The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-11-28
THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE
4 REASONABLE COMPARISON.
SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 2s. 1891,

c'N"
Protection advocates contrast the
growth in population and wealth and the
wages and opportunities Of the Uuiteo
States with the growth, wages, and op
p%ortuuitics of foreign countries to show
that the f rmcr owe their prosperity tc
the tariff alone. The comparison is not
Il far one. This country has not grown
and prospered by reason Of a high pro
tective tariff, but it has grown and be
come a great nation in spite of it. AS a new
world it has become the refuge of the
oppressed and the home of the over
crowded population Of foreign lands.
Our immigration statistics for the last
half century abundantly evidence this
fact. A country vast in area and
abounding in great natural resources
must gather population and wealth.
The condition Of the misses Of our
people have often been compared with
that Of the people Of Great Britain to IL
l~ustrate the beauties of a high protective
tariff. The comparison is an unfair one.
The whole United Kingdom is not as
large as Montana. What we mean is
that the combined,area of England, Ire
land. Scotland and Wales is not as large
as this state. That country has 81 pco-
pile to the square mile. The United
States has less than %. The lands of
Great Britain are owned by the few; here
they are owned by the many. Put q
people t. the square mile in this country
under a high protective tariff and poor
houses couldn't be built fast enough to
hold the dependent. 1t is only be-
cause OR people have elbow and breath
ing room and a soil and climate in har-
mony with their conditions and wants
that " have become q rich and prosper
Gus nation. We are annually feeding
the rich and the poor of other lands. not
because II the tariff but because We
have the lands upon which to grow the
meat and hreadstuiIs TO supply the
crampcd population Ut other countries.
We are growing rich as a nation because
we can do what they can not do. create
a surpiua - soil products.
In spra'E,1g Of this same matter the
Minneapolis Lines says: "A fair argu-
mcnt would be to compare England with
her system of free exchange with any of
the other great countries of Europe with
their system of protection. Since Great
Britain repealed her own corn laws more
than forty years ago-and made her
ports free to the of the world,
her growth in wealth has far outstripped
that of any other European country.
But. what is of far greater moment. this
increased prosperity has gone under
equal laws. to the greatness Of the peo-
pie, instead of being made, as unequal
laws have made II prosperity, the
special possession Of the few. The i'm
proved condition of the English
working people is shown in the
immense improvement in the
quantity and quality Of their
food, and the returns of the income tax.
In 1910, under protection. the per capita ,
consumption of bacon and hams by tho
of Great Britain was an in
considerable fraction Of a pound; now it
is II pounds. or wheat and wheat -four {
it was 43 pounds; now it is 220 pounds.
Of sugar it was - pounds; now it is 20 !
pounds, and 50 on through the whole
table Of the necessarics and comforts of
I
That is a fair argument and to the ]
point. The condition of the working
man in protected France, and Germany v
and Italy is far inferior to that of the S
laborer, while the general /
growth Of prosperity in those countries
loes not compare with that of Great
Britain. Tariff taxed ashley are they must q
!raw support from themselves while |
draws prosperity from the out Z
side world. She emancipatcd her peO- v
Die the day her far-sightcd statesmen re- S
Iealed her protective system. The $
heOry Of protection is that if the gov Il
rnment will take care of the rich. the n
ich will take care of the poor. The
after stands 40 show under IT. The
eltishness. the arrogance and the greed y
# human nature knock the props from V
the theory and it tumblcs to the ',
The fault is in the theory. 1t :
be, take care Of the poor; the !,
ich can take care of themselves. "