The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-20
QUESTIONS OF NATIONAL PRIDE

Ihere nave been two exhibitions of "Jin-
goism'' on the part of the present admins
tration for the purpose of achieving noto-
riety by Wanting the greatness and power
of this government. We refer to the Ital
ian and the CHILEAN cases. In the former
the civil government at Rome asked, and
was virtually refused, in an austere man
ner, redress for the shockingly brutal
assassination of subjects of that govern
ment while in the custody of the authori-
ties In the other, harsh demand for
instant apology and reparation was made
on account of the killing of some American
sailors in drunken quarrel, in which
q number of Valparaiso rowdies
were embroiled. Both occasions - and
we are not discussing the merits
OF either case - were availed of to
show OFF before the outside world
the strength andres oluteness of the United
States. They were used as incentives to
ingenious appeals to the national pride of
the average American citizen, in whose
breast the fervor of patriotism can never
die.
But there is an American national pride
which has been stited for many years, and
which needs to be awakened. 1t is not the
pride OF prowess in war or feats of arms.
American valor on the battle field requires
no further test. The pride we speak of is
in the superiority Of the inventive, intel
lectual and manual skill of the people OF
this country-of their ability to compete in
any sphere of mechanical or industrial
effort with the best brain and Drawn of
other nations. They ask only fair field
and no favor.
A short time ago leading representative
OF the British government, in speech at
the lord mayors dinner in London. refer.
red to the undoubted falling off of the
trade OF England in consequence of the
American tariff. and said that it was i'm
possible for Great Britain to follow the
example of the United States. He did not
mean that scheme of retaliation could not
be adopted, but left the inference TO be-
drawn that it was beneath the dignity of
the government to depart from it's policy of
free trade And here are we, Boosting of
being the most prosperous nation on the
face of the GLOBE with a population re-.
nowned for intelligence, industry. tact
genius, enterprise, vigor and progress. and
yet paraded before the civilized world as
incapable of entering the domain of trada
and commerce in rivalry with other conn
tries! Our Congress sits for months de-
vising means to protect our "strugelinp,
Industries against rival manufacturers and
merchants! Statesmen representing q
large proportion of our people employ their
talents in connecting arguments to CON
vince the yeomanry they must give nm
part OF their earnings to prove they believa
American genius and labor cannot combat
foreign skill and the labor of "paupers -,
And with all the resources of this most
favored land, its mountains of ora ire
unfathomed caves of fuel, it's improved
methods, its unrivaled, transportation
It's giants OF muscle and endurance
must it be said we are afraid tn
compete with the productions of European
nations in our own markets?
June 10, 1884, JAMES G. BLAINE wrote
these words:
The hard figures of arithmetic cannot he cot
isfactorily answered by airy figures of speech
The truth remains that the coarser descrintions
OF cottons and cotton prints, boots and shoes
Ordinary household furniture harness for draft
animals, agricultural implements of all kinds
DOORS sashes and blinds, locks, bolts and
hinges, sllverware, platedware, woodenware
ordinary paper and paper hangings, common
vehicles, ordinary window glass and glassware
rubber goods, coal, kerosene, white lead. lead.
pipe, and articles in which lead is the chief er.
ponent, can be and are produced as cheaplv in
the United States as in any part of the world.
For more than one hundred years tbere
has been tax on window glass and on cot.
ton cloth. The year before Mr.. BLAINE
wrote as above the duty on window glass
was fixed at 40 per cent, but under the Mo.
kINLEY bill 1t was raised to 60 per cent,
Cotton cloth, made of material grown In
the United States, was raised from 45 to 40
per cent. And so on. Almost every article
mentioned in Mr.. BLAINE's short catalogue
is. in one way or another, made subject to
tariff duty on the pretense of necessity for
the protection of home manufacturers.
There are abundant reasons founded nm
economic grounds for the abolition of so
much of our tariff as is imposed purely for
protection, and for a reform of the lava ON
a revenue basis. But the intention of the
present system, based as 1t is on the false
pretense that it Is essential in order that