any difference to the whole people, if the Ameri-
shoemaker does not make our shoes, since some
other class of American labor has to be employed to
get them?" The proposition of this correspondent,
reduced to q simple statement would be that
there is advantage to a country in having
diversified industries. If his illustration means
anything, it means that it would be just well
for the people of this country if all of them
raised wheat, because it takes labor TO raise
wheat and wheat can be exchanged for all other
products of the world This is the common,
simple statement of the ordinary Free Trader
However, we seldom have one of them frank
enough to state it in so clear and honest man
has Mr.. Stott.
The difficulty with that whole theory Is that
one industry can possibly furnish continuous
labor for the whole people of any country. 1t is
constant employment for all the people which
makes nation prosperous and leads up to the
accumulation OF wealth. The raising of wheat
requires the work of people engaged in it not to
exceed three months in year. What would Mr..
Stott have the same individuals do during the
other nine months of the year. OF course the
raising of diversified crops, such as are usually
produced on q single farm, gives some employ
ment the bulk of the year TO persons working
on the farm, but when you come TO take the
entire people Of a whole nation, then to say that
they should all work farmers or should not
have work all the time, would be just as sense
less as to say that each farmer should never at
tempt to raise more than one kind of crop. 1t
is in reference to the welfare of the whole coun-
try that a Protectionist insists that We should
always make everything which we can economi-
cally produce here in the United States
Our correspondent will see this point more
clearly if he will think back to the time of 1861.
When the high Tariff bill of 1861 was first in
troduced into Congress, its object was to make
work for all our people who were unemployed by
setting them to making the goods which our
people had to consume, and which we were i'm
porting into this country from abroad in enormous
quantities. great percentage of our men and
women at that time had nothing to do. They
were not earning money and they were poor. The
war broke out, and hundreds of thousands of our
young and middle-aged men withdrawn from
the farm, store and shop TO 90 into the army.
Between the war and the industries created
in this country by the tariff of 1861 the people
who remained at home were. for the first time
for years, fully employed. There was work for
everybody, men and women The millions of
money which this country had been sending
abroad to buy clothing shoes, tools and other
articles like that kept at home and dis
tributed among our own people. There was work
for everybody. and money to pay them with
and as a consequence everybody was prosperous.
More than that when the armies disbanded at
the close of the war; so many factories, shops and
mills had grown into existence under the high
tariff that there was an immediate demand for
the services of the old soldiers. and everybody
had something TO do. 1t this which brought
on the good times which followed the war. We
never could have had that wonderful prosperity
unless the tariff had been SO arranged that,
under its influence American farmers had been
brought to buy American-made shoes. Aneri-
can-made clothes and goods generally.
and the American shoemallers and other skilled
workers, in turn, had been brought to buy Ameri-
cam grown wheat and American-made clothes and
goods. BY buying from our own countrymen, each
of us did his own share to keep American money
at home and his own countrymen fully employed
at good wages and if we had not done that, half
our people would have had nothing to do and no
money to buy anything from anybody; and the
country would have been poor.
People differ in their tastes and capacities for
various kinds of work. Each nation should at |
tempt to supply place for every one Of its peo-
pie TO work at some trade occupation, and
especially that for which he Is naturally fitted.
For example, if man has deft hand and
mechanical eye, and can make successful watch
maker there ought to be a place in the United |
States where he can exercise that talent Another |
perhaps has the genius and ability to manufacture
steam engines and build intricate machinery |
There should be III our country place where he
can exercise his talent. No nation was ever |
known to become rich and prosperous which con-
Gned itself simplv 10 agriculture any other |